 |
|
|
| |
Lobster Culture
|
 |
|
A variety of spiny lobsters, Panulirus sp., can be found in the Indo Pacific region. Unlike the American lobster, the spiny lobster does not have strong big claws to crush its prey and protect itself from enemies. Instead, the spiny lobster possesses long armored antennae that are used to whip its predators and prey. Sometimes called crawfish, crayfish, rock lobster or langouste, this lobster is characterized by a spine-studded shell.
In the Indo-Pacific region, spiny lobsters are caught by divers and maintained in net enclosures in seawater prior to sale in live seafood markets in Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taiwan and Japan. Outside of this region, major resources of spiny lobsters are located in Australia and in the Caribbean. High demand for spiny lobsters has created a lucrative market. As a result, harvesting from the wild has depleted lobster populations in major areas in Southeast Asia and is threatening wild populations in others.
Market
Overview
The world catch for lobsters is
77,000 metric tons valued at US $500 million.
Approximately 38,000 metric tons are derived from wild
caught spiny lobsters, Panulirus
argus, native to the Caribbean.
The high export demand has been a major economic benefit
to many island nations of the Caribbean.
However, over-harvesting and destructive fishing
practices, along with the degradation of the natural habitat
from pollution and human activities have acted in concert to
cause a precipitous decline in the wild populations, threatening
the current lobster market’s long-term sustainability. In the
Caribbean, the spiny lobster fishery has been on a continuing
decline for the same reasons, resulting in lost job
opportunities and falling revenue in the fisheries sector.
The Company believes that a
revival of lobster populations is possible through the
development of an aquaculture industry that enables production
of spiny lobsters through artificial means and through a
proactive stock replenishment scheme that re-supplies the
natural habitat with cultured spiny lobsters.
The good news is that while the supply of the lobster
catch stagnates, the demand for fresh and frozen lobster
continues to grow creating a favorable market price. This
supply/demand ratio is essential in attracting the investment
community to finance a viable lobster aquaculture industry.
-
Conservation
measures are now actively enforced to limit the size of the
catch and to prevent harvesting gravid (pregnant) females.
Another way to prevent over-harvesting is to develop aquaculture
techniques that will allow production of lobsters in commercial
quantities. As part of this effort, Nova Pacific, an R&D
group of Poseidon, completed a three-year research and
development program that enabled semi-commercial scale culture
of post-larvae and juveniles to legal market size in land-based
raceways and artificial seawater ponds.
|
- Click on photo to enlarge
-
-
- Click on photo to enlarge
-
-
-
|
|
-
The
Lobster Aquaculture Industry
- While other commercial aquaculture
ventures have been able to replicate the hatching of larvae in
an artificial environment, this has yet to be achieved with
lobster larvae. The Company believes that over time and with
financial support, it can develop this technology by applying
its research and development efforts to the delicate process of
hatching and culturing spiny lobster larvae.
The reason commercial lobsters have
not yet come from a hatchery is due to their complicated life
cycle. The eggs hatch as tiny spider-like transparent larvae
(also known as phyllosoma). The larval (phyllosoma) phase
involves 11 distinct morphological stages and up to 17 molts
over 12 to 24 months. Culture of phyllosoma to pueruli stage has
been successfully achieved in Japan and New Zealand in very
small numbers.
- Hatchery
development is still many years away from commercial success.
However, free-swimming larvae can be found and harvested from
nature. These post-larval forms normally become food for other
sea life and only an extremely tiny percentage (less than 3%)
are able to survive long enough to settle at the bottom of the
rocky sub-sea floor. Technologies to harvest these post-larval
forms have been developed and thus will enable the culture of post-larvae to
commercial size at a much higher survival rate than in the wild.
By returning a percentage of the artificially grown mature
lobsters back to the sea, stock replenishment in concert with
prudent conservation measures will ensure a healthy, prolific wild
population.
Today, the only way lobster
aquaculture can materialize is through collection of pueruli from
the wild. This is the main reason commercial aquaculture is in its
infancy. Lack of a consistent supply from the wild and a
misunderstanding of local fisherman believing that pueruli
collection will adversely affect the fisherman’s catch have
minimized investment and fisheries department interest to date.
One of the main obstacles to creation of this industry is the need
for artificial feed technologies to enhance growth and reduce feed
cost to acceptable levels.
Australia, New Zealand and Norway
are on their way to succeeding in lobster aquaculture and there
are also pilot programs beginning in other countries.
Poseidon’s
technology development covered two major areas:
- Culture
techniques for post-larval and juvenile lobsters under
artificial conditions.
- Development of artificial feeds to grow the lobsters to commercial size.
|
|
-
- Click on photo to enlarge
-
- Click on photo to enlarge
|
|
- Artificial
Feed Technology
- Currently, small farming operations for spiny
lobsters rely heavily on natural feed, such as trash fish,
mussels and clams. While
it is possible to create a profitable operation on a small
scale, increasing the production is not possible because of the
rising cost of natural feeds and the unreliable supply from
season to season. For
this reason, the development of the optimum feed technology
using artificial diets is a prerequisite for the industry to be
viable all year round. Poseidon’s research has successfully
identified the type of feed and feed complements that can match
the nutritive value of natural feeds.
Formulation research is now ongoing to improve the feed
technology to reduce the pollution that may arise from uneaten
feeds and optimize the utilization of the feeds by the lobsters.
Through a combination of natural and artificial feeds,
Poseidon expects to enter the market for spiny lobsters of the
right color, meat texture and taste to meet worldwide
expectations.
-
-
-
- Poseidon’s Lobster
Culture Project
- Poseidon’s current lobster culture project
comprises numerous lobster pueruli housed in holding tanks
connected to a recirculating filtration system.
-
- Current methods of capturing
pueruli from the wild have been based on systems such as Witham
collectors, designed for research purposes. Commercial
harvesting techniques are currently in development to optimize
harvest, while minimizing by-catch.
-
- Site selection
- The presence of a large conch fishery and conch
processing plants in the Caribbean represent a partial solution
to the problem of finding an affordable, reliable supply of
balanced feed. Over 70% of the harvested conch meat is discarded
as wastes by the processing facilities each day during the conch
harvest season. Conch
is a natural food item for spiny lobsters and this waste
represents a valuable commodity to the spiny lobster culturist.
The wastes are generally simply discarded to the bays and
estuaries creating pollution problems. By utilizing conch wastes as additional resource solves this
major pollution issue and provide a steady source of natural
food for lobsters during the conch season.
During off seasons, the availability of artificial feed
provides a safety net for the commercial venture.
-
- The selection of the country to site
this operation will depend on several factors:
-
- ·
Suitable economic and political support from the local
government
- ·
Availability of conch meat byproducts
- ·
Availability of pueruli supply from the surrounding islands
- ·
Suitable port and airfreight facilities
- ·
Availability of ideal land and offshore facilities to support
the operation
-
- Harmonious
coexistence
- Capture
of seed stock (pueruli), raising them past part of a critical
stage, and then returning a significant number of females to a
protected area ensures not only that the pueruli collections are
replenished but that there are natural stocks for local
fishermen and their future generations to harvest.
Poseidon is committed to working in harmony with the
economic activities of the local population, and with the
environment, with no net loss of mangroves, seagrasses, or other
habitats upon which wild fish and invertebrates depend.
 Back to Aquaculture
 Back to top
|
