Credit for the cage photo: Samart Detsathit (Thailand)
Credit for the species photo: Worawut Koedprang (Thailand)
Review: Samarat, Worawut and Abdel Rahman El Gamal
The culture of grouper in floating net cages is primarily undertaken in in the southern and eastern provinces of Thailand. The main species of cultured groupers are Epinephelus coioides and Epinephelus malabaricus.
Seeds are mainly collected from the wild as the fry produced through artificial are either insufficient or unstable. The insufficient supply of seeds of suitable size and quality is considered a limiting factor to the further growth of grouper farming. The stocking rates in cages vary significantly and could range from 20-100 fish/m2.
Cage farmers used to feed grouper on trash fish including yellow-stripe trivially, sardine or mackerel whether minced, chopped, cut or kept whole depending on the size of fish being fed. However, the artificial feed is available, but its price is seen expensive by many farmers.
In regard to growth rate, grouper could grow to 500 g within 7-8 month and could attain 1.2 kg within 12-14 months after stocking.
Because grouper culture has been placed high in the national plan, there are several research institutes working on grouper culture. The most prominent is the National Institute of Coastal Aquaculture (NICA) located in Songklha in southern Thailand.
