Export market could snap up clams

ANEW Hawaiian study has found considerable potential for expand ing giant clam aquaculture in the South Pacific islands.

The report, compiled for the Centre for Tropical and Subtropical Aquacul ture under a US Department of Agricul ture grant, said that natural stocks of the family tridacnidea had been depleted by over-harvesting. But advances in culture techniques had made expansion of giant clam farming possible, the main problem being lack of marketing information.

The report found markets for giant clams as food in Okinawa, Taiwan,

Australia and within the Pacific islands; and some demand for clams as aquarium species in Japan, Australia and the US, and as seedstock and broodstock within the South Pacific.

The report said that clam aquaculture could provide the mini-states of the South Pacific with food, employment and foreign exchange via export. Pilot clam farming operations already operate in American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and the Solomon Islands, and large-scale commercial farming by the end of the decade was possible.

The authors of the report conducted surveys among seafood brokers in Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Australia and the US, who estimate the food market in Okinawa could absorb up to 500 tonnes of giant clams in-shell primarily for sashimi and sushi dishes. In Taiwan a market existed for fresh or frozen giant clam adductor muscles, although the demand was for muscles from clams under five years old. The market poten tial was estimated at 240 tonnes per year,

but the feasibility of producing large

clam muscles at competitive prices needed to be studied. Australian seafood buyers indicated that pacific islanders living there provided an identifiable market for clam meat, and suggested it also be promoted in the US. □