Introduction to aquaculture in Taiwan

Abstract

aiwan is located in the subtropical region with the Tropic of Cancer crossing at mid-island. The warm weather permits a growing season of 8–10 months for most warm water species. It is generally believed that aquaculture has been practiced in Taiwan for some 300 years. In 1977, the total pond area under aquaculture in Taiwan was 31,757 ha, including 13,460 ha of fresh water and 18,297 ha of brackish water. The area of reservoir and paddy field utilized for culture was 8,550 ha. In addition, there were 14,646 ha of shallow sea along the west coast of Taiwan and coastlines of Penghu (Pescadores) utilized for seaweed, oyster and clam culture. Total aquaculture production in 1977 was 139,628 metric tons, accounting for 16.3% of the year' total fishery production; of this, 61,285 metric tons were from freshwater ponds, 38,466 metric tons from brackish water ponds, 8,838 metric tons from reservoirs and paddy fields, and 31,039 metric tons from shallow sea culture.

The organisms under aquaculture include finfish, crustaceans, molluscs and seaweeds. However, limitations arising from scarcity of land available for conversion into aquafarms and water pollution problems have partially restricted expansion.

All aquaculture production in Taiwan has been achieved in the private sector largely by individual farmers and a small number of companies mostly involved in eel and shrimp culture enterprises. Research and extension services have been supported by the government. Emphases of aquaculture research have been on controlled reproduction, intensive culture systems and fish diseases. Technical advances have been made in the artificial propagation of major Chinese carp, grey mullet, penaeid shrimp, Macrobrachium, small abalone, etc., development of cage culture of fish, intensive culture of eel and shrimp, hanging method of oyster culture and production of tilapia. Among the top priority problems are unstable seed supply of some important species, i.e., milkfish and eel, and high level technology to increase aquaculture operation per unit area.