Key Issues for Sustaining Aquaculture Production of the Spiny Lobster, Panulirus ornatus, in Vietnam

摘要

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in increasing the production of spiny lobsters through the capture and culture of puerulus larvae (Booth et al. 1999; Jeffs and James 2001; Phillips and Melville-Smith 2001; Mills et al. 2004). Thebasic premise is that survival of puerulus larvae can be increased greatly in culture compared with survival in the wild and, provided catches of puerulus remain a small proportion of those available, this form of aquacul-ture can add substantial production without jeopardising replenishment of the natural population (Hair et al. 2002). In addition to the industry that has been operating in Vietnam growing-out Panulirus ornatus since the late 1990s (Tuan et al. 2000; Williams et al. 2002), enterprisesare also being developed in Australia and New Zealand for other species of spiny (or rock) lobsters. The rapid growth of the aquaculture industry for P. ornatus in Vietnam provides an example of the potential gains that can be made through the capture and culture of puerulus larvae. However, it is clear that the industry there needs to address several key issues to be sustainable. The purpose of this paper is to identify and briefly discuss these issues.