subsequently used as inocula in a controlled fermentation, successfully
reducing fish sauce production time from one
year to a few months (CHAIYANAN et al., 1988). To enhance
liquefaction, it was decided to select strains producing
an active salt-tolerant protease. Gram-positive
bacilli growing vegetatively in the fermenting liquid of
traditional fish sauce fermenting tanks in a fish sauce factory
were isolated, purified, and characterized. One of
the isolates, an actively proteolytic strain, produced endospores
on a low nutrient medium and did not grow in
media without added NaCI. The strain was studied to
determine physiological, chemotaxonomic, and phylogenetic
characteristics. From the data, the isolate is concluded
to be a species of the genus Halobacillus and an
active component of the enhanced fermentation process.