Building a Floating Net Platform for Lobster 'grow-out' Aquaculture

[jamesmusslewhite]

---

Well at the point of this posting I had more bamboo delivered, cut and temporarily lashed as decking, unfortunately we have only found enough to complete two sides of the walkway but it is still enough to do the trick. We pulled the platform approximately 12-15 meters out from the shore directly across from our front gate and tied a mooring rope to a coconut tree. We used doubled-rice sacks as anchors, 5 sacks to an anchor line and one anchor line at each corner of the platform. This is to prevent the platform from twisting at low-tide during stormy weather.



Using the mooring line to the tree also helped to maintain a prospective of 'square' when out in the boats trying to plumb the platform to the island. the current flows in opposite directions, determined by the tides, so the platform drifts. So it makes it more difficult using paddle boats to determine exactly where to drop the first two anchor lines. The mooring line is a huge help as the platform could be easily corrected by one boat while the other boat could drop the anchor lines.



As you can clearly see the anchor line is far from being high-tech. You paddle out and push the rice sack out which is connected directly anchor line. These sacks are filled with rocks and cement chunks and weigh 70-90 (kilograms) each.



Now it gets suffocated... A piece of rope is tied tightly around the neck of the sack, and tightly tied as to have a strong rope loop. Then a medium size stone is placed inside the neck and above the stone the sack is firmly tied. These typed of anchors then has the anchor line threaded through the loop, and then the sack is dropped into the water where it slides down the anchor line were it rests on the seafloor. Four of the type of anchors are used on all four corners of the platform.



The whole process is really simple and new quality rice sacks are sold in most wet-markets. Double or triple the sacks so the will last.

[jamesmusslewhite]

I wonder how many members would love to have a piece of yard-art like that just outside their front gate?



Well it was time to start lashing down the large 'grow-out' net. For readers who have interest in building their own floating nets there is something you need to know. Currents and wave-action will cause a net to sway from side-to-side and nets will naturally sag in the middle making your square net akin to a limp cock. This opens all kinds of issues you want to avoid. The solution is easy if it is done right, but many sources (drawings) show a pretty picture but are made by people who actually do not have a clue about nets. A prime example is this drawing found in the internet.



One is the placement of barrows as they need to be elevated if you notice I use elevated supports to raise the frame much higher. This helps compensate for the (wet) weight of the netting and lifts the frame higher above the wave-action. This helps moderate waves from washing over the top of the walkway decking which can cause structural damage. The drawing also minimizes the need for strong top-rail to raise the sides of the net. During storms lobster will actually climb up to the edge of the water line, which means if waves are washing over your walkways and slamming into your nets. There is a reasonable possibility the net poles will quickly fail. And if that happens those clever little sea bugs will be surfing those waves to freedom.

Also and more important they imply attaching sag-weights directly to the bottom of the net edges which increase the chance of rips and tears in the netting. This is because wave action will cause those sag-weights to erratically sway and pop against netting. The next drawing is my own and shows the proper way to attach sag-weights.



The sag-weights are not connected directly to the bottom edge of the netting. Instead the sag-weight is extended by a line attached to platform frame, slightly wider than the bottom if the netting. This slight tugs the bottom straight and flat. What the drawing does not show is that under the net there are cords are also tied to the saw-weight which is directly across from it. This creates a cris-crossing of support lines adding support to the net floor which helps prevent the net from excessive sagging. If you have several hundred individuals as weight 500-grams each then net-sag can really be an issue.



Here the main 'grow-out' net was being lashed down and the sag-weight lines were being tied to the bottom of the platform frame at the same time. The sag-weights are just a lighter version of the anchor weights, each sag-weight weighing approximately 10-13 kilograms.



This Youtube video of mine clearly shows the sag-weighs and anchor lined under the water-line.

[jamesmusslewhite]

While the work had been progressing and the floating platform had been properly anchored into place, I had ordered the first delivery of early stage Algal-juveniles. At this time I started a Youtube video series entitled ''Life in the Net, a lobster study. Below is a link to the first video in that series.



To date, at the time of this posting, there are 5 videos of this series which has so far been posted. I apologize for the poor quality of the video, perhaps at a later date I can re-edit them adding a voiceover slideshow with Filipino subtitles. The month before this first video was posted Youtube had chosen to remove most of their video editing features such as filters, color enhancement and image stability. This video with shot with a newly acquired
Active Eye PRO-30 1080P Wi-Fi DV SPORTSCAM camera in a waterproof case. The waterproof case muffles the sound so all speech is barely audible, and the camera mounted on the end of a length of bamboo makes the video shaky and difficult to properly aim. I hope by the time I make the 6th or 7th video in this series I will improve the stability of the video, color enhancement and include a voiceover and photos.

I found a couple of free downloadable audio and video editing software which I have been learning to enhance the video quality, but I will be learning all this as I go as new videos are being made. Later this year once the rainy season has passed I hope to be uploading a new video of this series onto my Youtube channel every two weeks. This will document the progress, development and growth rate of the lobsters housed in the net enclosure.

[jamesmusslewhite]

The Panulirus 'ornatus' 'Tiger' lobster are native to the Philippines and are one of four different species of lobster I have seen captured just off the shoreline of this small island. All are tasty little sea-bugs and bring a fair price in the local wet-markets. The buyer's price for a 'Tiger' lobster, at the time of this posting, is 2,800php (per kilogram) so they are expensive little critters. This one in the photo weighed (900 gram) when caught 140 meters from our shoreline.



but the net has also yielded a few few (eaten size) of another type of tasty lobster.



This little jewel is a Thenus orientalis (Brown Slipper Lobster) and I find to be as tasty or even more tasty than the 'Tiger' lobster, and these we get to actually eat. I ate my Tigers when raising them as a mere hobby, but now they are a business and one should never eat their profits.



this is what their underside looks like.



I am actually thinking of also trying to raise these from eggs. They have a considerably shorter larval period and they can grow to a weight of 2 kilogram and they are tasty. Their diets are similar and can be raised on the same platforms just in separate nets.



These little bad boys were both caught within 200 meters of this island and are known as 'Mantis shrimp' in Filipinos that are commonly called tatampal, hipong-dapa or alupihang-dagat. But if you do not handle them carefully you will be quickly calling them by a whole host of really bad words. There is a reason these little sea bugs are also called ''thumb-spliters'', in fact they can not be raised in a 'grow-out' net enclosure like other species of lobsters. This is because they can literally slice right through the netting and easily escape. One must build a concrete tank to raise them to large size because the can actually puncture a hole in most aquarium glass. I hope that in a few years to build a couple of cement tanks with a separate 'closed-circulation system so I can try to breed and raise them to market size. They are very tasty and many locals tell me that they prefer Mantis shrimp over lobster. I found them to be quite favorable and the flesh to be a little more chewy than the 'Tiger' lobster. They sell for 1,200php (per kilo) here in the locally wet-market. I love living in this area of Northern Mindanao...

[jamesmusslewhite]

.
.
----------------------- There are two buyer's prices:

--500+ gram weight - Sub-adult size individuals @ 3,000php (per kilogram)

1,000+ gram weight - Adult size individuals ---- @ 4,000php (per kilogram)



Current approximate cost of Pueruli size individuals (fingerlings) -------- 200php - 350php (per individual)

Current approximate cost of Algal-juvenile individuals (fingerlings) ------ 350php - 550php (per individual)



---------Growth Weight Times: Individual Size to Market Weights

Puerulus:

to-- 500 gram ------------- (under) 10-12 months

to 1,000 gram ------------- (under) 14-16 months


Algal-juvenile:

to-- 500 gram ------------- (under) 8-10 months

to 1,000 gram ------------- (under) 12-14 months


------------(With proper diet nutrition and feeding ratios)

[karlosmiguelito]

My wife's father was from Trinidad, Bohol. His uncle was President Carlos P. Garcia, his mother was Carlos Garcia's sister. My wife remembers Carlos playing his ukulele and singing to her so she would dance for him. He would reward her with fruits and candies. At the time she was perhaps 3 or four years old. After Carlos Garcia die her father and mother moved from Bohol to the Dinagat Island area. I met my wife back when Marcos was still president (just before the People's Power overthrow). I brought my wife to the US and we were married in 1987, and in 2008 I retired and we moved here so my wife could be near her family. We just celebrated our 33rd year of marriage, We have lived here in the Dinagat Island/Surigao City area for over 10 years, and we both love the sea culture.

This style of net platform can easily be used to grow-out saltwater fish species such as milkfish, saltwater catfish, grouper etc. and can also be used in freshwater rivers and lakes areas. They can also be used for raising lobster, shrimp, and crab etc. as they are very adaptable. I still have quite a lot of information to add to this thread which details how they are constructed and detailing how they are used in lobster 'grow-out' aquaculture. Presently this platform is housing 396 latent-juvenile size 'Tiger' lobster in the net enclosure, so I will also be discussing step-by-step how to properly raise 'Tiger' lobster from pueruli (fingerlings) to (500gram) size Sub-adult. I will be discussing their general care, food types and feeding ratios as well as proper net maintenance practices. So I hope you continue to the thread as well as watch videos on my Youtube channel. I am thinking of perhaps starting a website in April or May which will be dedicated to aquaculture/mariculture but I am a retired commercial horticulturalist so I will also be including a wide range of farm and garden topics as well.

James ,You've posted a very detailed and informative information. I'll follow and subscribe your youtube channel. Hope to see more videos and posting here . Thanks

[jamesmusslewhite]

James ,You've posted a very detailed and informative information. I'll follow and subscribe your youtube channel. Hope to see more videos and posting here . Thanks

Thank you, and yes I will be adding more information, photos and videos relating to this topic and other lobster 'grow-out' aquacultural topics. I am presently working on the second video of the 3-part Lobster Aquaculture 101 series and hope to have it uploaded by the end of May. I have 2/3rd of the voiceover work completed and 1/3rd of the slideshow already uploaded so that project is progressing well. I believe the running will be around 90 minutes logs, which is about the same length of the first video. It will cover quite a few topics including aspects of pueruli collection methods and devices fishermen use to live capture pueruli and juvenile seedstock. Once that second video of the 3-part series is uploaded I will immediately start on the third video which has quite a bit of in-depth information on both general care, husbandry, feeding, met maintenance and transport of lobster fingerlings. This 3-part video series when finished will have a total running time if 4.5 hours and will consistent of almost 3,000 slide images. So I am glad you plan to follow and watch the series. And please feel free to download and share the video series with others who you feel may be interested in lobster 'grow-out aquaculture.

The reason I am making this video series is solely for educational purposes and is intended to be openly shared with the public. If it only enriches the lives a single Pinoy family, it will have made the years of working on this video project well worth the effort. I hope someday that I can have the resources to as additional voiceover tracks. Then they can be re-translated from English into Tagalog, Visayan and Cebuano so they can be more easily easily understood and openly shared within the more rural communities.

[Qurani]

This is a very nice thread. I have enjoyed reading it. It is also very good idea for starting a small business with lobsters. And especially on Philippines where environment is allowing natural growth of lobsters. But,market price should be higher in order to sustain lobster community

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well I finally finished the second video of the 3-part Youtube video series ‘Tropical Spiny Rock Lobster 101 - species Panulirus 'ornatus' - Video (2of3)’ which I started work on New Year’s day. It is almost an hour and forty-five minutes long so it is about twenty minutes longer than the first video of this series. The issue was a lack of posted photos on the internet which related on the subjects discussed, which required my digging through my own personal archive of photos and quite a bit of artwork needing to be created. But I am satisfied with the end results and it feels good to have this second video of the series finally uploaded. I have a few smaller video projects that I have had on hold, one is a couple of videos of the lobsters in the grow-out nets which follows what was done through a local disease outbreak; and the other project is a collaboration with a local Filipino lobster buyer/shipper/transporter who’s skills and technique is extremely successful, and we will video and discuss all the steps needed to properly prepare and ship lobster at distances in excess of 10 hours. Rio has shipped lobster as far as the Middle East with successes of 100% survival rates of delivered stock. He has decades if practice hands-on experiences in lobster aquaculture and is a walking ‘treasure trove’ of knowledge which he wants to share.

https://youtu.be/D5Im52lkdwo