Scallop Aquaculture And Fisheries In Venezuela

Abstract This chapter discusses the biology, fishery and aquaculture of scallops in Venezuela. The Venezuelan coast, in the southwestern Caribbean Sea, is a tropical region that supports a high diversity of bivalve molluscs, including 10 species of scallops. Nodipecten nodosus and Euvola ziczac are exploited along the coast for local consumption but are not abundant enough to support a commercial fishery. Industrial trawling was used to exploit Amusium papyraceum , Amusium laurenti and to a lesser extent Argopecten nucleus , until 2009, when this type of fishing was banned. Amusium papyraceum forms large beds in Venezuela and landings reached almost 1900 t per year in 1989. The large size of the adductor muscle of Euvola ziczac and Nodipecten nodosus suggests that these species should be good candidates for aquaculture and a number of studies have evaluated their growth and survival in suspended and bottom culture. Argopecten nucleus is a medium-sized scallop, up to 50–55 mm in shell height, and is also a good species for aquaculture; however, few studies have been conducted to establish techniques for its culture. For E. ziczac and N. nodosus , the low numbers of juveniles in natural beds and the small number of spat recruiting on suspended structures indicate that commercial culture would require spat production in a hatchery, and techniques for their production have been developed. Sufficient spat of Argopecten nucleus can be obtained from suspended collectors to support small-scale production, but a hatchery would be needed to support production on a commercial level. Hatchery and aquaculture techniques developed for scallops in Venezuela would likely be applicable to other areas in the Caribbean Sea.