A New Farming Method: Raising Fish Naturally in Organic Water Bamboo Fields

By Lin Wenhua, Assistant Researcher, Lanyang Branch Station, Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station

The Xingjian Organic Village in Sanxing Township has achieved success in trying out an organic "fish-water bamboo symbiosis" cultivation model, not only successfully growing organic water bamboo shoots of excellent quality, but also producing the rare natural fish raised in organic fields.

Since the 100th year of the Republic of China (2011), the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station of the Council of Agriculture, Executive Yuan, has been promoting the development of Xingjian Organic Village by establishing an organic water bamboo shoot experimental field area with "fish-water bamboo symbiosis" in the village, using the black carp, commonly known as wuliu, to control apple snails in the organic water bamboo shoot fields. The carnivorous black carp likes to eat snails in the water, which precisely solves the problem of being unable to use chemical agents to control apple snails in organic water bamboo shoot fields. As a result, not only were the apple snails cleaned out completely, but there were also delicious black carp to add to meals, truly achieving two goals at once.

With this successful experience, the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station began trying organic symbiotic cultivation of various fish species with water bamboo shoots, and successively tried grass carp and Taiwan tilapia, hoping to develop new types of organic symbiotic cultivation models.

However, in the early stage of water bamboo shoot planting, the water cannot be made deep, lest the water bamboo shoot seedlings drown, so fish can only be stocked in the later stage, greatly reducing the efficiency of fish-water bamboo symbiosis. For this reason, researchers at the Lanyang Branch Station of the Hualien District Agricultural Research and Extension Station introduced the concept of a "fish trench" into the organic water bamboo shoot field, digging a trench on one side of the field as a shelter for the fish. In this way, even if the field is drained, the fish can still hide in the fish trench to rest, and after the water is deepened again, they swim into the water bamboo shoot field.

This kind of field planning makes it more convenient for farmers when fertilizing and managing water bamboo shoots, and also allows fish to be stocked throughout the whole process, without having to wait until the later stage of cultivation. This is a brand-new attempt in Taiwan, China, and it has great potential when applied to organic cultivation of water bamboo shoots.