Bioeconomic evaluation of Eleutheronema tetradactylum farming: a case study in Taiwan

Eleutheronema tetradactylum is a recently developed product in aquaculture systems in Taiwan. Its production is concentrated in the Pingtung and Kaohsiung counties of Taiwan during the overwinter and oversummer seasons. In this study, a bio-economic approach was applied to investigate the mechanisms and economic profitability of commercial E. tetradactylum farming. The analysis consisted of two parts: (1) a cost–benefit analysis to determine the main components affecting profitability; and (2) multivariate statistics to clarify the relationship between biological and economic factors. The findings suggest that fry quality is an important factor in increasing the survival rate in aquaculture systems, and that increased survival rate in turn generates increased farm profitability and expansion options during the oversummer season, thus providing better economic performance. As feed cost is the key factor affecting production, improving feed management could increase the profitability of E. tetradactylum farming.