When the history of Taiwan’s aquaculture industry comes to be written, Liao I-chiu is certain to be remembered for his enormous contributions to the development of artificial reproduction techniques of grass shrimp, mullet and milkfish.
Now a professor at the Institute of Zoology at National Taiwan University and chair professor at National Taiwan Ocean University, the 74-year-old researcher shared his achievements in an interview with Taiwan Today Jan. 17.
After graduating from NTU in 1960 with a degree in zoology, Liao travelled to Japan in 1962 to pursue advanced studies at Tokyo University. “I was assigned by my advisor Yoshio Ojima to study Penaeus japonicus, or kuruma prawns, and thus began my lifelong involvement with the crustacean species.”
Liao obtained his doctorate in 1968, and while conducting postdoctoral research work with Fujinaga Motosaku, Japan’s leading expert in kuruma prawns, Liao learned that a team in Taiwan had been trying to develop larval rearing techniques for Penaeus monodon, or grass shrimp, without success.
Through referral by another Taiwanese expatriate in Japan, Liao was recruited by the government in July 1968 to join the project at the Tainan branch of the Taiwan Fisheries Research Institute.
Only three months on the job, Liao led his team to successfully grow young grass shrimp in the TFRI lab, marking the first time in the world that the species was reproduced in a controlled environment. “Probably no other researcher in the world spent more time with shrimp than I did back then,” the scholar recalled.
Prior to his breakthrough, shrimp farmers in Taiwan could only obtain larvae by catching them in the wild, a method that left them to the vagaries of chance. In addition, the animals were often polycultured with other species like milkfish, making it difficult to raise them to maturity, according to Liao.
“Our work represented a milestone in Taiwan’s shrimp farming and brought forth the revolutionary development in the sector,” he pointed out.
The reproduction techniques enabled farmers to focus their efforts on growing the species, plan their production schedules and replace the traditional extensive aquaculture system, which had been Taiwan’s major mode of fish farming for over three centuries, with a more efficient and intensive approach, he explained.
Foreseeing the potential of the species as an ideal candidate for aquaculture, Liao spared no efforts in helping build Taiwan’s shrimp farming business from scratch. He visited numerous operators and provided them with young shrimp free of charge along with a set of standard operating procedures he designed. “Our team also worked with feed suppliers and successfully developed feed for the animals.”
Thanks to his instrumental efforts, the sector began to take off in the 1970s, with both the number of farms and output registering exponential growth in the following two decades.
Beginning with an annual production of only 61 tons in 1968, the sector reached its peak in 1987, when nearly 2,000 operators countrywide produced adult shrimp totaling 95,000 tons. “For a small island like Taiwan, such an output was astonishing,” the researcher said.
Of the 95,000 tons harvested that year, 42,000 were exported, contributing over US$470 million to Taiwan’s gross domestic product.
Liao was also an important figure in helping promote the sale of the shrimp in Japan. “At one point, Taiwanese exports accounted for nearly half of the shrimp consumed in Japan,” he added.
Riding on his success, Liao led his team to accomplish the same breakthrough research for mullet in a makeshift lab in Tungkang, a remote port village in southern Taiwan, marking the first time in the world that the fish was cultured in a controlled setting.
By 1976, the first batch of artificially produced young mullet had grown into mature adults and successfully produced larvae, thus establishing a complete aquaculture system for the species in Taiwan. “It was the first time Taiwan was able to reproduce and farm a saltwater fish,” Liao said.
While his team was busy growing mullet, Liao took on the additional responsibility of building a branch for the TFRI in Tungkang from the ground up. The facility later became the Tungkang Marine Laboratory, which Liao directed from 1969 to 1987, when he was promoted to head of the TFRI, a post he served until 2002.
As a scientist, Liao has never hesitated to share his research with the academic community. After completing the grass shrimp larvae culture research, he presented the world’s first paper on the topic in a regional conference on coastal aquaculture held in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 1970.
“A high-ranking government official questioned my decision. But as far as I am concerned, there is nothing more rewarding than making a discovery and sharing it with the world.” The researcher has published more than 400 academic papers so far.
Liao’s work has put the TML at the forefront of international aquaculture research. Under his leadership, the facility is now a global center for the advanced study and promotion of aquaculture, visited by thousands of researchers and scholars from around the world every year.
For example, when the World Bank agreed to help the Egyptian government develop its mullet aquaculture sector, it stipulated that the latter send its research team to the TML for training, according to Liao.
With such a proven track record in pioneering scientific research, Liao became the first and only Academia Sinica academician with a background in aquaculture. His other honors include several national awards in scientific research, membership with the Third World Academy of Science and honorary life memberships with the World Aquaculture Society and Asian Fisheries Society.
Grass shrimp has since been replaced by white shrimp as the major cultured crustacean species in Taiwan, and local farmers also face stiff competition from Southeast Asia and mainland China. Despite this, the local sector still enjoys great advantages, the expert pointed out.
“Taiwan’s ideal location allows operators to farm around 150 marine species on the island, more than any other country in the world,” he said. But to maintain this edge, “the public and private sectors need to make some changes in the way the business is operated.”
Liao urged the government to establish special zones where farmers in the same business can cluster together for more efficient operation, in much the same way the country’s science parks are run. “It will be easier for the government to regulate the sector this way.”
Instead of expanding output for export, at the expense of quality, local farmers could benefit even more by focusing on the domestic market, according to Liao. “The government can take the initiative to plan annual production for each species to ensure stable supply and maintain market order,” he said. “Quality and safety always come first. No matter how low their prices, imported seafood can never compete with locally grown fresh foodstuffs.”
Looking back at the four decades he spent in assisting Taiwan’s aquaculture sector, both as a researcher and a government official, Liao said, “I think I have done my share serving my country.” For someone who helped shape Taiwan’s aquaculture landscape and improved the lives of numerous farmers nationwide, that is clearly an understatement. (HZW)
Write to Meg Chang at meg.chang@mail.gio.gov.tw