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Selected papers on mollusc culture

Regional Seafarming Development and Demonstration Project

Year of publication 1990

Pages p. 74

Author Alessandro Lovatelli;Fisheries and Aquaculture Management Division

Product type Project

Category Programme / project report

Edition 1

Synopsis (short abstract) The present Regional Seafarming Working Paper collects under a single cover four papers dealing with various aspects of bivalve mollusc aquaculture. Information on the biology, culture practices, site selection criteria, harvesting and storage, sanitation and depuration, as well as on the culture economics of major bivalve species is provided. These selected technical papers were prepared as part of the Mollusc/Shellfish Culture Course of the 7th NACA Training Course for Senior Aquaculturists in Asia and in the Pacific. This 12 month course commenced in March 1988 and was held at the NACA Regional Lead Centre of the Philippines in Tigbauan, Iloilo. Each paper is self-contained, and as such, some repetitions cannot be avoided, particularly in the description of the culture techniques. The oysters and mussels are the major species dealt by the authors, mainly because in the Asia-Pacific region, species belonging to the above two genera make up for a large proportion of the total biva lve molluscs annual landings. The aquaculture industry among developing Asian and Pacific countries has been growing considerably within the last decade, particularly in the mollusc culture sector. Asia is the most important continent in the world in terms of mollusc landings from culture practices followed by Europe and North America. The landings for the three continents in 1985 were 2,094,913, 591,476 and 176,810 metric tonnes respectively, which accounted for 72.6%, 20.5% and 6.1% of the y ear's total production. The bivalve groups which are widely harvested from natural fisheries or cultured in the region belong to the families Ostreidae, Mytilidae and Arcidae, and compared to the above, only few gastropods are important, mostly collected from natural fisheries. Among the latter group, abalones are certainly the most important, as they are highly valued as a food item and therefore highly priced.

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    A great variety of mollusc species are of commercial importance throughout the world. Apart from molluscs harvested from natural fisheries, a large number is cultured. Figure 1 shows total world landings, both capture and culture, of molluscs from 1980 (3,603,426 MT) to 1986 (4,524,929 MT) with an average annual growth rate of about 3.95% (FAO, 1988). In the mollusc fishery sector the landings from aquaculture activities are high. Figure 2 shows the 1985 mollusc landings from both capture and cu lture fisheries. Over 2.8 million metric tons of molluscs were cultured in 1985 which accounted for over 65.5% of the year's total production (4,399,371 MT), obviously indicating the importance of aquaculture activities with regard to this resource group. The major division among these molluscs should be between the two classes Bivalvia and Gastropoda. The former class includes organisms like oysters, mussels, cockles, and clams whereas the latter includes organisms such as abalones and top sh ells (Fig. 3). Species belonging to the above groups have evolved in such a way that almost all kinds of marine habitats have been exploited. However, within these habitats there are often one or more environmental factors responsible for the dispersion of a particular species over given geographical areas. These limiting parameters are key factors when sites are selected for the culture of a particular species.
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