Progress and obstacles in establishing rock lobster aquaculture in Indonesia

On-growing of wild caught rock lobster pueruli first began in Indonesia around 2004 as a derivative of seaweed and fish culture. In the southeast of the Indonesian island of Lombok, farmers growing seaweed or grouper noticed pueruli settling on their apparatus. Realizing these were small lobsters, they stocked them to cages to on-grow, and thus the Indonesian lobster farming industry began. Despite relatively high abundance of the naturally-settling lobster seed, no more than 50 tonnes of lobster were produced each year to 2009 due to limited farming skills and nutritionally deficient feed. The primary species was Panulirus homarus (Linnaeus, 1758), and it was typically on-grown for around 12 mo to a mean size of around 100 g, fetching a price of around 35,000 Indonesian Rupiah per kg, less than $US30. At that time, Vietnam was experiencing rapid growth of its own lobster farming industry, which was producing >1,500 tonnes of 1 kg lobsters of the species Panulirus ornatus (Fabricius, 1798), with price exceeding $US60 per kg. Collaborative research involving Vietnam and Australian research agencies was assisting the Vietnam lobster farmers to achieve best farming practices, and that research was expanded to transfer the successful practices of Vietnam to Indonesia. In 2017, 13 yrs after the Indonesian lobster farming began, growout production has declined by >95% due to perceptions of risk by farmers, and through a policy intervention. Here, I describe the progress and constraints of Indonesian lobster aquaculture, and the opportunity and mechanisms available to reach its potential.