Video

HKU Hatchery to Supply Quality Oysters to Farmers

Hong Kong’s 700-year-old oyster industry has faced many challenges, from red tides, heavy metal pollution and acidification to outdated growing methods, lack of new, young farmers and an irregular supply of poor-quality seeds. Dr. Thiyagarajan Vengatesen, Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences believes that the local growers need a seed that is resilient to disease, and that can grow faster. At the heart of Dr. Vengatesen’s plan is a hatchery inside the university’s main campus that can produce six million seeds annually from a sub-strain of the Hong Kong Oyster (Crassostrea hongkonggensis) that he has named the HKU strain.

 See more details