Moana Technologies’ SPF Penaeus monodon Postlarvae

Available in Vietnam Since March 2008

Moana Technologies’ new specific pathogen free (SPF) giant tiger shrimp seedstock has been available in the Mekong Delta since March 2008.  The seedstock is free of all the significant shrimp viruses, including Taura, whitespot, yellowhead, monodon-type baculovirus and hepatoparvovirus.

For ten years, farmers at the Dong Thai Commune in Kien Giang Province have been farming the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) in extensive systems, harvesting 100-250 kilograms per hectare per crop.  Recently, Le Quoc Thang, a distributor of Moana Technologies’ new SPF P. monodon postlarvae, tested the postlarvae in his own ponds. He had support from Moana, which helped with pond preparation, biosecurity, environment control, feeding and harvesting.

Pond Preparation: Pond preparation included removing sludge, fixing dykes and fences and cleaning drainage systems.  Because the ponds were old, with a high organic load, it was not possible to achieve ideal bottom conditions.  Water treatment involved the pumping of water from the canal to reservoir ponds, treatment with chlorine and then the addition of fertilizers and probiotics.  Except for periods of heavy rainfall, the salinity was maintained at 10-15 parts per thousand.  Four ponds, ranging in size from 2,900 to 5,000 square meters (total 16,900 m²), were stocked.

Seedstock: Postlarvae (PL-15), priced at $15 per thousand, were stocked at 13 to 14 per square meter.  Altogether, 230,000 PLs were stocked and fed a commercial feed costing $1.18 a kilogram.  Feeding trays were used to monitor feeding and to adjust the daily feeding rate.  The feed conversion ratio (FCR) was calculated at 1.3-1.14.

Management involved regular visits to the ponds with Moana staff.  There was no water exchange during the first two months; only top-up water was added.  During July and August, when heavy rains occurred, salinity dropped to 3-5 ppt.  This resulted in an algae growing on the shrimp and slow growth.  Probiotics alleviated the problem.

The usual growout period is five months, but at the time of the planned harvest, Thang learned that the price of 30-count-per-kilo animals was low, so he delayed the harvest until they reached 20-count per kilo.

Database: A database was setup to record all the environment, technical and economical information generated by the trial.  Based on that data, the following conclusions were drawn:

Despite problems with the weather, pond conditions and dismal shrimp prices, the postlarvae produced a profit from $6,062 to $7,937 per hectare.  The cost of postlarvae was 6.2 to 9.3% of the selling price.  The large range in FCRs, from 1.3-1.74, was due to the high silt conditions in the ponds.

See India (below) for more information on Moana Technologies.

Source: AQUA Culture AsiaPacific (Editor/Publisher, Zuridah Merican, email zuridah@aquaasiapac.com).  Marine Shrimp/Semi Intensive Monodon Shrimp Culture with Disease Free Post Larvae in Vietnam (adapted from an article in Vietnamese by Nguyen Bang, Con Tom magazine, translated by Le Quoc Thang, a distributor for Moana Technologies in An Bien District, Kien Giang Province).  Volume 5, Number 3, Page 12, May/June 2009.

Country Reports

Canada

John Tremblay, President, Alternative Agricultural Technology

John Tremblay thinks shrimp farming will work in Alberta, a prairie province in western Canada.  He reports:

Alternative Aquacultural Technology, Corp., that’s me, is working toward collaborative shrimp farming projects that utilize greenhouses and aquaponics.  I’ve gained some research support, but still need investment capital to get started.

In other news, in February 2009, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and Fisheries and Oceans Canada reported that they were working with Poseidon, a Langley, British Colombia, group, that has plans for a 25-acre greenhouse shrimp farm.

Information: John Tremblay, President, Alternative Agricultural Technology, Corp. (phone 1-403-279-9232, fax 1-403-279-9232, email tremblar@telus.net).

Source: Email from John Tremblay to Shrimp News International on June 18, 2009.

Colombia

ETec—Equipment for Shrimp Farmers

ETec supplies axial flow and floating pumps to shrimp farmers worldwide.  It also markets the ELEVATEC shrimp harvester.

For more pictures of ETec’s shrimp harvester and a video of it in operation click here.

Information: Camilo Murillo Franco, ETec, Albornoz Km 4 Via Mamonal, Cartagena, Colombia (phone 1-57-5-6-68-9300, email cmurillo@etecsa.com, webpage http://www.etecsa.com/index-en.htm).

Source: Email from Camilo Murillo Franco to Shrimp News International on June 19, 2009.

Ecuador

Source: Boletin Informativo (Ecuador’s Camara Nacional de Acuacultura).  Editor, Jorge Tejada (jtejada@cna-ecuador.com).  Precios Referenciales del Camarón del Camarón.  June 16, 2009.

Germany

GLOBALGAP Certification Workshops

GLOBALGAP, a private sector organization that sets voluntary standards for the certification of agricultural products, focuses on food safety, animal welfare and environmental and social sustainability.  It has scheduled a series of workshops on its standards for aquaculture:

September 2009, Colombia: shrimp, salmonids, tilapia and pangasius.

October 2009, Malaysia: shrimp.

October 2009, United States: shrimp, salmonids, tilapia and pangasius.

Registration and more information at: http://www.globalgap.org/cms/front_content.php?idcat=33&idart=866.

Information: Dr. Kristian Moeller, Managing Director, GLOBALGAP, c/o FoodPLUS GmbH, Spichernstr. 55, 50672 Koeln, Germany HRB 35211 (phone +49-0-2-21-5-79-93-82, fax +49-0-2-21-5-79-93-82-89, email meifert@globalgap.org, webpage http://www.globalgap.org).

Source: Email from Claudia Meifert (public relations and website administration) at GLOBALGAP to Shrimp News International on June 12, 2009.

India

Hatchery for the Production of SPF Seedstock

In mid-July 2009, the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) will request bids for the construction of a multiplication center for the production of specific pathogen free, Penaeus monodon seedstock in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The NFDB, a wing of the Central Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, has already acquired 100 acres for the project, estimated to cost $8.3 million.  After construction, the board plans to lease the facilities to Hong Kong-based Moana Technologies (see lead article), its technical partner, which will produce and market the shrimp seedstock.  The new facility will have a production capacity of three billion postlarvae a year, enough to stock 30,000 hectares.

According to NFDB chairman P. Krishnaiah, the number of hectares dedicated to shrimp farming in the country has dropped from 120,000 to 90,000 because of shrimp viruses.

Source: Business Standard.  Fisheries Board to Call Tenders for Shrimp Seed Mfg Facility Soon.  B. Krishna Mohan.  June 18, 2009.

Malaysia

Blue Archipelago

Dr. Shahridan Faiez, Chief Executive Officer at Blue Archipelago, Bhd., a 400-hectare shrimp farm in the state of Kedah, is building a hatchery and a processing plant able to process 20 tons of shrimp a day.  Shahridan said, “We have received the EU registration number to enable us to export the produce directly to Europe.”  Shrimp will also be exported to the United States and Japan.  Annual production from the farm will between 1,500 and 2,000 tons of tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and 4,000 to 6,000 tons of white shrimp (P. vannamei).

Source: Bernama.com.  Business/Blue Archipelago to Export Prawns to Europe.  June 22, 2009.

Mozambique

France Funds Shrimp Farming

The French Development Agency plans to donate $2.1 million to Mozambique for a three-year project that aims to improve and ensure the sustainability and competitiveness of the country’s shrimp industry.  The project will involve the National Aquaculture Development Institute, the National Institute for Inspection of Fishing Products and the private sector, via the Association of Shrimp Producers of Mozambique.

Source: MacauHub.  France Funds Shrimp Farming in Mozambique.  June 18, 2009.

Philippines

Developing Its Own Penaeus vannamei Broodstock

To bring down the cost of shrimp farming in the Philippines, the Dagupan-based Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center is developing specific pathogen free (SPF) Penaeus vannamei broodstock.  Westly Rosario, chief and interim executive director of the National Fisheries Research Development Institute, said the work is long overdue because the Philippines still imports all its broodstock from the United States (Hawaii).

Source: TradingMarkets.com.  Research on Production of Vannamei White Shrimp Breeders Going on in Dagupan.  June 20, 2009.

United States

Arizona—Desert Sweet Shrimp

To view some pictures and listen to a five-minute recording about Desert Sweet Shrimp Farm, the only shrimp farm in Arizona, click here.  When the page opens, click on “Audio Player” in the top right hand corner to listen to the recording.  The recording includes comments from farm owner Gary Wood and farm manager Craig Collins (pictured).

Information: Desert Sweet Shrimp are available at http://www.desertsweetshrimp.com.  The farm also accepts phone orders at 1-623-393-0136.

Source: Arizona Public Media.  Desert Sweet Shrimp Farm.  Robert Rappaport.  June 17, 2009.

United States

Arizona—University of Arizona, Newly Designed Taura Primers

Abstract: “Taura syndrome virus (TSV)-specific primers, designated as 7171F/7511R, were designed to improve the sensitivity of RT-PCR detection.  This pair of primers was shown to detect TSV isolates representative of four phylogenetic lineages: Belize, Americas, SE Asia, and Venezuela. Its detection limit was determined to be 20 copies of the TSV genome, 100 times more sensitive than the TSV primers 9992/9195 currently being used by many laboratories and recommended for surveillance and diagnostic applications by the Office International des Epizooties.  Primers 7171F/7511R were found to be specific to TSV and did not to react to either infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV), whitespot syndrome virus (WSSV), yellowhead virus (YHV), or infectious myonecrosis virus (IMNV).  This new RT-PCR method was shown to detect TSV in chronically infected Penaeus vannamei that had survived up to 236 days after exposure to TSV.”

Source: Aquaculture.  Technical Note/An Improved Taura Syndrome Virus (TSV) RT-PCR Using Newly Designed Primers.  Solangel A. Navarro (Aquaculture Pathology Laboratory, Department of Veterinary Science and Microbiology, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA, phone 1-520-621-4438, fax 1-520-621-4899, solangel@u.arizona.edu), Kathy F.J. Tanga and Donald V. Lightner.  Volume 293, Issues 3-4, Pages 290–292, August 16, 2009.

United States

California—Notes on the USA Shrimp Market

This article on the current status of the USA shrimp market by John Filose, a seafood marketing consultant, appeared in the April/June 2009 issue of INFOPESCA (see Source below).  Some excerpts:

Shrimp from all over the world are piling up in USA cold storage facilities.  At this year’s Boston Seafood Show (March 2009), the bad joke among shrimp sellers was that the only happy people at the trade show were the warehouse operators.

Since shrimp is the highest dollar item carried by most distributors, their owners and buyers are being extra cautious.  Speculation and forward purchasing of shrimp items, so common in past years, is not happening in today’s conservative purchasing climate.  The sales representatives for USA importers face a difficult task.  Most shrimp prices have been declining since last summer, so it’s almost impossible to get a distributor to make a major purchase.  Whether the distributor’s customer is a restaurant chain, an independent restaurant, or a supermarket, their feedback has been very consistent—shrimp sales are not strong and consumer demand is lower than any time in recent memory.

Many supermarkets are promoting shrimp.  During February/March 2009, one major chain ran this advertisement: “Jumbo Uncooked White Shrimp Just $6.99 a Pound!  19.5% Lower Than Our 1997 Price!”  Now, while it may make us feel good that this supermarket is aggressively selling shrimp, it is a rather sad commentary on our industry that prices have actually decreased by almost 20% in the past ten years!!!

Sales of the larger sizes (16/20 and the U sizes) have been dramatically affected by this change in consumer buying patterns.  Distributors of all types—meaning seafood, full-line, center of the plate, and ethnic wholesalers—are reporting that end user movement of large shrimp is very, very slow.  In many cases supermarkets have stopped ordering larger sizes, and restaurants have switched their menus to medium sizes.

With a heavy carryover of shrimp inventories from imports in late 2008, it will take good consumption this summer to rebalance supply and demand.  The current oversupply of larger sizes is particularly worrisome.  It may have to be sold at deeply discounted prices.

Information: John Filose, 1921 Wandering Road, Encinitas, CA 92024, USA (phone 1-760-753-2757, email jfilose@sbcglobal.net).

Source: INFOPESCA.  El mercado del camarón en EEUU. Estado actual y perspectivas para mediano y largo plazo (The U.S. Shrimp Market: Current Status, Near Term Outlook and Implications for the Future).  John Filose.  Number 38, April/June 2009.

United States

California—Shrimp News Update

For the past several years, I’ve been posting Free News to the Internet on Friday mornings, usually before 11:00 a.m., Pacific Time Zone.  In the future, I plan to post it a day earlier, on Thursday afternoon, which means everyone in the world will have it by Friday morning. Also, I’m no longer soliciting classified advertisements for the Free News page.  The ad that you see at the end of the current Free News page expires in 2009.  After that, there will be no ads.

I plan to attend the World Aquaculture Society meeting in Veracruz, Mexico, in September 2009—and hope to see you there.

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, July 3, 2009.

United States

Texas—Shrimp Bargains

Mike Riccetti, author of Houston Dining on the Cheap and a food/drink writer, reports:

“I was amazed to find that 9-12 count wild Gulf shrimp are $3.49 a pound, and just $5.99 headless.  That’s right, from the Gulf, not southeast Asia, wild, not farmed, and jumbo, or super jumbo, as they are called these days, 9-12 count per pound, for such a pittance.”

Source: Examiner.com.  Big Shrimp Savings at Fiesta for Big Shrimp.  Mike Riccetti.  June 20, 2009.

Vietnam

China Scrambles to Buy Vietnam’s Farmed Shrimp

Seafood processing companies are complaining that Chinese merchants are going directly to the shrimp farming areas in the Mekong Delta to purchase the new crop of giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) at high prices.  The Chinese offer very high prices in an attempt to buy all the shrimp available.  Though the average market price is now $7.84 per kilogram for 20-count-per-kilo shrimp, the Chinese merchants are said to pay up to $10.92.  They take everything, leaving nothing for local processors.

The Chinese merchants then sell the shrimp in China at lower prices than the Vietnamese companies offer.

Le Van Quang, Chairman of the Shrimp Subcommittee of the Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers, said, “Unless Vietnamese exporters can sell shrimp for at least $12.27 per kilogram to Chinese buyers, we cannot make a profit.”

Not only have the Chinese merchants been buying tiger shrimp in the Mekong Delta, they have also been purchasing white shrimp (P. vannamei) from farms on the central coast.  Tran Van Linh, director of a seafood processing company in Danang City, complained that he cannot compete with the Chinese merchants in the white shrimp market.  He said Chinese merchants appeared in mid-May 2009, when the shrimp harvest began in Quang Nam and Khanh Hoa provinces.  “They went directly to the shrimp ponds, willing to pay any cost to collect shrimp,” Linh said.  The appearance of Chinese merchants has caused white shrimp prices to rise from $2.13 for 100-count-per-kilo shrimp earlier this season to $2.52 now.

What’s going on?  Why are Chinese merchants so willing to buy high and sell low?  Some experts said the merchants later inject additives that make the shrimp heavier by 20-30 percent.  That explains why a lot of consignments of shrimp with impurities have recently been refused entry by Chinese inspectors.  A source at the Quang Ninh border gate said that in May 2009, 40 containers of frozen seafood, including considerable quantities of shrimp consigned by Chinese merchants, had been stopped at the border gate.  Later, 13 of these containers were cleared by Chinese customs and sold in Chinese border provinces.  The remaining consignments were destroyed or used for other purposes.

Many Vietnamese processing plants have had to shut down or reduce production because of the shrimp shortage caused by the Chinese merchants.

Nguyen Thanh Dam, General Director of Bac Lieu Seafood Company, said that the shrimp price has surged by 5-10 percent.

Source: Vietnam Net Bridge.  Chinese merchants scrambling to snatch shrimp from Vietnamese.  June 23, 2009.

Vietnam

Organic Shrimp

Ca Mau Province produces organic shrimp certified by the German-based Association for Organic Agriculture and the Swiss-based Institute for Market Ecology (IMO).  Every year local farmers export hundreds of tons of organic shrimp to hard-to-please European markets, but demand still outstrips supply.

Nguyen Van Liem, one of the farmers on Farm 184 in Ca Mau Province, said, “To farm this kind of shrimp, my family must comply with strict and stringent breeding standards on organic shrimp farming set by Naturland, a German organization that promotes the production and consumption of organic food.  Otherwise, we will be weeded out.”

Liem‘s shrimp farm lies under the shade of a mangrove forest, which is required to cover over half of the total area of his farm.  He said, “We are not allowed to use antibiotics....  Families in the region and neighboring areas must observe strict regulations on management of waste and wastewater discharged from their daily activities to ensure that they will not affect the quality of fresh water to be used for breeding.”

Hua Ngoc Anh, another organic farmer, said, “IMO gives training on organic shrimp farming to us at least once a year....  They also check our farms three times a year.”

He added, “Thanks to such farming practice, we have so far never had a poor crop.  We can reap an annual income of up to hundreds of million of dong [500 million dong = $28 thousand] while we don’t have to pay for feed.  The shrimp eat the decay of mangrove leaves soaked in the water, which is a good nutrient for various aqua species.”

Source: Saigon.  Organic Shrimp Farming Sets New Horizon.  Translated by Phuong Lan.  June 19, 2009.

Where is this large, indoor, recirculating, organic shrimp farm?

For a four-minute video of a large, indoor, organic shrimp farm, click on the link below.  The video has no narration and gives no information on the name of the farm or its location.  Send your answers to bob@shrimpnews.com.

Source: YouTube.  Live Organic Shrimp Farm Project.  June 16, 2009.

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