Blue mussel, boon for crab, prawn farming here

By October 16, 2016Business, News

FORMERLY unproductive crab and prawn farms in the province may finally become profitable once new exotic Philippine charru mussel, Mytella charruana, is introduced widely.

This was confirmed by a study that showed the specie has the capacity to spread rapidly through Philippine waters for being salinity tolerant and is seen as boost for widespread crab and prawn farming activities.

Dr. Westly Rosario, center chief of NIFTDC-BFAR in Dagupan City, said the mussel will serve as food and source of calcium for crabs and shrimps.

Rosario also said that value-added products like bottled tahong (mussel) or chips can be developed to multiply livelihood opportunities.

“Our rivers will be cleaner because tahong, like oysters, are effective filter feeders,” he added.

Rosario said crab and prawn farming in the Philippines is too small because of high cost and unavailable trash fish.

This mussel species is referred also as blue mussel because inside its shell is blue-like pearl, Rosario said.

The study was made jointly by Michael Rice of the Department of Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Science of the University of Rhode Island, Kingston, USA; Paul Rawson of the School of Marine Sciences of the University of Maine, Orono, USA; Ashley Salinas and Rosario both from the National Integrated Fisheries Training and Development Center of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (NIFTDC-BFAR) in Dagupan City.

In 2015, the mussels surfaced near Tucok in Dagupan City and recently this year, in Longos, San Fabian town.

About 50 charru mussels (sometimes referred to as blue mussels) from Tucok were preserved in 95 percent ethanol and sent to the University of Maine for genetic evaluation.

“We can now go into widespread crab and prawn farming activities because blue mussels can be integrated in the farming system,” Rosario said.

Some locations upstream from the mouth of the river and the saline waters of the Lingayen Gulf remain below salinity 30 even during the height of the hot dry Philippine summer, the study said.

“These are likely areas for year-round survival of charru mussels,” the study pointed out. (Tita Roces)

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