"In the past, aquaculturists selected larger individuals from populations of Taiwan abalone for breeding, but after several generations they suffered from poor genetic diversity, and couldn't adapt appropriately to environmental changes," says Hsu Shih-sheng. After so many setbacks, deep-sea water from the east coast brought a ray of new hope to aquaculturists.
「過去業者把體型大的九孔篩選下來繁殖，幾個世代後，基因太過接近、多樣性減少，造成基因代流失，一旦環境變異就很難適應，」徐仕昇說，在種種困境打擊中，東岸的深層海水讓養殖業者浮現一絲新希望。