The Penghu Marine Biology Research Center announced Nov. 7 that a process it developed has been used to successfully breed tens of thousands of seahorses in one batch.
“The potential business opportunities deriving from this technology are huge,” said Tsai Wann-sheng, director of the center, which is part of the Council of Agriculture’s Fisheries Research Institute.
“For medicinal uses, one kilogram of seahorses can fetch between NT$70,000 (US$2,382) and NT$80,000, while a single seahorse is worth at least NT$300 on the ornamental fish market,” Tsai said. In traditional Chinese medicine, seahorses are used as an aid to circulation and to treat sexual impotence and urinary incontinence.
Tsai noted that no other country has developed complete technology for breeding seahorses, and that the actual length of time it takes for seahorse eggs to spawn and produce a product ready for sale was previously unknown.
“Our center can now provide mass production technology to industry to produce seahorses for the market in a period of four to five months, at a survival rate of more than 50 percent,” he said.
According to Tsai, the center is already in negotiations with companies on transfer of the technology for large-scale seahorse farming.
“I hope this can lead to greater profits for the enterprises, as well as reduce the need for seahorse fishing, which is threatening their survival in the wild,” he said. (SB)