Producing young, single and meaty oyster Crassostrea iredalei (Faustino, 1932) in grow‐out culture using pouches suspended from rafts

Growth and survival of the slipper oyster Crassostrea iredalei using traditional (tires and oyster shells) and new methods (pouches and trays) suspended from floating rafts were compared. After six months of grow-out culture, mean shell length (mm SL) and body weight (g BW) of oysters were significantly highest in those reared in pouches (89.32 ± 0.41 mm SL, 87.70 ± 0.70 g BW), followed by those in trays (83.16 ± 0.31 mm SL, 87.06 ± 0.72 g BW), then those harvested from oyster shells (76.42 ± 0.88 mm SL, 67.35 ± 1.03 g BW), and lastly from tires (72.30 ± 1.21 mm SL, 55.07 ± 1.49 g BW). Growth rates both for length and weight were almost comparable between oysters reared in pouches (6.05 ± 1.28 mm mo−1, 10.98 ± 2.05 g mo−1) and trays (5.01 ± 1.46 mm mo−1, 10.77 ± 2.58 g mo−1). Although 60.7% of the oysters harvested from pouches (n = 1071) were classified as large (85–100 mm SL) and jumbo (100–120 mm SL) and only 39.5% of those from trays (n = 1048), their meat yield did not significantly differ (pouches = 22.60 ± 0.86%; trays = 24.76 ± 0.93%). Survival in pouches (95.2 ± 0.77%) and trays (93.15 ± 2.10%) was almost parallel at harvest. Growing oysters using the new methods produced single, larger, meatier oysters of almost the same size at a shorter culture duration.The Project Team greatly appreciates the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic, and Natural Resources Research and Development of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCAARRD: Project Code 6286-TRD- DOST- O4) for this three-year project collaboration; Dr. Mari-Ann M. Acedera, Ms. Ester C. Zaragoza, Ms. Adela C. Corpuz and all the staff of the Marine Resources Research Division of DOST-PCAARRD for their assistance and support from proposal submission to project termination; the Aquaculture Department of the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC/AQD: Study Code FS-02- M2014T) for facilitating the smooth implementation of the project; Mr. Patrick Frances Alicante, Mr. Silverio Tibudan and Mr. Winnie Tibudan for their kind assistance in the field; the Local Government Unit and the people of New Washington, Aklan for welcoming the team and allowing the conduct of the experiment in their locality; Mr. Manny Librodo for his assistance in improving the resolution of the figures; and the anonymous journal reviewers for painstakingly reviewing the manuscript