Taiwanese aquaculture researchers have raised the survival rate of lobster hatchlings from 40 percent to 70 percent, the Council of Agriculture’s Taitung District Agricultural Research and Extension Station said.
The station unveiled the breakthrough at a trade convention in November last year.
Lobster spawns molt several times in the six months following hatching to reach the postlarvae stage, said Cheng Ming-chung (鄭明忠), an assistant researcher with the Fisheries Research Institute’s Eastern Marine Biology Research Center.
Photo courtesy of Cheng Ming-chung
Postlarvae are highly sensitive to water quality and fluctuations in environmental factors, and regularly engage in cannibalism, which makes keeping them alive a technical challenge for lobster farms, said Cheng, who led the project to improve lobster farming techniques.
Taiwanese lobster farms typically import 2cm-long postlarvae harvested from the sea and raise them into 4cm-long juveniles, he said.
The research team solved the issue of cannibalism by introducing shrimp larvae into the pool for the postlarvae to hunt, while large clumps of kelp provided hiding places, he said, adding that new technologies were used to improve the regulation of water and feed quality.
The techniques could help farmers raise more lobsters from the same larvae stock, and improve the flavor of the tomalley and the firmness of the meat, Cheng said.
The researchers used the species Panulirus homarus and Panulirus ornatus in the study, with the former being the more readily available and economic option for Taiwanese lobster farms, he said.
Using the new methods, the Panulirus homarus could grow from 2cm-long prolarvae to 4cm-5cm juveniles in two months, Cheng said, adding that the juveniles could then be transferred to downstream farms specializing in growing adults.
Juveniles can grow into market-ready adults weighing 250g to 300g in eight months, he added.
The Council of Agriculture has unveiled a policy to encourage the use of solar panels on lobster farms with indoor pools, to ensure a stable power supply and water salinity levels at the farms, center director Ho Yuan-hsing (何源興) said.
Open-air lobster farms are prone to drops in water salinity due to power outages or human error, which could lead to larvae deaths, he said, adding that lobsters are nocturnal animals and thrive in roofed pools.
Improved aquafarming techniques can reduce the nation’s reliance on imports and the impact of lobster fishing on nature, he said.
Representatives from the solar energy and aquafarming sectors have expressed an interest in working together, he added.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
ANNUAL EVENT: Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in Daan Park, with an event zone operating from 10am to 6pm This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park today and tomorrow, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a themed food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said yesterday. Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm, it said. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs, it added. People could also try the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area, the department said. Three PokeStops are
South Korea is planning to revise its controversial electronic arrival card, a step Taiwanese officials said prompted them to hold off on planned retaliatory measures, a South Korean media report said yesterday. A Yonhap News Agency report said that the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs is planning to remove the “previous departure place” and “next destination” fields from its e-arrival card system. The plan, reached after interagency consultations, is under review and aims to simplify entry procedures and align the electronic form with the paper version, a South Korean ministry official said. The fields — which appeared only on the electronic form
RSS