Fisheries/Aquaculture
Marine Exports Paying Off
Sporadic Past Underlines Difficulty in Sustaining Aquaculture in Palau
The modern era of aquaculture in Palau dates back to 1976 with the establishment of the Palau Mariculture Demonstration Center by the Trust Territory government. Under long-time manager Gerald Helsinga, the Mariculture Demonstration Center was funded entirely through external grants and provided training and clam seedlings, going to sites chosen by the Palauan trainees in their states and helped them set up clam farms—though none are still operating today. The center is currently under the Ministry of Resources and Development and concentrates on projects involving giant clams, grouper and trochus. - ADVERTISEMENT - It has had serious technical difficulties with the grouper since they started this fishery four years ago to restock declining natural populations. Due to problems with larval development, no groupers have been released in the wild. Trochus are raised to restock natural populations. Sales of giant clams reached as high as $84,000 per year between 1989 and 1994, when Helsinga left. Palau Community College’s U.S.-funded Cooperative Research and Extension office are presently developing a new, non-profit freshwater shrimp farm. This is not the first time that freshwater shrimp have been cultivated in Palau. In the mid-1980s a private initiative was set up in Airai State with some success, but bringing product to market proved untenable and the site was abandoned. The Cooperative Research and Extension project consists of three large 155-foot by 40-foot demonstration ponds located at the Palau Community College’s Research and Development Station in Ngermeskang, Ngeremlengui. Construction began on the ponds earlier this year and they should be up and running by the end of 2001 with stock from Hawaii. The project aims to show that freshwater prawns can be grown profitably in Palau. The major player in the industry today is the five-year-old Belau Aquaculture. Jennifer Sugiyama and Victor Yano own it. Belau Aquaculture exports marine invertebrates (such as corals and clams) and fish for the aquarium trade. In addition to purchasing giant clams from the PMDC, the company cultures and exports soft corals and captures small fish that are popular with private aquarium owners. This is Palau’s second largest export industry (the tuna fishery is first), with gross receipts reaching $40,000 per month. Unlike the tuna fishery, however, most of the money earned by Belau Aquaculture stays in Palau. Belau Aquaculture presently employs 10 workers, including four divers from the Philippines and a number of Palauans who help with the preparation and packing of shipments. American manager Larry Sharron says that the Palauans under his management, who know a great deal about the food fishes and invertebrates, have now also learned about the non-food organisms in the lagoon, and thus have a more sophisticated understanding of the commercial potential of their marine resources. He said that Belau Aquaculture intends to double its export capacity within the next year to keep up with increasing demand. If aquaculture expands in Palau, the government will need to start paying closer attention to the commercial exploitation of non-food species. In an industry that holds such promise for the economy, the danger of uncontrolled expansion is too great to be ignored.
Belau Aquaculture workers bad products for export in Koror.
