The cultivation of the oyster is not at all a new venture to increase one of man’s shellfish foods, for it started in China some 2,000 years ago. The early Romans also cultivated oysters. Today, oyster culture is at its peak of development in France, Holland, Norway, United States, Japan, Canada, England, and Australia. In the Philippines the culture of this important shellfish is just in its initial stage of development.
Within Bacoor Bay, Cavite Province, Luzon, alone there are about 200 hectares of oyster farms belonging to private individuals who have adopted the artificial cultivation of four species of oysters—Ostrea iredalei (talabang chinelas), O. mala- bonensis (kukong kabayo), O. cucullata (pulid-pulid), and O. palmipes (culot) by the stick (tulus), the hanging (bitin), the line (sampayan) and the tray (bangsal) methods. The rapid development of the oyster culture industry in this bay is due to the desire of local fishermen to have other sources of income aside from actual fishing and other home industries. There are many private oyster growers who have utilized every space of their enclosed areas so as to increase the production of oyster to the maximum. Bacoor Bay is ideal for the culture of oyster owing to the availability of heavy spats every year in the month of August and of materials for making oyster cultch and to the abundance of its natural food.
View the PDF Article