Aquaculture researchers from National Taiwan University (NTU) say that genetic analysis is yielding new insight into the workings of a virus that has devastated shrimp stocks in the nation since it was discovered in 1992.
Although her team is working on a way of inoculating shrimp against the dreaded White Spot Syndrome Baculovirus Complex(WSSV), aquaculture researcher Lo Chu-fang (羅竹芳) said that there was much Taiwanese shrimp farmers could do to overcome the disease through better aquaculture practices.
"We found that during periods of stress, the level of WSSV increases in the shrimp's body at an astonishing rate," Lo said. "For instance, we have observed virus levels increasing 100,000-fold during spawning, which is a stressful event."
Local shrimp-rearing methods put a lot of stress on shrimp stocks because local shrimp farmers tend to adopt a very intensive approach, Lo said.
"We are talking about keeping up to a million shrimp per hectare of aquaculture pond whereas abroad 300,000 to 400,000 is the norm," Lo said.
She said that not only were crowded shrimp more susceptible to WSSV, the conditions may have actually caused the condition in the first place.
"WSSV did not appear until 1992," said Lo, who has been working on the virus for many years. "Our research found that previously the virus was an obscure and largely harmless one affecting certain species of crab."
However, once the virus started affecting farmed shrimp, it spread rapidly.
"They say that WSSV spreads as the wind blows," Lo said.
Major asian shrimp production areas are affected, including Thailand and China. However, Australia remains unaffected by WSSV.
Lo's research, which includes the discovery of a way of testing for WSSV, has helped some shrimp producers abroad drastically reduce losses to WSSV from up to 80 percent to less than 5 percent.
Paradoxically, Taiwanese producers have been slower to adopt the researchers' advice, Lo said.
SEND A MESSAGE: Sinking the amphibious assault ship, the lead warship of its class, is meant to show China the US Navy is capable of sinking their ships, an analyst said The US and allied navies plan to sink a 40,000-tonne ship at the latest Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise to simulate defeating a Chinese amphibious assault on Taiwan. This year’s RIMPAC — the 29th iteration of the world’s largest naval exercise — involves the US, 28 partners, more than 25,000 personnel, 40 warships, three submarines and more than 150 aircraft operating in and around Hawaii from yesterday to Aug. 1, the US Navy said in a press release. The major components of the event include multidomain warfare exercises in multiship surface engagements, anti-submarine warfare and multi-axis defense of a carrier strike
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
The airspace around Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport and Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) is to be closed for an hour on July 25 and July 23 respectively, due to the Han Kuang military exercises, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The annual exercise is to be held on Taiwan proper and its outlying islands from July 22 to 26. During last year’s exercise, the military conducted anti-aircraft landing drills at the Taoyuan airport for the first time, for which a one-hour no-fly ban was issued. Based on a live-fire bulletin sent out by the Maritime and Port Bureau, the nation’s
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we