Brief-history, Problems, and Prospects of Aquaculture on the Both-sides of the Taiwan Strait

Abstract

Aquaculture in Taiwan is well-known for both having a long history of culturing milkfish in captivity for more than 400 years and being much diversified in term of number of culture target species. Aquaculture in China is remarked by the publication of carp fanning by Fan-Li (16,g,.44) for more than 2,500 years ago. However carp fish farming was strictly prohibited by emperors of the Tang Dynasty (618907 BC). Nevertheless, farming of four other major freshwater fishes has become popular and contributed significantly to food safety and resources in urban and suburban areas. Recently, wide biodiversity in culture fishes has also been included in the list of aquaculture candidates in China. Modernization of aquaculture scientific technology in Taiwan has resulted in progressive achievements through a series of remarkable breakthroughs, including initial success of artificial propagation of Chinese carp in 1963, tiger prawn in 1968, followed by world-milestone establishment of mass-scale artificial propagation of grey mullet and milkfish in 1969 and 1974 respectively. On the other hand, modernization of aquaculture scientific technology in China began in 1940's. Annual production of aquaculture in Taiwan ranges between 250 to 300 thousand tons in recent years while that in China reached 5,320 thousand tons in 1988, first time to surpass the total yield of its national capture fisheries. In 2010, the annual aquaculture production in China increased to 38,290 thousand tons, representing 62% of the total annual aquaculture production in the world. There are common issues regarding aquaculture to be addressed in both Taiwan and China: 1. Enforcement of breeding R and D programs with modern genetic methodology. 2. Development of SOP of culturing for each individual species for mass-scale aquaculture. 3. Achievement of disease-free aquaculture industry through studies on fish diseases, especially virus infection. 4. Investigation of substitute for fish meal and fish oil as ingredient of compound feed in association with comprehensive nutrition studies applicable to respective target aquaculture species. 5. Acceleration of development of functional 3D aquaculture engineering facilities. 6. Utilization of ranching and stock enhancement and off-shore Aquaculture. 7. Studies on aquaculture of GMO and its advantages and/or disadvantages. 8. Introduction of cutting edge biotechnologies for advanced aquaculture. 9. Exploration of utilization of deep-sea water for future phase of aquaculture. 10. Globalization of sea food marketing. There are bright prospects in Taiwan and China. Since people on both sides of the Strait have realized that progressive development of their nations has long been based heavily on agriculture-related industries and both are well-equipped with long coast line, an advantageous condition for further development of aquaculture to fill up the gap of food insufficiency. Positive actions have been taken in Taiwan. In 2011, and 2012 two leading academic-industry cooperation projects are supported by government: a. Development and integration of key technologies for prospective shrimp industry sectors. b. Taiwan Tilapia Breeding Nucleus Project. Similarly, China government always encourages and supports aquaculture projects and takes good care of actions taken by private companies. In Taiwan we urge our youngster to learn the "Spirit of Starvation", a synonymous motto of the immediately passed Mr. Steven Paul Jobs's "Stay Hungry and Stay Foolish". Jointly, Taiwan and China may challenge the long-lasting problem of food safety and food crisis through the cooperation among our aquaculture researchers and practitioners. If we, on both sides of the Strait, keep on working positively and aggressively together in as many directions and as-long as we are able to, we shall our eternal goal of having a world with sufficient food for our people.