Raising pearl oysters in net cages, a young man in Phu Quoc earns big profits

Mr. Nguyen Van Truong (28 years old, in Duong To commune, Phu Quoc city, Kien Giang ) made a cylindrical net cage, more than 1 meter long, then hung a rope on a fish raft to raise pearl oysters. With this new method, he made a profit when selling them for 30,000 VND/each.

Nuôi con trai ngọc nữ trong lồng lưới, chàng trai trẻ ở Phú Quốc thu lợi to - Ảnh 1. — Mr. Truong is happy to have successfully raised pearl oysters in a net cage under the sea - Photo: CHI CONG

On November 17, speaking with Tuoi Tre Online , Mr. Truong said that in 2022, when he returned home to help his family, he discovered that his pearl oysters were living on the family's cobia and grouper rafts.

After catching it and trying it, he felt that the pearl oyster's meat was delicious, sweet and chewy, so he decided to learn about this bivalve mollusk.

At first, he looked up information about pearl oysters on the internet. Then, knowing their growth habits, he started diving and looking for young ones around his family's fish farm to raise.

The pearl oyster he raised has a large, wing-shaped shell with large filaments used to cling to the substrate. The inside of this oyster has a mother-of-pearl, silvery sheen. This species feeds on plankton and leftover fish food. However, when it encounters unfavorable conditions regarding food and water sources, it spins its own filaments and drifts with the current.

To ensure productivity, Mr. Truong used old nets and bought additional iron frames to make his own hanging net cages (net cages have 4 compartments, each compartment holds 45-70 pearl oysters) at a depth of 5-10m below the seabed.

Nuôi con trai ngọc nữ trong lồng lưới, chàng trai trẻ ở Phú Quốc thu lợi to - Ảnh 2. — Mr. Truong raises pearl oysters with large, wing-shaped shells and large filaments used to cling to the substrate - Photo: CHI CONG

"At first, I raised about 5,000 pearl oysters. Because I did not understand this species, I encountered many difficulties and did not meet my expectations. I continued to learn more information about this species and raised it again and was successful. Currently, the fish farm has an area of 100 square ^meters , I raise about 8,000 pearl oysters and am selling them," Mr. Truong happily said.

Selling price 30,000 VND/bird (the bird weighs about 300gr). The time to raise and sell this species is more than 1 year, but due to low investment costs and no money spent on food, Mr. Truong earns hundreds of millions of VND/year in profit.

"In the near future, I will expand the scale of raising two more rafts and then select qualified pearl oysters for pearl cultivation. After that, I will research and create breeds to both preserve this species and raise them commercially to serve the needs of people and tourists coming to Phu Quoc to play and eat," said Mr. Truong.

Mr. Nguyen Phuoc Long - Vice Chairman of Duong To Commune People's Committee - informed that local people mainly raise cobia and grouper. Mr. Truong's model of raising pearl oysters in cages is a new model and has the potential to develop in Phu Quoc.

During the farming process, Mr. Truong also experimented with pearl implantation into this mollusk. Duong To Commune People's Committee is currently supporting him with additional capital and paperwork to qualify for expansion, long-term farming, and diversifying cage farming species on the island.