The recent die-off of small abalone known as "Taiwan abalone" has caused financial losses to the industry but no harm to humans, the head of the Council of Agriculture told the legislature yesterday.
PFP Legislator Cheng Mei-lan (鄭美蘭) yesterday questioned council Chairman Lee Chin-lung (李金龍) at the Legislative Yuan about the recent die-off of small abalone along the northeast coast, saying that an epidemic has resulted in a NT$400 million (US$11.5 million) loss to the domestic abalone industry.
According to Cheng, the annual product value of Taiwan abalone exceeds NT$7 billion (US$200 million), including NT$2 billion (US$58.8 million) from those raised in farms along the northeast coast.
Most of the abalone is consumed domestically but part of the annual harvest is exported to Japan, Hong Kong and other markets.
Cheng said 800,000kg of Taiwan abalone raised in farms in Santiao Chiao and Auti in Taipei County began to die three weeks ago.
Due to the die-off, Cheng said, the price of the delicacy had dropped to NT$400 from NT$600 per kilogram.
"There's a big hole in Taiwan's epidemic-prevention network. The virus spreading in the Taiwan abalone population could have been brought in by abalone smuggled into the country," Cheng said.
Cheng said the die-off of Taiwan abalone first occurred two years ago but the Council of Agriculture failed to prevent the spread of the disease.
Cheng said the threat could jeopardize the nation's abalone farming industry, forcing farmers to move it to other countries such as Vietnam and Thailand.
Lee said that a task force established to investigate the epidemic is continuing its research.
"So far, we've confirmed the epidemic has been caused by a virus," Lee said.
It remained unclear, however, if the virus is the same as that which caused an epidemic in another species of abalone found in coastal areas of China years ago, according to Su Mao-sen (
Su said, however, the infection would not be spread to other aquatic products such as fish and shellfish.
Su tried to reassure consumers that the abalone was still OK to eat.
"The contaiminated abalone is safe to eat if it is cooked," Su said.
To fight against the spread of the virus, Su said, scientists of the institute have helped the abalone- farming industry to disinfect affected areas in a bid to ensure water quality and will help farmers adopt a water circulation system to stem the spread of the virus.
Su said scientists would also investigate the aquatic feedstuff used by the industry.
In late 1980s, Taiwan experienced water quality problems that plagued the prawn industry.
Su also said that the agricultural officials had paid attention to the outbreak.
Su said authorities are hoping to raise a virus-resistant breed of the abalone, which would raise the industry's competitiveness.
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