Building a Small Lobster Hatchery here in the Philippines

[jamesmusslewhite]

One question I know most readers will ask is, how much does a lobster fingerling cost?

Well one would think it would be an easy answer but it really is not. It is such a sliding scale that there is really no set price for a fingerling. As a rule the locals tend to size them according to being the approximate size of batteries. Smaller than a 'AAA' are risky when buying as they are more prone to shock during being transported long-distances. Typically 90php-150php each, but if you purchase 100 pieces and you have 50% loss than you have actually paid 180php-300php.'AA' typically cost 200php-350php. 'D' size 400php-850php.

'AAA' size can easily take 12-14 months to reach the market weight of .5 kilo

'AA' size can take 8-10 months to reach market weight.

'A' size can take 6-8 months to reach market weight.

To successfully get breeding pairs to mate is quite possible. The triggers are controlled diet, regulated water temperature, and appropriate lighting. A female can be induced to breed three times a year. A New Zealand hatchery in 2002 carefully logged the production of one breeder pair which actually mated 3 times in one year. This female released 1.6 million fertile eggs of which successfully produced 1.1 million viable Planktonic Phyllosoma (larva) in just one yearly cycle. So yes it is quite possible and have multiple females producing fertile eggs in one facility. The facility I have designed actually houses five mature females and three mature males.

The larvae are very sensitive, highly susceptible to heavy losses and are voraciously cannibalistic. Because of this there are a lot of variables which must first be considered, anticipated and properly address There must be redundant procedures and protocols in place to even expect to successfully obtain any sizable percentage of a crop to successfully survive through Stage IV growth inside the facility. Once the larvae progress to latent Stage 5 they are then placed into floating net cages where they have to be regularly monitored. They must be separated by size and removed and isolated during molting cycles as they shed their hard outer shell and are then extremely vulnerable to injury from attacks by other lobsters within their enclosure.

Do it correctly and it can be a very profitable venture, make one miscalculation, fail to anticipate a problem, try to cut corners, get lazy or stupid, fail to properly follow through a required procedure or fall short of their nutrition requirements at any of their first 5 stages of growth and you can lose most if not all of a crop within mere hours or days. Every larvae lost will cost you a potential sale. A single lobster can be sold for 90php to upwards of 3,000php depending on the size at the point of sale. Losing 80,000-800,000 or more in a period of a year can seriously cost you.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Another question members and readers might ask is, just how much does a lobster hut cost to build and maintain?

For the most part the expense to setup a lobster hut is not that much. First you try to find a location that has a decent current flow, that at low tides still maintains a water depth no less than 1 meter. You have to have someone attend the nets and feed your product, so you need someone you can trust to live out on the hut at night to protect your nets from possible thieves. If you have family members who you trust then this is a good venture to invest in. I have built three lobster huts over the last six years. Non actually cost me more than $800 to construct (including nets).

 

The first Lobster hut I built was constructed deep in the mangroves forest of Cabunga-an, Dinagat Island.

 

 

It was a great place to visit as it was secluded and peaceful. I had some really peaceful sleeps and fun family gatherings there. I raised a few crops of lobster there and it certainly more than paid for itself as well as served as an education on right and wrong ways. The main issue being in the mangroves was problems caused during the heavy downpours encountered during heavy rains, especially during the long extended rains during rainy seasons. Fresh water runoffs quickly changes the waters in the cages from clean saltwater to a murky brackish water. The mud stirred up by these fresh water runoff quickly changes the water salinity and the mud stirred up actually irritated the lobster. It did cause some unnecessary lose of product.

 

I took that hard earned lesson and incorporated it into the design of the hatchery. I designed into the lobster facility a large concrete storage tank 10 foot (long) x 5 foot (wide) x 6 foot (height) to insure that I always have a sufficient clean saltwater reserve on standby during the long extended rains. Though we sold the mangrove hut I certainly learned a lot about the process which I used knowledge gained there and incorporated into the design and in the implementation of various processes. I also carried this knowledge over in the construction of the next two lobster huts we were to later built and are currently still operating.

 

 

 

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

The second Lobster hut was built less than 20 minutes by boat from our farm. Cost (including net) was less than $300.

The area maintains a heaver water flow and does not experience the brackish condition during heavy rains as encountered in our old hut, nor does the water get murky and muddy. We only have 26 out of the original 50 lobsters and they are very close to market size. This was the cheapest to build as it merely has a small hut. The hut is built next to the huts of an uncle of my wife and his sons so there was no need for anything larger. We only periodically visit the hut to check on the stock but we never sleepover at this hut. The hut serves more as for storage than anything else. This one is a very basic (K.I.S.S.) setup with no bells or whistles. 

Now once I get the lobster hatchery in operation I will be taking some of the Stage IV surplus fingerlings here and place them in fine mesh nets to try to see if we can successfully raise them. A female can release over 300,000 larvae but we will initially only have the have the grow-out capacity in our Stage IV trays for 57,600 larvae. I would like to expand the platforms and add additional nets if it proves to be successful. I could use these surplus fingerlings in a free-release program to later be released in designated areas.  

Edited October 2, 2016 by jamesmusslewhite

[Paul_QLD]

Amazing story, hope it works out well for you

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

This lobster hut is the third one we built and is still a work in progress. We have a net in the water but have no stock presently in the net. We built a smaller hutch now out in front of this one to use for storage This lobster hut we built so we can use it as a getaway as I love staying out over the water, but once I asked to be a partner and build this lobster hatchery we have decided to wait putting any stock in the net. My wife and I decided to keep upgrading the hut and increase the size of the decking. Then once I start producing fingerlings in the hatchery then I will add additional floating nets and stock them. Besides we can only do so much. Between our farm, building this facility and a few agrarian projects at our business partner's farm we already have a lot of irons in the fire right now already. 

 

This hut is constructed primarily out of ironwood and hardwood which will insure many years of operation. We had been collecting the materials (a little here and a little there) for almost two years. We then built our boat (thread on that project is in the boat forum) so it would be finished last November as the tidal forces really pull out the water and would make it very easy to properly dig the holes and set the ironwood poles. We only had about a three week window of opportunity before the waters would cease this yearly phenomenon and we would have had to wait another whole year. Thankfully we finished the boat on time and we were able to start on the project. For about three weeks every morning for a period of about 6 hours a day the tide pulls out unusually far, so the area which normally has a normal low tide water depth of about 4 feet is then only a depth of just a few inches. Perfect to get the poles properly set into place and to be able to comfortably work under the decking areas to easily place and nail the supports and beams.

 

Some may say that nobody seems to be actually doing any work in these photos. This is because I would take the photos during a mid-day work break. The work pace was fast and furious and the work days were long. The boats needed to loaded and launched around 3am so they could reach the work site before the tide water pulled out and the work did not stop until almost dark when the rising tide allowed us to navigate back up the river inlet where we kept the boat.

Edited October 2, 2016 by jamesmusslewhite

[jamesmusslewhite]

The waters were beginning to return back to their normal low tide water levels after only a couple of weeks, but by then all the poles and underside work have already been completed, as I had already said that there was a very small window of opportunity which only happens once a year. Our timing had been perfect and now we started on the upper work.

And as my wife's sister shows, it is such a rough life out on a lobster hut.

Now this hut is about half the size of our first but it was much lighter construction and lots and lots of bamboo. When you weigh 220 lbs bamboo flooring is always a concern. This hut is ironwood and hardwood and can easily last a decade or more. I will eventually replace all the nepa with marine plywood. Cost so far has been around $1,200 for what you see here. But there is another small hut now out in front of this one which is not pictured. I will also be extending the working deck areas and adding floating nets so that cost can quickly more than double or triple the total cost once done. But it's built to last and able to house several hundreds of lobsters in different stages of growth. Expensive as that may seem to some, the profits off one 10 month crop would easily recover all construction costs plus the funds to restock the nets. The facility can also last 10-20 years with little structural maintenance.

 

Quick figure (conservative)

Stock cost: 300 lobsters fingerlings @ 350php each = 105,000php 

Sell price: 300 (.5 kilo weight) @ 1,200php =360,000

of course minus cost of rice and labor for attendant and any feed expenses.

 

This hut setup when completely finished can house 1,500-4,000 fingerling

stock cost: 1,500 lobster fingerlings @ 350php each = 525,000php

Sell price: 1,500 (.5 kilo weight) @ 1,200php = 1.800,000php

of course minus cost of rice and labor for attendant and any feed expenses.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Now floating net platforms are another way to go. This will be done here at this facility along with floating cages as they allow the most nets in the water for the least construction cost while allowing a stable working platform and housing attendants and supplies. These videos I took in Davao a few years back before I traveled to Maldives to design a Lobster/grouper floating platform there. I went with the Speaker of the Maldives Parliament and his associate there to look at some working mariculture platforms before traveling further down the coast to tour a small shrimp hatchery.

floating platforms

 

Shrimp hatchery note: this small shrimp was producing 3.5 million units (individual shrimp) per crop

 

A few years back I had visited a local lobster buyer's place here in Surigao City. When there I saw a couple of simple water tank setups that was used to house lobsters. The tanks were simply made out of marine plywood and were tiered so that a single small sump pump could distribute recirculated water to each tank and allow the overflow and gravity to help aerate the system. This could easily be adapted for use in a freshwater aquaponic system as well. I decided to add it to the thread because a really good and inexpensive alternative idea should be shared.

 

[jamesmusslewhite]

Shortly after we moved to the island (approx. 4 weeks) we started collecting the materials and once enough was boated over from the mainland we started clearing the land and began working on the roof joists and setting the poles inside the structure. While that project was making headway. I started to design, fabricate and install the rain gutters down each side of the nepa roof to catch the rain water so it can be collected in racks of 55 gallon drums. This is so this valuable resource can be stored to use for watering the gardens and the lawns once all the landscape work is completed later next year. The heavy gutters needed to be hung in place and properly secured and sealed before the nepa roofing squares are put on the roof.

 

Still so much to do before we can even start actually building inside the facility.

Edited October 2, 2016 by jamesmusslewhite

[jamesmusslewhite]

While the roofing project is progressing we are receiving more materials needed for other projects which need to be started.

everything including freshwater has to be boat delivered to the island.

I have to put in temporary raised garden beds and will be using the outer cuts of the coconut trees which were cut for the lumber used to make the roof joist and beams. these coconut outer rough cuts will be used for the main construction of the wooden frames for the garden beds. Later these garden beds will be lined with hollow blocks and this wooden frame will simply be removed. Doing this allows us to plant these vegetables now giving me a head start on having productive vegetable gardens on the island.

[jamesmusslewhite]

These Youtube video show the progress on this project during the first six weeks of our having moved to the island and breaking ground on this project. We have been busy.

 

 

This one I had to add a soundtrack to help cover the annoying wind sound caused by the mic volume settings on the cell phone. I am sorry for the audio quality.

 

 

 

• I hope you enjoy the videos. I will be posting new videos each week as this progress continues on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7Rkikd3hnZ0MgGyXiJh5KA
•  and feel free to subscribe, drop a like or two or just leave comments or questions.