High Health Aquaculture

Golden and Red-Striped Shrimp

On January 10, 2008, I interviewed Dr. Jim Wyban, president of High Health Aquaculture (HHA) in Hawaii, a USA-based facility that produces specific pathogen free (SPF), fast-growing, virus-resistant, genetically improved shrimp broodstock.

Shrimp News: Hi Jim, what’s the current status of High Health Aquaculture?

Jim Wyban: 2007 was a great year for us.  HHA continues to be the leading SPF shrimp broodstock supplier in the world, and we probably have the leading market share in Thailand and Indonesia.  Most of our business is in Asia, supplying Penaeus vannamei broodstock, our GxTVR stock, that’s our growth selected, hybridized, Taura-resistant stock—our fastest growing animals ever.  Breeding for growth rate has really had a powerful effect on their performance.

Shrimp News: What are you doing with your P. monodon broodstock?

Jim Wyban: We’re working on a couple of things.  We spent about twelve years developing our SPF P. monodon broodstock, now in the F8 (eighth) generation, and feel that they’re ready to go on the market.  We’re talking with a couple of groups about supplying SPF monodon broodstock.

Shrimp News: Are you still working with P. japonicus broodstock?

Jim Wyban: No, we worked with japonicus
for a long time, but we just could not generate any commercial interest in it, so we dropped it.

Shrimp News: What about stylirostris?

Jim Wyban: Yes, we’re still working with stylies.  We’re collaborating with the IFREMER Group in New Caledonia on some very interesting breeding experiments with stylies.  Hybrids from our SPF stylirostris and the New Caledonia stock of stylirostris outperformed both of the parent stocks by a considerable amount in both growth and survival.  IFREMER did crosses in both directions, our males with their females and our females with their males, and in both cases, the hybrids outperformed the parent stock.  In 2008, some shrimp farms in New Caledonia will stock the hybrids.  This was no small research artifact.  These were significant results from a controlled study.  In 2008, a paper will be published on this research in the journal Aquaculture, along with the production data.

Shrimp News: In 2005, High Health Aquaculture formed a joint venture with Thai Union Feed Mill to produce specific pathogen free, fast-growing, Taura-virus-resistant vannamei nauplii and postlarvae in Thailand.  Through the grapevine, I heard that the joint venture had ended.  Is that true and what can you tell me about it?

Jim Wyban: Yes, that’s true.  We were partners in developing a $10-million hatchery called “High Health Thailand”, which was completed in 2006 at a 37-acre site north of Phuket.  We purchased the site, designed and built the hatchery, supplied broodstock, hired, organized and trained the technicians and then ran into some differences with our partners.  We just could not come to terms on how to manage certain aspects of the business.  The Thais wanted to take the company in one direction and we were determined to take it in another.  We eventually negotiated a settlement, and Thai Union bought out our shares in the hatchery.  We parted in good company and still communicate on a regular basis.  It’s now called Thai Union Hatchery.  As part of the settlement, it’s no longer called High Health Thailand.  All and all, it was a good experience for me; I love Thailand, which remains a great market for our products.

I would like to add that the concept for the HHT hatchery—combining the best broodstock in the world with the best hatchery practices in the world—resulted in the production of an exceptionally robust PL that’s generally not available elsewhere in the industry.  Most hatchery owners are least cost operators.  Even if they use expensive, imported, SPF broodstock, they still produce postlarvae as cheaply as possible.  For example, we’ve learned over the years that the more Artemia you feed in the hatchery, the better performance you get during growout.  In Thailand, the average hatchery uses less than a kilogram of Artemia cysts to produce a million postlarvae.  If you feed the postlarvae all the Artemia they want, however, they’ll consume ten times as much.  That’s what we did at HHT.  As a consequence, we produced a huge PL-10.  You get very rapid growth—and it doesn’t increase total costs that much.  Hatchery owners want to cut costs, so they feed less Artemia and wind up with less than a perfect PL.  Farmers who used our PLs reported exceptionally fast growth (over 0.2 grams per day).  Our concept at HHT worked.  Now, we’re talking with other groups that might want to develop similar projects.

Shrimp farmers need to lower their costs.  They need to produce shrimp for less than three dollars a kilo.  In my experience, the best way to cut costs is to improve PL quality.  Although this might raise hatchery costs, the increased growth and survival during growout will more than compensate for the higher hatchery costs.

Shrimp News: What else are you up to?

Jim Wyban: In our research and development program, we’re looking at the genetics of shell color and shell patterns.  In our vannamei breeding program, we discovered that one out of a 100,000 animals was a beautiful golden yellow, the color of a ripe banana, but even more golden.  They really stand out.  For a couple of generations now, we’ve been trying to concentrate the genes responsible for the gold color, with the idea of producing a golden vannamei stock, which could then be branded.  The color persists even when you ice the animals down.

We’re doing similar breeding work with monodon.  We have monodon that show a broad red/orange stripe, right down the top of the carapace from the rostrum to the tail.  When we first starting breeding monodon, we’d see the red stripe in a few percent of the animals in a few families.  After breeding for that trait, however, we now have a couple of families where the stripe appears in sixty percent of the animals.  Like the golden shrimp vannamei, the color persists even when you ice the animals down.  When I was in Japan in October 2007, I showed photos of the red stripe monodon to some seafood people, and they got really excited about them.

Wyban has posted videos of his Christmas shrimp celebration and a broodstock harvest to YouTube.  You can view them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HNitYhscsI.  On the six-minute Christmas video, Wyban says:

“Welcome to Kona, Hawaii.  We’re broadcasting on the shrimp network.  This is the annual event of the year, the High Health Annual Christmas Party, and the feature is eating shrimp.  We’ve cooked broodstock-sized shrimp in four different recipes and we’re going to focus on how good these shrimp have been to us and how good they are to eat.  This is for all of our friends around the world.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

While discussing one of the dishes in the video, Wyban says: “One of the things that’s really important about these shrimp...is their red color.  Look at how beautifully orange/red these animals are.  This result is the combination of our culture system, good nutrition and our secret method of processing.  ...That combination results in these beautiful red shrimp, a color that’s very important in Japan.”

Information: James Wyban, Ph.D., High Health Aquaculture, Inc., 73-4460 Queen Kaahumanu Hwy #117 Kailua-Kona, Hawaii 96740 USA (phone/fax: 808-329-6018 jim.wyban@gmail.com www.SPFGenetics.com).

Sources: 1. Jim Wyban, telephone interview by Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International.  January 10, 2008.  2. Email to Shrimp News International from Jim Wyban.  Subject: Video.  January 7, 2008.

Mangroves Are Important

But Some Shrimp Farms Are Okay

Mangroves in coastal Thailand are the main protection against deadly flooding from tsunamis, so it seems wise to protect them at all costs.  Removing some mangroves, however, and replacing them with shrimp farms doesn’t necessarily reduce the mangroves’ power to blunt tsunamis.  In that observation lies a fresh, quantitative approach to how policy makers can protect the environment and allow growth and development that improve local residents’ lives.

Governments and managers worldwide are leaning toward a system known as “ecosystem-based management” to achieve their environmental goals.  Under ecosystem-based management, policy makers include man and his activities in the environmental equation.

In this study, from a recent issue of the journal Science, researchers assigned dollar values to the mangroves’ protective powers and then compared those values to the dollars earned from shrimp farming.  Their conclusion: Small losses of between 10 and 20 percent of mangroves—where massive expanses of mangroves already exist—are outweighed by the gains from shrimp farming.

In other words, as long as farmers don’t destroy too many mangroves, they can still build shrimp ponds and make money—and the remaining mangroves will still protect the shoreline from tsunami storm surges.

The research was funded by the National Center of Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and the Packard Foundation.  Researchers from 14 universities and institutes around the world contributed to the Science report.

Excerpts from the Science Report

“To explore this possibility, we applied these nonlinear wave attenuation relationships for coastal systems to a case study from Thailand where choices have been made between conversion of mangroves to shrimp aquaculture versus their preservation for key ecosystem services (such as coastal protection and fish habitat).  Our case study assumes a mangrove habitat that extends 1,000 meters inland from the seaward edge along ten kilometers of coast.  Nearby communities depend on the mangrove for forest and fishery products....  Coastal communities up to five kilometers inland are protected from tropical storms by mangroves.  The alternative to preserving mangroves is converting them to intensive shrimp ponds, which overwhelmingly benefits outside investors.”

“The storm protection service of mangroves still dominates all values, but small losses in mangroves will not cause the economic benefits of storm buffering by mangroves to fall precipitously.  The consequence is that the aggregate value across all uses of the mangroves (i.e., shrimp farming and ecosystem values) is at its highest ($17.5 million) when up to two square kilometers of mangroves are allowed to be converted to shrimp aquaculture and the remainder of the ecosystem is preserved.  This outcome also yields a more equitable distribution across stakeholders, which may be an important objective in any ecosystem-based management strategy for coastal management.  Local mangrove-dependent coastal communities and other coastal communities living within five kilometers inland would obtain approximately the same share of economic benefits from the mangrove system ($15.6 and $13.2 million, respectively), but now outside investors would earn some commercial profits from shrimp farming ($1.9 million).  Finally, we note that the outcome from our Thailand mangrove valuation example corresponds to ‘best practice’ guidelines for mangrove management in Asia, which recommend that ideal mangrove/pond ratios should not exceed 20% of the habitat area converted to ponds.”

“By including nonlinear relationships in an economic valuation of ecosystem services, our results challenge the assumption that the competing demands of coastal interface systems must always result in either conservation or habitat destruction.”

Sources: 1. ScienceDaily.com.  Science News/Environmental Protection, Development Not Always At Odds (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/01/080117140842.htm).  January 18, 2008.  2. The New York Times.  Damaged Landscape Can Still Be Helpful, Researchers Say (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/19/us/19coastal.html?ref=us).  Cornelia Dean.  January 19, 2008.  3. Science.  Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management with Nonlinear Ecological Functions and Values.  Edward B. Barbier (Department of Economics and Finance, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 USA, email ebarbier@uwyo.edu), Evamaria W. Koch, Brian R. Silliman, Sally D. Hacker, Eric Wolanski, Jurgenne Primavera, Elise F. Granek, Stephen Polasky, Shankar Aswani, Lori A. Cramer, David M. Stoms, Chris J. Kennedy, David Bael, Carrie V. Kappel, Gerardo M.E. Perillo and Denise J. Reed.  Volume 319, Number 5861, Pages 321-323.  January 18, 2008.

Country Reports

Bangladesh

420,000 Harvest Wild Postlarvae

About 420,000 people are involved in shrimp postlarvae collection along the estuaries and coastline of the Bay of Bengal in Bangladesh.  Collection from wild sources has a reputation for being ecologically destructive because of all of the other species captured and destroyed in the process.  In 2000, the government imposed a ban on postlarvae collection to protect the fisheries.  But the collectors don’t pay much attention to the ban, knowing that the government won’t enforce it because a ban would displace nearly a half million people.

Who are the fry collectors?  To get socioeconomic information on them, 72-85 collectors were interviewed weekly from three harvesting sites.  This paper analyzes the larvae collection and distribution efficiency, livelihood strategy of fry collectors, user options for fisheries management and the roles of various stakeholders.  Results show that poverty, migration, credit systems and lack of coordination of service-providing agencies all have important influence on shrimp fry collection in the coastal zone.

Source: Electronical Larviculture Newsletter (http://www.rug.ac.be/aquaculture).  Editor Gilbert Van Stappen (gilbert.vanstappen@ugent.be).  Wild Shrimp Larvae Harvesting in the Coastal Zone of Bangladesh: Socio-Economic Perspectives.  A.K. Azad, C.K. Lin and K.R. Jensen.  Issue 279, December 15, 2007.

Belize

World Wildlife Fund Meeting on Shrimp Farming Standards

Jose Villalon, Director, Aquaculture Program, WWF-United States; and Sylvia Marin, Regional Representative, WWF-Central America, report:

“On behalf of the World Wildlife Fund’s Central America and United States offices, we are writing to invite you to a meeting in Belize April 1st and 2nd to begin developing standards for certifying responsible shrimp farming in Central America/Mexico.  We hope you will play a role in creating the first set of measurable, performance-based shrimp farming standards that are created by consensus.

As a key stakeholder in the shrimp aquaculture industry, your input at the meeting is invaluable.  We are encouraging an open dialogue with the shrimp industry’s leading producers, processors and retailers, as well as representatives from academia, governmental agencies and nongovernmental agencies.

This will be the first meeting of the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue in Central America/Mexico.  Over the course of the year, we will identify criteria to focus on in order to reduce each of the key environmental and social impacts related to shrimp farming.  We then will create indicators, or points of measurement to determine the extent of each impact.  The final step will be developing standards that are quantitative performance levels to evaluate whether a principle is being achieved.  The standards will be based on the “International Principles for Shrimp Farming”—high-level goals for shrimp farming—adopted in 2006 by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Two or three additional meetings will be held in the region over the next year to continue the discussion.  Similar meetings will be held to develop standards for East Africa and Asia.  These three sets of standards will be harmonized into one global set of standards.

The Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue in Central America/Mexico is one of five WWF-initiated Dialogues underway globally.  Standards also are being developed for salmon, tilapia, pangasius and molluscs.  Dialogues for seaweed, trout and abalone will begin later this year.

The first shrimp Dialogue in your region will be from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. April 1st and 2nd at the Radisson Fort George Hotel & Marina in Belize City.  Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m. on April 1st.  The main goals of the meeting will be to begin creating criteria, elect a steering committee and discuss a process for moving forward.

If you are interested in attending, please contact WWF shrimp dialogue coordinators Eric Bernard (phone 33-(6)-98-40-53-93, email eric.bernard-ac@wanadoo.fr); or Mauricio Mejia (phone 501-223-7680, email mmejia@wwfca.org) by March 15, 2008.

We encourage you to make hotel reservations as soon as possible by contacting the Radisson, or another hotel in the area.  For information about the Radisson, go to www.radisson.com/belizecitybz.

For additional information about the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue and all of the WWF Dialogues, go to www.worldwildlife.org/aquadialogues.

We hope to see you in April.”

Information: Jill Schwartz, Senior Communications Officer, Aquaculture World Wildlife Fund, 1250 24th Street, NW Washington, DC 20037 USA (phone  202-822-3458, cell 202-290-6526, fax 202-861-8324, email  jill.schwartz@wwfus.org, webpage www.worldwildlife.org).

Source: Email to Shrimp News International from Jill Schwartz, World Wildlife Fund, on February 8, 2008.

Canada

Greenpeace

The global aquaculture industry is not a solution to overfishing and must dramatically change in order to become sustainable says a new Greenpeace report titled “Challenging the Aquaculture Industry on Sustainability”.  Presented at the 2008 Seafood Summit in Barcelona, Spain, on January 28, 2008, the report documents how fish and shrimp farming are damaging marine and freshwater ecosystems by destroying coasts to make way for ponds, by polluting water with fecal waste and by capturing wild animals for feed and farm stock.

Human rights abuses, which are often forgotten in the aquaculture debate, plague shrimp farming.  In Bangladesh, about 150 murders linked to aquaculture have been reported.  The report also highlights the devastating impacts of aquaculture effluents on the ecosystem.

To address these problems, the report offers specific recommendations for the industry to move towards sustainability and calls on retailers to buy only from sustainable aquaculture operations.

Information: The report can be obtained at http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/campaigns/oceans/resources/documents/challenging-aquaculture.  For further information: Jane Story, Greenpeace Canada Communications Officer (phone 416-930-9055) and Sarah King, Greenpeace Canada Oceans Campaigner (phone 778-227-6458).

Source: CNW Group.  International report emphasizes need for urgent change in aquaculture industry (http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/January2008/28/c4601).  January 28, 2008.

The Gambia (West Africa)

Pirang Shrimp Farm Closed to Birders

From a blogging birder: Just back from a two week trip to The Gambia and thought it would be useful to inform anyone planning to visit the Pirang Shrimp Farm that it’s closed to birders and the public.

On the day we visited, a couple of well-known bird guides were present and they failed to convince (i.e., bribe) the workers to let us in.  The workers said they would be sacked if they let us birders in.

Apparently, this is due to the Swedish owners of the shrimp farm not being happy that their workers are being distracted by birders, so they’ve closed it forthwith.

Source: BirdForum.net.  Pirang–A word of warning (http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=105805).  Alan G.  January 22, 2008.

Malaysia/Japan

Japan’s Maruha to Acquire Malaysia’s Agrobest

Japanese seafood supplier Maruha Group, Inc., will purchase 100% of Agrobest (Malaysia), Sdn., Bhd., a Penaeus monodon shrimp farming operation, for approximately $30 million.  In 2006, Agrobest exported nearly all 2,600 tons of its production to Japan.  Agrobest plans to produce 7,500 tons of shrimp in 2009, more than half of it the western white shrimp, P. vannamei!  Information: Thompson Financial (yasuhiko.seki@thomson.com).

The Maruha Group is the second major Japanese trading company to invest in shrimp farming recently.  In April 2007, Mitsui & Co. acquired 37% of Allied Pacific, a Hong Kong-based firm engaging in shrimp farming and shrimp processing in China.

Sources: 1. TradingMarkets.com.  Japan’s Maruha to Acquire Malaysia’s Agrobest (http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1031402/).  January 27, 2008.  2. Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Mitsui participating in Allied Pacific’s expansion of shrimp production in China.  Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email kencoons@seafood.com).  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  December 31, 2007.

Mariana Islands

Selling Broodstock to Indonesia

In December 27, 2007, Saipan Aquaculture, a small shrimp farm in the Mariana Islands, exported 250, 10-month-old, Penaeus vannamei broodstock to one of the biggest shrimp hatcheries in Indonesia for $25 each, or $6,250, with the buyer paying the packing and shipping costs.

Saipan operations manager Rommel Catalma said there are stringent requirements on the export of broodstock.  First, a farm or facility needs a two-year disease free certification from the University of Arizona and then it must pass an inspection by the department of fisheries of the importing country.

Saipan Aquaculture produces around 3,000 pounds of shrimp a month for local markets, like hotels and restaurants.  The company employs two aquaculturists, a chemist, a sales and delivery person and two aquaculture aides.

Catalma says, “We’re looking at selling chilled shrimp in Japan, Korea, Guam and even Hawaii.  Japan is the second biggest importer of shrimp in the world and it’s only three hours away.”

Catalma envisions selling broodstock to shrimp farmers in Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand and China.

Sources: 1. Saipan Tribune.  Local shrimp grower exports to Indonesia (http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?cat=1&newsID=76373).  Mark Rabago.  January 24, 2008.  2. Saipan Tribune.  Local shrimp grower eyes Japan market (http://www.saipantribune.com/newsstory.aspx?newsID=76393&cat=1).  Mark Rabago.  January 25, 2008.

Singapore

Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve, Shrimp Harvest Tour

The Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve is a nature reserve located in the northwest section of Singapore.  It’s also a former shrimp farm and a stopover of global importance for migratory birds.

It runs tours that demonstrate the traditional method of harvesting shrimp in tune with the tides.

Future tours will be held on:

March 15, April 12, May 10, May 24, June 7 and July 26, 2008.  Visitors are advised to arrive at the reserve by 9:00 a.m. and then go to the information counter.

Source: Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve Webpage.  Prawn Watch (http://www.sbwr.org.sg/events/prawnwatch/).  Site Visit on January 27, 2008.

Thailand

Export Markets

Thai shrimp exports to the USA are likely to shrink in 2008 because of the weak USA economy, so exporters seek new opportunities in Japan and Europe.

The United States accounted for 61% of the 300,000 tons of shrimp Thailand exported in 2006, but that share could fall to 48-49% in 2008, according to Niwat Sutemechaikul, deputy director-general of the Fisheries Department.

Stagnant sales this year could limit Thai shrimp output to 440,000 tons, about the same volume as in 2007 and far below the 530,000 tons produced two years ago, said Niwat, also known as “Mr. Shrimp” because he was appointed by the Thaksin Shinawatra government to oversee a cluster program intended to strengthen the shrimp industry.  He said export revenue would fall if the baht continued to appreciate against the USA dollar.

Shipments to Japan rose 7% to 54,710 tons in the first 11 months of 2007.  “The JTEPA (Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement) helped accelerate sales to Japan,” Niwat said.

In the first 11 months of 2007, exports to the European Union showed robust growth, up 54% in volume to 28,287 tons and 48% in value to $223 million.  The performance was helped by the restoration of lower tariffs under the Generalized System of Preferences for developing economies.

Processors have been encouraged to export more value-added products and to offer shrimp in popular dishes.  The target for 2008 is to increase the proportion of processed shrimp from 50% to 65%.

Kasikorn Research Center analyst Phakkaorn Dhipayathanadecha agrees with the suggestion that producers focus more on the export of prepared shrimp, rather than commodity products, to avoid competition from countries like Ecuador and Brazil.  “They should highlight popular Thai dishes that use shrimp as a main ingredient such as pad Thai Kung and Tom Yum Kung,” she said.

Source: The Bangkok Post.  Shrimp exporters seek alternatives to US sales.  Walailak Keeratipipatpong.  January 25, 2008.

Thailand

Aquatic Biolabs

Philippe Tacon, working as a consultant for Aquatic Biolabs, reports:

Aquatic Biolabs (ABL), founded in 2007 by Ms. Tanuttha Suyawanish, provides a range of services to the shrimp farming industry.  It targets aquaculture nutrition and health management companies that require contract research or product testing to support their marketing efforts.  Products such as feed additives (feed attractants, pigments), health additives (immunostimulants, probiotics) and biosecurity protocols can be tested.  Protocols include farm trials, cage trials and small-scale wet lab trials—all designed to meet the customer’s specifications.

ABL has its offices in Bangkok, and test facilities (ponds, wet lab) will soon be opened in southern Thailand.  ABL can work at the customer’s site or subcontract work at commercial farms.

The managers and directors in charge of the company have vast experience in shrimp and aquatic animal farming dating back to the mid-1990s in Thailand, mostly in hatcheries and broodstock facilities for giant tiger shrimp and in R&D departments of aquafeed companies.  Over the last four years, they have built a network of farm managers in Thailand.

Information: Philippe Tacon (phil.tacon@gmail.com, website www.aquaticbiolab.com).

Source: Email to Shrimp News International from Philippe Tacon on January 24, 2008.

Thailand

Cooperatives

Ten years ago, the booming shrimp farming business attracted millions and millions of dollars from investors, many of whom went broke or incurred huge debts, leaving financial institutions with massive nonperforming loans on their hands.

Now, Pinyo Kiatipinyo, chairman of the Federation of Shrimp Farmers Cooperatives of Thailand, says the best way to structure the shrimp farming business is to group farmers together in cooperatives.

Pinyo said cooperatives could enforce good aquaculture standards and help shrimp farmers expand their markets both locally and overseas.  He said Harnet Cooperative Company, a Japanese purchaser of Thai shrimp, planned to buy shrimp directly from Thai cooperatives; and Marks and Spencer, a United Kingdom-based retailer, has informed the Thai Fishery Department that it wants to buy shrimp from the farmers’ cooperative at Sam Roi Yod, Prachuap Khiri Khan.

In a bid to reduce shrimp feed costs, Pinyo said farmers have developed feeds made from local materials.

Source: The Bangkok Post.  Strength in numbers.  Wichit Chantanusornsiri.  January 24, 2008.

United States

Arizona—University of Arizona, Job

The Aquaculture Pathology Laboratory at the University of Arizona in Tucson has a position opening for a research specialist or postdoc in shrimp diseases.

Salary: $39,173 to $43,000.

Closing Date: February 15, 2008.

Qualifications: Master’s degree in a field appropriate to the area of assignment and three years of related research experience; or a Bachelor’s degree in a field appropriate to the area of assignment and four years of related research experience; or any equivalent combination of experience, training and/or education.  At least two years of laboratory experience relating to microbiology and molecular biology.

Preferred Qualifications: A Master’s Degree and at least two years of laboratory experience in a biomedical field; or a Ph.D. in microbiology, or molecular biology, virology, or a related biomedical field.

Description: This position is in the Department of Veterinary and Microbiology and primarily involves conducting basic and applied research in microbiology and molecular biology in relation to the pathogens of shrimp and other aquatic organisms.

Benefits: Health, dental and life insurance; paid vacation, sick leave and holidays; tuition reduction for employee and qualified family members; access to campus cultural and recreational activities; and state retirement.

Contact: Donald V. Lightner (dvl@u.arizona.edu).

Online Application: Go to http://www.hr.arizona.edu and select “Click to Enter HR.”  Once in the HR site, click on “Apply for U of A Jobs.”  Search for job number 40129.

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources, http://aquanic.org/index.htm).  Jobs Directory (http://www.aquanic.org/Text/job_serv.htm) In cooperation with the WAS Employment Service.  Search jobs (http://aquanic.org/jobs/search.asp).  Research Specialist or Postdoc (shrimp diseases) (http://aquanic.org/jobs/jobinfo.asp?jobid=2738).  Posted February 7, 2008.

United States

California—Shrimp News International

Hi, I’ll be at the World Aquaculture Society meeting in Orlando, Florida, USA, next week.  If you have news to report, tap me on the shoulder, and I’ll take down your story.  If you need to contact me during February 9-12, 2008, please use my cell phone number, 858-610-2188.  There will be long periods when I won’t be answering, so leave a message, and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, February 8, 2008.

United States

Hawaii—Oceanic Institute, Inbreeding Depression

This analysis encompasses survival, growth and disease challenge-test data on approximately eight generations of Penaeus vannamei.  Within this pedigreed broodstock inbreeding coefficients vary among families, from a low of 0.0 (most families) to a high of 0.25.  Both growth and survival of noninbred families were high during this period.  Inbreeding had a small (but significant) depressive effect on growth and no significant effect on survival.

The effects of inbreeding on survival after challenge tests with viral pathogens was more noticeable and became particularly strong in severe (WSSV) challenge tests, where survival even of the noninbred families was considerably reduced.  The effect of inbreeding on survival ranged from an 8.3% reduction per 10% inbreeding in challenge tests where noninbred survival was high, to 38.7% reduction when noninbred survival was low.  Three isolates of TSV and one WSSV were used in the tests.

These results suggest that inbreeding depression becomes more serious as environmental quality (measured conventionally as the survival rate of noninbreds) goes down.  An empirical relationship is provided which allows prediction of survival under various combinations of inbreeding and environmental quality.

Source: Genetic Computation Limited (free online summaries of aquaculture genetics research).  Editor, Roger Doyle (gcl@genecomp.com).  Hard-to-find papers.  Inbreeding depresses shrimp survival under disease stress (http://www.genecomp.com/Jan-Feb_2008.htm).  Item No. 643.  January-February 2008.

United States

Missouri—The Global Aquaculture Alliance

All of the shrimp purchased by Darden Restaurants (Olive Garden, Bahama Breeze, Red Lobster) is processed in plants certified by the Aquaculture Certification Council of Kirkland, Washington, and meets the Global Aquaculture Alliance’s best aquaculture practices standards.

All of the Wal-Mart’s shrimp is processed in GAA certified plants.

In the GAA certification system, “three stars” means the shrimp comes from a certified plant, buying from certified farm, supplied by certified hatchery.  As of November 2007, the three-star companies shipped 40,241 metric tons of shrimp, half of it from China.  Here’s a list of GAA’s three-star suppliers:

Zhanjiang Guolian Group, China

Omarsa Group, Ecuador

Amanda Group, Vietnam

Cartaqua Shrimp, Colombia

Expalsa Group, Ecuador

Aqualma, Madagascar

SeaJoy Group, Honduras

Camarones de Nicaragua, S.A., Nicaragua

Information: Bill More, Aquaculture Certification Council, Inc., 12815 72nd Avenue, Northeast, Kirkland, WA 98034 USA (phone 425-825-8634, fax 425-671-0146, email wrmore@comcast.net, webpage http://www.aquaculturecertification.org).

Information: Dr. George Chamberlain, Global Aquaculture Alliance, 5661 Telegraph Road, Suite 3A, Saint Louis, MO 63129 USA (phone 314-293-5500, fax 314-293-5525, email georgec@integra.prserv.net, webpage http://www.gaalliance.org).

Source: SeaFood Business (www.seafoodbusiness.com).  Editor, Fiona Robinson (frobinson@divcom.com).  Tipping Point.  Lisa Duchene.  Volume 27, Number 1, Page 22, January 2008.

United States

South Carolina—Interns Wanted

The Waddell Mariculture Center is offering several aquaculture research internships for the summer of 2008.

Salary: $175 a week, plus onsite housing

Duration: 10 weeks, May through August 2008

Closing Date: March 28, 2008

Qualifications: USA undergraduate students currently enrolled in a college program with an emphasis on biology, environmental science, aquaculture or fisheries.

Description: Interns will assist with research projects involving marine fish and shrimp in ponds, raceways and recirculating systems.  Interns will participate in setting up experiments, feeding and sampling of animals, collection and analysis of water quality data, data entry and analysis, maintenance of experimental systems, and other projects at the facility.  Each intern will also conduct an independent research project.  Most of the work will be conducted outdoors in hot or possibly inclement weather.  Internships are full-time with some overtime.

Information: Submit resume, letter stating how you would benefit from the internship and two letters of reference to Brad McAbee, Waddell Mariculture Center, 211 Sawmill Creek Road, Bluffton, SC 29910 USA (phone 843-837-3795, email McAbeeB@dnr.sc.gov).

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources, http://aquanic.org/index.htm).  Jobs Directory (http://www.aquanic.org/Text/job_serv.htm) In cooperation with the WAS Employment Service.  Search jobs (http://aquanic.org/jobs/search.asp).  Aquaculture Research Internships (http://aquanic.org/jobs/jobinfo.asp?jobid=2717).  Posted: January 23, 2008.

Vietnam

Penaeus vannamei Gets the OK

On January 25, 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development gave permission for the western white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) to be farmed in the Mekong Delta!

Source: VASEP.com.  Penaeus vannamei officially to be farmed in large scale in Vietnam (http://www.vasep.com.vn/vasep/eDailynews.nsf/4669E87B75931D5E47256A2C000FE7C5/2BA11222B4109220472573E2002EE396).  January 29, 2008.

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