After the Lantern Festival, it is time for baby abalone in New Taipei City Marine Resources Recovery Park to move.
Baby abalone that were bred last October have grown to be approximately one centimeter long after living on corrugated boards for over four months.
These abalones will move to a cultivation pool suitable for their growth and will grow up healthily with the good care of the breeders.
Additionally, the abalone will be released to the waters of New Taipei City in mid-May and become new force for the recovery of marine resources in New Taipei City.
Wen Lee, the Commissioner of Agriculture Department, New Taipei City, indicated that to enrich New Taipei City's marine resources, New Taipei City Marine Resources Recovery Park cultivates baby abalone in mid-October every year.
When these babies grow to two to three centimeters in May the next year, the park invites elementary and junior high school students in the city to release them to the waters of New Taipei City in the hope that the breeding, cultivation and release of abalone will increase marine resources and root the concept of conservation as well.
It has been over four months for baby abalone to attach on plastic corrugated boards since they hatched in mid-October, 2018. These abalones have grown to be approximately one centimeter long. Xiu- Feng Lin-Guo, the abalone breeder of the marine resources recovery park, stated that abalones like to hide in the darkness in the daytime and come out at night. To cater to abalone’s benthic and light-avoiding habitual behavior for them to grow rapidly and healthily, breeders pave and pile up five-leg tiles at the bottom of cultivation pools to make covering space similar to reef rocks and caves before gently brushing baby abalone off plastic corrugated boards into the pools.
Additionally, they start feeding the abalone with gracilaria. The breeding task for baby abalone has been changed from scooping up large suspending algae into feeding them with gracilaria and cleaning the cultivation pool regularly.
Thanks to these breeders who industriously feed abalone and maintain their living environment, baby abalone can grow up healthily and be prepared for being released later this year.