Seafood Systems, Inc

Puts Its Automated Feeding System on the Market

Russ Allen, owner of Seafood Systems, Inc., has installed a computerized, automated feeding system at his small indoor shrimp farm in Okemos, Michigan.

Andrew Wesolek, who oversees day-to-day operations at Seafood Systems, assembled and programmed the system.  “I used to manually feed them at least three times a day—every day,” Wesolek said.  “The shrimp don’t care if it’s a weekend, holiday or a day off, they need to eat.”

An easy-to-use, plug-and-play, computerized control system was needed to run the feeding system.  Wesolek settled on products from WAGO, a supplier of automation and process control systems.  “I reviewed other products, but WAGO provided a lot of features for the price,” Wesolek said.  “We needed something that would be easy to install, wire and program.  WAGO provided that.”

Using the WAGO PLC (Programmable Logic Controller), Wesolek programmed a feeding regime to optimize shrimp growth.  He used tank-specific input data, such as growth stage and stocking density, to disperse precise amounts of feed to each tank.  The system can automatically feed up to 24 times a day, if desired.  During development, many different sizes and variations of shrimp feed were tested to make sure the equipment could handle all types of feed.  Currently, the system uses four different types of feed, but it could easily handle many more.

After analyzing the tank data and the feeding regime, the system signals the feed dispersal units to begin feeding and then automatically backs up all pertinent tank data to a local computer.  If an error halts the system, the PLC sends messages to the farmer’s cell phone.  All the feeding data are saved to a computer and available for analysis, enabling the operator to make hourly adjustments to the system.

“Before, we could only feed during the day because that was when we were working, but now we can feed at 4:00 a.m. when nobody’s around.  This really is the key: it saves us time.  I just press the button—actually the system ‘presses the button’—and the shrimp are fed,” Wesolek said.

Now, Wesolek is calibrating the system to closely monitor oxygen and Ph levels during feeding.  “The system will allow us to tie all those variables back into how much we are feeding the shrimp,” Wesolek said.  “We’ve developed this automated feeding system so we can also sell it to others; it has pretty unique capabilities.  It works with fish, too, and will also work for large outdoor ponds.  It’s scalable...  We can feed a large amount to just one tank/pond or feed many tanks all with the same system.”

Allen hopes his innovations will benefit USA aquaculture and the fledgling USA shrimp farming industry.  The USA has an annual, multi-billion dollar trade deficit in shrimp.  A domestic shrimp farming industry would narrow the deficit, while creating additional jobs and a tasty, locally grown, environmentally friendly product.

Seafood Systems envisions building an indoor shrimp farm in Michigan, a farm capable of producing five million pounds of shrimp annually.  Allen is currently looking for a farm site in West Michigan, from Muskegon County to Manistee County.

Information: WAGO Corp., P.O. Box 1015, N120 W1929 Freistadt Road, Germantown, Wisconsin 53022, USA (phone 1-262-255-6222, email info.us@wago.com, webpage http://www.wago.us).

Information: Russell Allen, President, Seafood Systems, Inc., 3450 Meridian Road, Okemos, MI 48863, USA (phone 1-517-347-5537, email shrimpone@aol.com).

Source: FoodManufacturing.com.  Protein-Packed PLCs Automate Feed System for Michigan’s Inland Shrimp Farm.  March 2009.

Bangladesh

Traditional Farmers Claim Shrimp Farms Ruin Their Land

Vegetable and rice farmers in the district of Khulna, the center of the shrimp farming industry in southwestern Bangladesh, are campaigning against shrimp farming.  They say that shrimp farms are increasing the salinity of their paddies and groundwater, making it impossible to grow traditional crops.  They also claim the shrimp farm owners hire goons to release saline water onto their fields so that they can no longer be used for paddy farming and must be converted to shrimp ponds.  Here’s one example:

“On March 9, 2009, at around 11:00 p.m., at least 25 to 30 hired goons of gher (pond) owners Mantu Sheikh, Shawakat Mollah, Jalal Sheikh, Majedul Biswas, Selim Sheikh, Kalyan Mistri, Bikash Mallik and Birupakkah released saline water through sluice gate No. 9 at Madhukhali in Deluti Union under Paikgachha Upazila,” said Provash Roy, 50, from the village of Madhukhali.  “On hearing this, around 300 villagers from Deluti and Lata Unions under the Upazila rushed to the spot and chased them away,” Roy said.

Source: TheDailyStar.net.  Farmers harassed over anti-salinity campaign.  Amena Khatun.  April 14, 2009.

Bangladesh

Shrimp Farmers Switching to Rice Farming

Shrimp farmers are returning to rice and vegetable farming as they discover their ponds are ruining the soil and damaging the environment.  Thousands of farmers in the district of Khulna, the center of the shrimp farming industry in southwestern Bangladesh, have decided to give up shrimp farming and return to rice and vegetable farming, which they describe as a more sustainable life.

Traditional paddy farmers have united to protect their lands from the onslaught of saline water brought on by shrimp farming.  Fertilizers and other chemicals used in the shrimp ponds have also seeped into the local water table.  As a result, there is now an acute scarcity of safe drinking water in the entire area.  Children are often sick and the soil has lost most of its fertility.  Even rearing domestic animals has become impossible.

Shyamol Kanti, 55, a farmer in Kamarkhola Village, said, “I have been cultivating Bagda shrimp [giant tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon] for 20 years now, but today find myself in a situation where I don’t even have sufficient food to live on.  My children can’t go to school; they constantly suffer from diarrhea and dysentery.  The saline water in the area means we cannot grow vegetables.  Even the domestic animals have no grass to live on.  The gher (pond) owners have used lime and other kinds of fertilizers to cultivate shrimp which has caused serious damage to our soil.”

Shukriti Mohon Sarkar, a teacher at Alokdip High School in Paikgachha Upazila, said, “As a result of leasing our land for shrimp cultivation, some influential people in the area have become richer, but small farmers have become poorer as gher owners have gradually grabbed their lands in the name of cultivation.  Some didn’t even make the payments they promised on leased deeds,” he said.

Shrimp traders, however, give other reasons for the traditional farmer’s growing animosity towards shrimp farming.  Rafiqul Haque, president of the Shrimp Cultivation Association, dismissed the discontent of the farmers as a conspiracy of outsiders.  “The anti-saline water movement is a conspiracy by some local and international NGOs to destroy the shrimp industry...which earns huge foreign exchange through exports.  Around a million people are directly or indirectly dependent on this industry to earn their livelihoods,” said Haque, who owns a shrimp farm in Kamarkhola Village in Dakop Upazila.

Haque added: “We have an integrated committee named the ‘Shrimp Resources Development and Management Committee’ comprised of members from different organizations, including the forest, environment, land and livestock departments.  So there is no question of environmental degradation as all of our decisions are made through this committee.  ...As per government policy, at least 86 percent of the people in an area need to support the issue before any permits are given for shrimp cultivation in the area.  So far...no new shrimp enclosures were given permits for cultivation this year.”

The situation will not change overnight as saline water has been held in these ponds for many years.  It is necessary to store rainwater around the enclosures for one to two years to reduce the salinity gradually and prepare the land for rice and vegetable cultivation.

Source: TheDailyStar.net.  Back to rice farming after 25 yrs.  April 13, 2009.

Ecuador

From 1998 to 2008

From 1998 to 2008, the export value of Ecuadorian shrimp fell 23 percent, from $875 million to $673 million.  The volume, however, increased from 253 million pounds in 1998 to 295 million pounds in 2008.

In 1998, the Ecuadorian shrimp farming industry was hit with the whitespot virus, and production began to drop dramatically.  By 2000, the number of hectares in production shrank by 87 percent; exports dropped by 62 percent!

Ten years ago shrimp farmers got an average of $3.46 per pound for their shrimp, now they get $2.09.

Source: FIS United States.  Shrimp export value fell 23 pct in 10 years.  Analia Murias (email editorial@fis.com, webpage http://www.fis.com).  April 13, 2009.

Honduras

Shrimp Exports of $150 Million in 2009

Honduran shrimp farmers expect to harvest 80 million pounds of shrimp worth $150 million between late April and early November 2009.  Jacobo Paz, a representative of the National Association of Honduran Aquaculturists (ANDAH), said, “We are set to initiate the harvest.  ...The climatological conditions are excellent....”

Paz reiterated the shrimp farming sector’s demand that the government forge agreements with the National Food Safety and Quality Service Association on guaranteeing water quality and with the Secretariat of Security on providing better farm security.  Criminals poach shrimp on a regular basis in Ecuador.  Organized gangs rob farms of up to $1 million worth of shrimp annually, Paz said.

Source: FIS United States.  Farmed shrimp harvest untainted by global crisis.  Analia Murias (email editorial@fis.com, webpage http://www.fis.com).  April 8, 2009.

India

Antibiotics

On March 24, 2009, the Standing Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health of the European Commission (EC, one of three institutions governing the European Union) drafted legislation that—if passed—would require that shrimp imported from India carry a certificate stating that it’s free from nitrofurans.

Japan is the second largest importer of Indian seafood (16%) after the European Union (35%).

“Rejections and EU alerts over Indian shrimp consignments have gone up in the last three months,” confirmed G. Mohankumar, Chairman of the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).  “But they should be coming down in the immediate future since effective measures for total screening of export consignments are being implemented.  Six new testing laboratories have been established and only tested consignments would be permitted for exports,” he said.

Over 90 percent of the rejections have been from a relatively small geographical area in the state of Andhra Pradesh.  Officials think the area’s small size will make it easier to control the problem.

With proper guidelines to run aquaculture farms hygienically and efficiently already in place, all that is required is strict implementation and monitoring, stressed the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).

Source: FIS United States.  Harmful chemicals detected in shrimp exports.  Michael Loubet (email editorial@fis.com, webpage http://www.fis.com).  April 14, 2009.

India/Japan

Japan Finds Pesticide in Indian Farmed Shrimp

The Japanese Food and Safety Authority has detected residues of the pesticide pendimethalin, a pre-emergent herbicide used to prevent crabgrass from germinating, in farmed shrimp from a company based in Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India.

In the wake of the detection, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has alerted its import inspectors to strengthen the monitoring and inspection of shrimp from India.  Consequently, in the future, 30 percent of Indian consignments will be inspected.

The Ministry also warned that in accordance with the Japanese Food Sanitation Law, it would introduce a 100 percent inspection of Indian shrimp if the problems weren’t corrected.  That could lead to a Japanese ban on shrimp from India.

Meanwhile, India’s Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA)—which acts as a coordinating agency with federal and state governments on marine product exports—has alerted the Tuticorin-based company to comply “strictly” with the quality standards.

In order to avoid “100 per cent inspection”, MPEDA has also alerted the Seafood Exporters Association of India to follow stringent quality control measures while procuring and processing cultured shrimp for export to Japan.

Source: Business Standard.  Japan detects pesticide residues in Indian seafood.  George Joseph.  April 9, 2009.

Mexico

Preliminary Shrimp Farming Program for the WAS Meeting in Veracruz

To view the preliminary shrimp farming program for the World Aquaculture Society meeting in Veracruz (May 25, 2009), click here.

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, April 15, 2009.

Thailand

Little Effect on Shrimp Prices from Global Recession

Poj Aramwattananond, president of the Thai Frozen Foods Association, said, “Given the two-month performance [January/February 2009], Thailand’s shrimp exports have yet to see any impact from the world’s economic crisis.”  He said the increase was partly due to greater availability of Thai shrimp in retail outlets around the world.  “We believe exports this year will grow by as much as 10% in volume and value from trade worth $2.38 billion in 2008,” he said.

On the negative side, Poj said exporters were concerned by the country’s domestic politics, as ongoing protests might cause foreign buyers to delay or scrap purchase orders.  Financial liquidity is another matter of concern, as most of commercial banks have tightened their credit lines to local exporters, and the financial crisis might increase buyer defaults.

Thailand’s production in the first quarter was 96,000 tons, a 15% drop from the same period last year, said Thai Eastern Shrimp Farmers Association president, Banchong Nisapavanich.  The drop was mainly due to local producers cutting output by 20% in a bid to keep prices high while global consumption slumps.

Output is now forecast at 392,000 tons for 2009, significantly lower than the 530,000 tons produced in 2007 and 500,000 tons in 2006.  A similar production cut was made last year to curb falling prices, resulting in an output of 490,000 tons, down 7.5% from 2007.

Farmers get $3.95 a kilo for 50 count whole shrimp, up 10-15% over the same period in 2008, and much higher than the $2.54-$2.68 in June/July 2007.

Poj said, “We are concerned that higher shrimp prices may attract more farmers to start shrimp farming, making the production cut ineffective.”

Source: Bangkok Post.  Thai shrimp exports thriving as consumers tighten belts.  Phusadee Arunmas.  April 13, 2009.

United States

Florida—Spiny Lobster Diets Tested

Abstract: This study compared and evaluated the performance of seven diets for first instar juvenile spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus, 5–6 millimeter carapace length) based on growth rates, survival and feed conversion ratios.  Results demonstrated that a fresh seafood-based diet produced the fastest growth rate (3.49% weight gain a day and 0.90% carapace length increase a day over a 28-day period).  These growth rates were also reflected by a low feed conversion rate (3:1) for the fresh seafood diet.  Similar results were obtained with juveniles fed a frozen seafood diet, however, frozen brine shrimp, Artemia salina (both enriched and unenriched), frozen enriched mysis shrimp, a dry pellet and a meal-based diet did not produce consistent growth rates.  Survival rates ranged between 38% and 85%.

Source: Electronical Larviculture Newsletter.  Editor Gilbert Van Stappen (gilbert.vanstappen@ugent.be).  An Evaluation of Potential Diets for the Culture of Post-pueruli Spiny Lobsters Panulirus Argus (Palinuridae).  S.L. Cox (scox@hboi.edu) and M. Davis (Aquaculture Division, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution, 5600 US 1 North, Fort Pierce, Florida 34946, USA).  Issue 309, March 15, 2009.

United States

• Oregon—The West Coast Pink Shrimp Fishery

• Gulf Coast Fishery—Catches Up in the First Two Months of 2009

The West Coast pink shrimp market appears to be in more-than-usual disarray as the new fishing season gets underway.  Weak demand and high inventories spell trouble for everyone.

In fact, the trouble has already started.  While the season officially opened on April 1, 2009, almost no boats are fishing along the West Coast.  Processors and shrimpers have not been able to come to an agreement on an ex-vessel price, even after the Oregon Department of Agriculture sponsored and facilitated a meeting on the problem.

Fishermen catch 250 to 500 count-per-pound shrimp.  Processors are offering $0.30 a pound for large pink shrimp (250 to 350 count), a 40% drop from last season’s $0.50 a pound.  Processors are worried about the weak market, which has caused a backup of unsold frozen inventory from 2008.  Retailers in Oregon are working to move that inventory, selling shrimp meat for $3.99 a pound and as low as $2.99 a pound in some cases.  Movement remains slow.

With ample inventory on hand, processors are in no rush to buy shrimp.  And the new-season shrimp are reported to be quite small and scarce by the few boats scouting the fishing grounds.  If most of the shrimp are very small, fishermen will be even more reluctant to fish since they’ll get much less than the $0.30 a pound they get for the large shrimp.  As the season progresses and the shrimp grow larger, the problem of small shrimp should disappear.

Shrimpers, however, are not happy with the price offer from the processors.  They point to Atlantic Canada’s northern pink shrimp fishery that saw a drop in ex-vessel prices, but the drop was not as steep as the one proposed for West Coast shrimp.  On average, fishermen in Atlantic Canada saw a 10.6% drop in the average ex-vessel price for the April 1–June 20, 2009, period.  West Coast shrimpers are seeing a drop in the neighborhood of 40% compared to 2008.  West Coast shrimpers say they need a minimum prices closer to $0.40 a pound to make fishing worthwhile.

The stalemate between fishermen and processors could last awhile.

Gulf Coast: For the Gulf of Mexico shrimp fishery, the winter months produce only small volumes of shrimp.  Even so, February 2009 saw a nice uptick in volume compared to recent years.  Unfortunately for fishermen, prices dropped, but, on a percentage basis, not as much as the increase in supply.

In February 2009, shrimp deliveries hit 3.2 million pounds, up 76% from last year.  For the first two months of the year, the total Gulf of Mexico landings of all species came in at 7.6 million pounds, a nice gain of 22% over 6.2 million pounds in 2008.

Fishermen saw ex-vessel prices drop 15% on average in February.  The average price they received was $3.43 a pound compared to $4.04 a pound a year ago.  Every size and every region of the Gulf saw a decline in prices except for the large shrimp caught off Florida’s west coast.

Source: Seafood Trend Newsletter (independent coverage of the seafood market since 1984, 8227 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103-4434 USA, phone 1-206-523-2280, fax 1-206-526-8719, email seafoodtrend@aol.com).  Editor, Ken Talley.  April 13, 2009.

United States

South Carolina—Hollings Marine Lab, Unigene Array for Litopenaeus Species

The Marine Genomic program at the Hollings Marine Lab has announced the construction and validation of a large-scale unigene array for Litopenaeus species.

A report on the project says: “The array consists of nearly 22K shrimp unigenes along with suitable controls and landing lights and has performed exceptionally well in the QA/QC validation tests.  The shrimp unigenes are represented in duplicates on each array to permit validation of the performance and a number of control spots, which permit assessment of non-specific binding as well as provisions for spike in controls....  All genes represented on the arrays are in the public domain and available at the Marine Genomics Project (http://www.marinegenomics.org).

Information: National Aquaculture Genome Projects.

Information: Department of Biochemistry, Medical University of South Carolina, A204 Hollings Marine Laboratory, 331 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, South Carolina 29412, USA (phone 1-843-762-8859, fax 1-843-762-8737).

Source: Aquaculture Genomics Newsletter 22.  Shrimp microarray available.  April 9, 2009.

United States

Washington DC—The Giant Tiger Market

Figures released by the National Marine Fisheries Service in March 2009 confirmed what shrimp traders already knew—2009 is off to a tepid start.

Overall, USA shrimp imports tumbled 13.2 percent in January 2009, to 93.4 million pounds, after finishing all of 2008 up 1.3 percent, to 1.24 billion pounds.

Import figures for giant tigers were mixed.  In January 2009, imports from India and Bangladesh were up 19 percent and 1 percent, respectively, while imports from Vietnam and Indonesia were down 38 percent and 1 percent, respectively.  The bulk of the USA tiger supply originates in India, Bangladesh, Vietnam and Indonesia.

Demand for shrimp is weak in Europe and Japan.  The USA dollar is appreciating, making the United States an increasingly attractive market for Asian and Latin American shrimp producers.

Tightening tiger supplies are driving up prices.  After bottoming out in December 2008 and January 2009, prices began to inch up in February 2009 and were still climbing through mid-March 2009.

Headless, shell-on, commodity-grade tigers were quoted in the low-$7 range for U-12s, high-$5 range for U-15s, high-$4 range for 16-20s, high-$3 range for 21-25s and mid-$3 range for 26-30s and 31-40s.  In mid-March 2009, prices of larger sizes were holding firm, while prices of smaller sizes (16-20s and down) were trending upward.

Source: SeafoodSource.com.  Editor Steven Hedlund (shedlune@divcom.com).  Market Report/Shrimp/Black tiger market turns the corner.  April 10, 2009.

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