Propagate and raise commercial squid in semi-natural environment

The first person to successfully breed and raise squid

Ninh Thuan waters have many favourable factors for the development of aquaculture. This is a place with few storms and winds, negligibly affected by river water. The bottom layer is mainly rocky and coral reefs, so when the food is dropped, it will be washed away according to the up-and-down cycle of the tide. Therefore, it does not stagnate at the bottom, so the water source is less affected and very suitable for marine farming.

Up to now, to raise squid, fishermen often catch breeding squids from the wild and raise them until they reach adulthood, without mastering the squid farming process.

This prompted Mr Nguyen Ba Ngoc (Thanh Hai commune, Ninh Hai district, Ninh Thuan) to learn and research new directions for the marine farming industry in Vietnam. Mr. Ngoc comes from a family with four generations of marine life, he has been attached to the sea for more than 15 years, so he has a great love for the sea.

In 2021, with the accumulated experience, Mr Ngoc will begin piloting the model of breeding and raising commercial squid in a semi-natural environment in the Vinh Hy beach area (Vinh Hai commune, Ninh Hai district, Ninh Thuan province) with an area of 180m2. This is the first squid farming model in a semi-natural environment in Vietnam.

At first, Mr. Ngoc sought out workers in the Cam Ranh area to hire and manufacture squid cages, but he did not receive the consent Because the cages are large, they are difficult to design and construct. At this time, he had to mobilize all resources from his family to support him in doing this work. Additionally, the cages are large, so the process of bringing the cages to the sea is difficult.

“My business is a private research unit. Talking about moving a cage with an area of 180m2 and 6m high to the sea is no different than moving a building. Constructing the cage was very difficult, let alone the process of moving it from the port to the sea, a distance of more than 3 nautical miles, and then positioning and lowering the cage. Meanwhile, overseas, to do that, it takes a $ 2 million equipment rig to accomplish", Mr Ngoc shared.

Mr Ngoc said that with the experience accumulated over 15 years of working with the sea, he took advantage of ocean currents to successfully bring the cages to the sea.

In the early days of implementing the model, because there was no seed source, he bought parent squid from fishermen caught in the sea, then brought them back to the cages for the squid to lay eggs. The number of eggs is about 10,000 eggs/parent pair/laying. The squid eggs are brought back to shore to hatch into baby squid, then brought back to the sea for commercial farming.

"The first step shows very positive signs, the squid lays many eggs and the hatching rate is very high, the squid develops well," said Mr Ngoc.

From the results obtained, in 2022, Mr Ngoc moved to the C3 area, Thanh Hai commune (Ninh Hai district, Ninh Thuan) to rent the water surface of the people here to expand the model. Here he has access to a larger water surface area, so he can build cages with larger areas to raise commercial squid.

Here, he invested in 2 semi-natural cages made of HDPE plastic (according to Norwegian technology) with an area of 120m2 and 2,304m2. The cages are 3 nautical miles from the shore, placed on the sea surface, surrounded by long nets down to the seabed (depth from 10 to 13m). Under the cages there are no nets and are stocked with seaweed, creating a natural marine environment for squid to reproduce and develop.

Take the large cage far offshore

To have a source of squid seeds, Mr. Ngoc is currently collaborating with 2 households in Ninh Hai district to incubate eggs.

Each individual squid has a life cycle of about 15 months. During its life cycle, the squid can reproduce about 50,000 eggs. After being laid, squid eggs will form clusters into seaweed substrates placed on the seabed. After 10 days of the eggs being laid at sea, Mr Ngoc will bring them to the affiliated households to hatch them to produce baby squids.

After hatching, the squid are picked up and put into tanks 1.5m deep in a dark room to grow to breeding size. Raising baby squid in a dark room helps prevent baby squids from eating each other.

The food source provided for the process of raising baby squid is 100% fresh, the food source is swimming for the baby squid to catch its own prey - mainly live baby shrimp and live fish.

Successfully raising squid in a semi-natural environment has opened a new direction for the aquaculture industry in Ninh Thuan in particular and the country in general.

With this approach, fishermen will be able to make cages with larger areas, minimizing food sources for squid, when the squid is bigger, the food source for squid becomes less because it takes advantage of the available food in the marine environment. Semi-natural farming also completely helps protect the marine ecosystem.

From the effectiveness of the model, in the coming time, Mr Ngoc hopes to be facilitated by authorities at all levels in policy mechanisms and sea surface infrastructure to expand farming areas. From there, create large cages, and actively source squid broodstock to provide eggs for hatchery production to provide models and fishermen to raise commercial squid. At the same time, expanding links with farmers, transferring farming techniques, and purchasing at the most reasonable prices will help the model be increasingly replicated in the future.