WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • SEPTEMBER 2016 15 this arrangement, lantern net handling and maintenance can be accomplished easily with a canoe or small vessel. Notwithstanding the advantages of the surface system for smaller-scale producers, the biggest disadvantage is its vulnerability to excessively warm surface waters during the summer, which can kill scallop spat and juveniles and reduce productivity and profitability for the mariculture farmers. The second system – totally submerged lantern net arrays – are placed in deeper water (10-20 m). It is a more sophisticated and complex system that requires scuba diver capability for tending the crop and managing harvests. The main advantage of this system is avoidance of crop loss from overly-warm surface waters in the summer, given that deeper waters maintain a cooler and more uniform temperature regime throughout the year. Production grow-out management consists of managing the crop through six distinct culture phases, with the duration of each phase usually about 60 days and stocking density determined by shell size. Despite this general scheme, producers often develop their own culture strategies in which the duration of each culture phase varies slightly to coincide with local micro-oceanographic conditions. Lantern nets with different mesh sizes (4-21 mm) are used for the different culture stages. Stocking density decreases with culture time and culture phase from 300 to 12 scallops per level of lantern net. In the first phase, post-nursery spat are comonly cultured to a shell size of approximately 10 mm. The last (sixth) phase will result in the production of marketable scallops of 65-70 mm shell lengths or greater, attained after 12-15 months in culture (Table 1). Commercialization and Market Consumer demand from the local market has been gradually increasing and is now supporting regional scallop production. Scallops are marketed fresh or frozen without processing. Restaurants from São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro absorb approximately 70 percent of the current production of about 350,000 scallops per year. Due to proximity to the major consumer markets in Rio de Janeiro, the product can be delivered very fresh to restaurant buyers weekly or bi-weekly, with each scallop individually wrapped with rubber bands (to keep oxygenated water trapped within the bivalve shell) and packaged in foam boxes packed with filtered ice. As this is a high-quality specialty product, still with relatively small production, it is common for restaurant buyers to source directly from producers on a one-to-one basis. However, with an increasing nationwide demand attracting new scallop farmers and greater production areas and volumes, producers are beginning to form organized associations to increase production, self-police their industry and meet the growing market demand. Attending to the restaurant market during the summer months, local producers are focused on local tourism, selling scallops directly to consumers or seasonal restaurants at a high price. One very popular tourist destination is the beautiful Ilha Grande Bay This large bay attracts visitors from all over the world and especially summer visitors and boaters from Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Locally the tourists are treated to the opportunity to experience and interact with mariculture activities, contributing to increased awareness and appreciation for preservation of the marine environment and seafood-producting ecosystem that occurs in this region. In addition, of course, they have the opportunity to consume very fresh scallops directly from the harvest, and in so doing, are willing to pay a premium for the experience and the product. This practice of catering to the influx of summer tourists has been given the label “Boutique Mariculture Farming” and is growing increasingly popular in the region, driven by the higher prices obtainable from the direct-to-consumer supply chain, which lowers costs, including eliminating the transportation costs of driving the product to urban markets. Overall, the increasing demand for scallops and for seafood in general in the region is a great opportunity to further develop regional mariculture production, expanding it to the next level. Fortunately the availability of seed is no longer a bottleneck for local scallop producers, although as production grows, more hatchery capacity will be needed to keep pace. This is predicted to occur with government financial and extension support to hatchery operators. In addition to the gradually increasing production, scallop producers are also learning to intensify production with new and improved practices and equipment and new producers are taking up the activity each year to satisfy increasing demand. A production growth of more than 15 percent/yr over the last five years is a very impressive accomplishment and further growth is expected for 2016 and beyond. Notes Patricia Abelin, Scripps Photobiology Group, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, California, USA - pabelin@gmail.com André L. De Araújo, Fundação Instituto de Pesca do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Angra dos Reis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Artur N. Rombenso, Feed Aqua Nutrition Laboratory, Autonomous University of Baja California, Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico References Lodeiros, C.J., J.J. Rengel, L. Freites, F. Morales and J.H. Himmelman. 1998. 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