Location Funding Institution Principal Investigator(s)
Palau $133,200 Palau Community College and Oceanic Institute of HPU Miguel A. Delos Santos and Zhi Yong Ju, Ph.D.

Overall Goal
Improve the hatchery and nursery culture technology for the mangrove crabs and to deliver a consistent production of 5,000 crablets per production unit (1.5 x 5m tank).

Objectives 
1. To improve the hatchery production by establishing a better combination of algal diets that is used to nourish the rotifers and Artemia during the larval rearing
2. To test the use of live feed enrichment products and feed additives in preventing the occurrence of mortality due to moulting death syndrome (MDS) in the larval rearing and nursery tanks.
3. To minimize the mortality due to cannibalism during the nursery rearing by evaluating other alternative types of shelters, stocking density, feeding and products containing serotonin and other chemical cues.
4. To provide support to the development of mangrove crab farming in Palau by obtaining comprehensive growth and survival data of mangrove crab juveniles that are provide to the farmers.
5. Demonstrate and disseminate an improved and reliable hatchery and nursery method for mangrove crabs to individuals who are interested in mangrove crab farming in Palau and other US Affiliated Islands in the Pacific Region.