Engaged in marine fish farming for 15 years, Lexon Hery Junan Tinglioy has often come up with new ideas followed by experimentation.
By
Fransiskus Pati Herin
·6 minutes read
KOMPAS/FRANSISKUS PATI HERIN
Lexon Hery Junan Tinglioy
Engaged in marine fish farming for 15 years, Lexon Hery Junan Tinglioy has often come up with new ideas followed by experimentation. He has managed to make sea water a safe habitat for fresh water nila (parrot fish) to live and reproduce.
Heavy rains drenched Ambon city for days in the middle of 2015. Floods and landslides caused water and mud to drift into the sea. In the inner part of Ambon Bay, its water turned brownish. “In my location, sea water tasted brackish at that time. Its salinity was reduced,” said Hery when met on his floating net cages in Poka village, Ambon city, on Wednesday (13/1/2021).
As a fish breeder, Hery needs young fish all the time, which he searches for himself. He then undertook kuwe (trevally) fish farming. To obtain trevally fry, Hery laid a net in the estuary teeming with young fish. At the time he got dozens of trevallies. Besides, there were also two fresh water mujair or cichlids.
He purposely mixed the two with the other marine fish and raised them in the cages. The fresh water fish was put into the sea water coops with the mere aim of testing the resistance of the fish. He was convinced that both cichlids would not survive much longer as the intensity of the rain was declining and sea water salinity was restored.
In my location, sea water tasted brackish at that time. Its salinity was reduced
A week later, when the rain subsided and sea water was getting clear, Hery was surprised as the two cichlids remained alive and looked very fresh. “I concluded that the habitat of fish could be conditioned in a gradual process, such as the change in sea water salinity,” he said.
Based on the assumption, Hery started planning an experiment by trying to engineer the habitat of nila, which is fresh water fish like mujair. After finding young parrot fish, he made a collection tank. Into the tank he poured 30 pails of fresh water, each containing about 22 liters. Then he released dozens of nila into the tank.
Later, he installed a pump to circulate the fresh water in the tank, by making it flow through a filter in the form of foam sheets and merge with drops of sea water. Every day for 10 days, he dropped three buckets of sea water. He bored a tiny hole at the bottom of the tank to allow fresh water to seep out bit by bit. “Fresh water under pressure will seek an exit because it has a lower mass than that of sea water,” he noted.
On the 10th day, the water in the tank, originally 100 percent fresh water, totally became sea water, The fresh water parrot fish proved to be capable of surviving in the sea water habitat air. To date, 47 such experiments have been conducted by Hery, resulting in tens of thousands of parrot fish of various species.
There are four nila species being currently bred, which are black, white, red and albino. The habitat engineering has automatically changed the behavior and physical content of the fish. The originally fresh water fish now has a salinity rate of 35 ppt (part per thousand).
He didn’t stop there. He let a number of parrot fish remain in his aquarium while the rest were put into the cages in order to grow big. He once noticed a change in the behavior of those in the aquarium. “I watched them pecking each other, with swollen parts under chins, and they began to seclude themselves. It’s indeed a sign of the process of spawning. The outcome is reproduction,” he said.
He later had the sea water nila tested at the laboratory of the Ambon Industrial Research and Standardization Center in November 2020. The result showed that the fish contained 21.33 percent protein, 0.83 percent carbohydrate and 4.74 percent fat. “Researchers say the protein content of sea water nila is twice as much as that of the fresh water cousin,” he added.
The news about Hery’s experiments was circulating. Many people, local as well as foreign, went to Ambon. Even a fishery professor from a certain country requested his permission to write about Hery’s finding in his international journal. Hery declined it as he deemed it unimportant to him. Nonetheless, he has no objection if there are those interested to learn.
Researchers say the protein content of sea water nila is twice as much as that of the fresh water cousin.
The story of the delicious sea water nila also spread. It prompted many culinary buffs to visit him. “It has a very piquant taste, you can try,” he offered a newly fried parrot fish. Hery was right. The fish that was fried without spices already tasted piquant. A hot relish made it perfect.
Helping breeders
Hery becomes a breeder who has frequently invited residents of Ambon and Maluku in general to be engaged in fish culture. He is well versed in trevally breeding. His technique has been written in a book entitled Trevally Farming in Floating Net Cages. He was assisted by two lecturers in preparing the book.
This book is circulating among fish breeders, even those outside Maluku. It has very detailed contents from cage building to water salinity and visibility analysis as well as water current rates. So far, he has visited several regions in Maluku to provide training and motivations for fish farming fishermen.
“He is the one consulted by fish breeders here. Even if they are short of feed or need fish storage facilities, he has often helped them,” said Head of the Division of Fish Culture, Processing and Marketing of Fishery Products, Maluku Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Office, Karolis Iwamony. In Ambon Bay there are over 30 floating net cage fish farming groups.
According to Karolis, Hery’s finding has made many people aware that the sea is a place for anybody wishing to conduct experiments. Experimentation is not absolutely the privilege of researchers from educational institutions. Various kinds of appreciation have been accorded to Hery, who is now 51. It’s no exaggeration to call him a “professor” of nila from Maluku.
/https%3A%2F%2Fkompas.id%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F01%2F91be6989-6ed3-4b60-a974-4ddadd493d9e_JPG.jpg){kind=logo}
/https%3A%2F%2Fkompas.id%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F01%2F78659369-880a-418e-b13c-e304e5704596_JPG.jpg){kind=logo}
/https%3A%2F%2Fkompas.id%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2021%2F01%2F03637929-a233-473a-a810-fdb7e3d4ca63_JPG.jpg){kind=logo}
