Breeding, Hatchery Production and Mariculture

Marine lobsters are a diverse group of large crustaceans distributed almost throughout the world oceans that support commercial fisheries in many countries with significant economic benefits. While rapid progress and phenomenal success were achieved in shrimp aquaculture throughout the world, progress in commercial-scale aquaculture of lobsters was relatively slow due to various biological and technical problems, especially the hatchery production of seeds. Although a marginal increase in total global landings was evident in recent years, production from world capture fisheries has generally been almost stagnant for many years. Lobster aquaculture research began almost 115 years ago, and post-larval production of several species of spiny and slipper lobsters, both temperate and tropical, has been achieved, though in limited quantities. Several diets for each developing stage of the larva were evaluated, and the physiological and nutritional requirements determined in order to successfully rear the phyllosoma larvae through the prolonged larval phase. Different models of rearing tanks including the shape, volume and flow rate of water in the larviculture systems were tested, as maintenance of the fragile phyllosoma larvae in a pathogen-free environment is the one of the most difficult aspects of larval rearing. Significant advances have been made in captive breeding and mass-scale seed production of the tropical fast-growing spiny lobster, Panulirus ornatus, and the slipper lobster, Thenus spp. Two generations of P. ornatus have been produced in captivity by the Australian scientists, which may pave way for commercialisation of hatchery production and genetic improvement of the species in future. The breakthrough has been achieved due to focused research on two key areas, the nutrition and health management of the larval culture systems.