Will Farmed Frogs Satisfy Huge Appetites for Frog Meat?
Despite the world’s dwindling frog populations, the demand for frog meat is increasing. Should a sustainable approach to wild frog harvesting be considered or could frog farming be a viable alternative to harvesting wild frogs?
A study out late last year points out that the overharvesting of wild frog populations for food is contributing to the decline of these important amphibians. Since this worldwide appetite for frog meat shows no signs of slowing down, the authors introduce their idea for sustainable wild frog harvesting as an alternative to unsuccessful attempts at commercial frog farming.
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Sustainable wild frog harvesting?
According to a report published on Save the Frogs, Eating Frogs to Extinction, the overall trade in frog meat has grown over the last 20 years.
The frogs’ legs market has shifted from seasonal harvest for local consumption to year-round global trade. Markets in the United States and France were initially supplied by domestic harvest to serve a seasonal demand, but overexploitation led to decline or loss of commercial stocks … By the time these local sources disappeared, improved food-freezing technology enabled international markets to be tapped for North American and European demand, most notably in Asia where overexploitation again occurred.
Unfortunately, the appetite for frogs’ legs is growing at a faster rate than the replenishment of frog populations. And asking the world to “give up eating frogs” is simply not realistic.
To combat this effect on frog populations, the authors propose the idea of sustainable wild frog harvesting. In order to offset the costs for administering such a program in the frog-exporting countries, the assistance of frog-importing countries is called upon.
Thus, we propose that a mandatory certification process for the harvest of wild frog’s legs be established … This is a step beyond previous calls for action to manage better the harvest of wild amphibian populations, and it would likely be costly to implement and monitor. Nevertheless, such a program would greatly enhance our monitoring and harvest-modeling capacity by providing a structure for the collection of necessary demographic data, which would in turn promote development of a sustainable frog harvesting industry. It is the moral duty and responsibility of importing, developed countries to assist with such a program’s implementation because many frog-exporting countries lack the necessary institutional capacity and financial resources.
Commercial frog farms: Success at last?
Commercial frog farming has not been very successful. Much of the problem is because frogs eat live prey, and this requirement renders most endeavors cost-prohibitive.
To overcome this issue, scientists have generated various studies to try and find the best way to get frogs to consistently feed on “pellets”, as described in the following quick excerpt from the Frog farming: Investigation of biological and mechanical agents to increase the consumption of pelleted food by adult Rana temporaria abstract:
This study investigated consumption of pelleted food by adult common frogs, Rana temporaria, when moved by a mechanical stirrer or by fly larvae. The mechanical device did not produce higher consumption than inert pellets alone. Fly larvae significantly increased consumption of food pellets … Frogs did not apparently learn to feed on pellets, with no increase in consumption through the experiment of either control inert pellets or of pellets moved by fly larvae.
Another study, Seed Production and Intensive Farming of Thai Frog (Rana tigerina) in Peri Urban of Ho Chi Minh City demonstrated success at getting the frogs accustomed to feeding on pellets.
It was hoped that this program would create household income-generating opportunities.
After trials on artificial breeding and grout-out culture technique at the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Fisheries, Nong Lam University, demonstration sites for frog culture were built at farmer level in peri-urban area of Ho Chi Minh City. Rationales for the demonstration were:
- Thai frog has shown high capability to adopt with intensive culture conditions, especially pellet feeding regime.
- Frog culture in concrete tanks is rather simple that can be operated by farmers and can utilize unused pig coops.
- Farmers in peri-urban areas of HCMC have very good access to pellet feed source. Pellet feed is abundantly available.
- Farmers could early be trained on frog culture technique so as they could benefit from the practice.
The program was a success - at first. Unfortunately, the efforts were wiped out in a short period of time.
In 2005, frog farming spread out rapidly in Ho Chi Minh City and neighboring provinces. With only six households in 2004, the number of frog farmers increased to 300 in 2005, plus few hundreds in surrounding provinces. However, the quick development of frog farming in a short period also gave some disturbances due to the spontaneous and unplanned development. Culture technique is mainly transfer from farmers to farmers informally. The disease outbreak in December 2005 has caused many losses for farmers. Consequently, the frog farming stands still. Furthermore, bad water quality, inappropriate feeding technique; and poor quality feeds also contribute to the unsuccessfulness of the practice. All these troubles have resulted in economic losses for many farmers.
However, the notion of commercial frog farming still has its supporters.
A more recent study by André Neveu at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in Rennes suggests that particular species of frogs may be more suitable for farming.
Three species of frog were studied:
- Pool Frog ( Rana lessonae )
- Marsh Frog ( Rana ridibunda )
- Edible Frog - a hybrid of the pool frog and marsh frog. (Rana esculenta )
During the two months following metamorphosis, froglets were trained to eat pellets. The surviving individuals were reared for one year under regulated conditions to estimate the survival rate, growth and production of each frog type.
The “winner”? The marsh frog - with a survival rate of 63 - 77.4%, and 53.7% after three years.
(A 53.7% survival rate is good?)
Is frog farming environmentally responsible?
Scientific opponents to frog farming argue that commercial frog farming is harmful to the environment.
According to a New Scientist article, Trevor Beebee, a molecular ecologist and amphibian expert at the University of Sussex, UK, is against the notion of frog farms.
With fish populations collapsing, should we really be harvesting fish to provide protein feeds to farmed amphibians, which are going to end up as luxury items on menus in expensive restaurants?
In the same article, frog conservation specialist at Arizona State University, Tempe, James Collins points out that frog farming could turn out to be harmful to the environment.
Until we can find a way to feed frogs vegetable protein, rather than fish protein, it may be better to simply harvest frogs sustainably in the wild rather than building elaborate, energy-intensive farms that rely on fish meal. But we’re a long way off that.
If it tastes like chicken …
Many people who enjoy frog meat say it tastes like chicken. But don’t expect frog connoisseurs to be sacrificing this amphibious delicacy for plain old chicken any time soon.
Image source: http://www.flickr.com / CC BY 2.0
