Researchers from National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) yesterday said that they have produced a fish feed additive that could double the survival rate of grouper fry.
Grouper cultivation is a major aquaculture business in Taiwan, but one of the big problems encountered by farmers is a virus that ravages populations of young fish.
The virus causes viral nervous necrosis, a serious disease that affects more than 30 cultured marine species worldwide.
In recent years, the mortality rate of grouper fry on fish farms in Taiwan has been between 60 and 80 percent as a result of the virus, which kills the young fish within a week of infection.
Hong Jiann-ruey (洪健睿), a professor of the Institute of Biotechnology and head of a research team at NCKU, began studying the virus about seven years ago and teamed up with Queensland grouper farmers last year to begin an experiment.
At first, the researchers succeeded in raising the survival rate of the fry to between 75 and 80 percent, but thought they could do better and later began experimenting on 80,000 orange-spotted grouper fry.
The research team developed a type of feed additive that raised the survival rate of the fry to more than 80 percent and is expected to help increase Taiwan’s grouper output value by between 10 and 15 percent.
Taiwan produced 25,000 tonnes of grouper in 2013, with an output value of nearly NT$8 billion (US$243.5 million).
Taiwan holds a 23 percent share of the global grouper market, with Asia as its biggest export market and Hong Kong and China having the highest demand.
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