MIDWATER CAGE CULTURE OF THE COMMERCIAL SCALLOP PECTEN-FUMATUS REEVE-1852 IN TASMANIA

Juvenile scallops were obtained from spat collectors deployed in Mercury Passage, off the east coast of Tasmania. The scallops were maintained at two sites (a sheltered inshore bay and an open site exposed to oceanic water) using modified Japanese culture techniques including both pearl nets and lantern cages. At the exposed site, legal commercial size (80 mm shell width) was achieved in 20 months of culture. Legal commercial size was not achieved at the sheltered site. At both sites, however, the growth rate was a minimum of 0.5 mm/week and survival of scallops was greater than 90%. Processed scallops, from the exposed site, averaged 13.7 g meat weight, a figure comparable with yields from wild fished scallops.