Long-term Change and Factors Affecting the Fatness of the Pacific Oyster Crassostrea gigas in Tongyeong-Geoje Bays, Korea

The decrease in fatness of the Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas, which consequently results in decrease in the profit of aquaculture industry, has become a source of serious concern in southeast coast of Korea. The ratio of flesh (edible portion) to total oyster weight, commonly called edible portion yield ("suyul" in Korean), have been used as a fatness index for the healthy and valuable state of oyster from the early stage of oyster farming in Korea. More than 360 data sets were collected from early culturing periods (in the 1970s) to the present from approximately 15 published literatures to evaluate the long-term fatness trend of oyster, reared particularly in submerged longline culturing system in Gyeongsangnam-do province. Slight decrease in oyster fatness during the 1970s to 1990s was detected in Tongyeong and Geoje Bays; however, from the 1990s to the present, clear decreasing trends were observed with a decrease of 0.04-0.08% year^-1, especially during harvest season. Oyster mass production per unit area almost doubled within a short period in the early 2000s; however, changes in coastal environment factors inhibited the fattening of shellfish from the mid 1990s. These results indicate that the severe competition in feeding and low biological production in water column might be some convincing reasons for the decrease in fatness of oyster from the 1990s, in Tongyeong and Geoje Bays, Korea.

통영-거제해역 수하연 양식 참굴(Crassostrea gigas)의 비만도 장기변화와 영향 요인 고찰