Shrimp Farming in Guatemala Shrimp News Interviews Neil Gervais

At the “8th International Shrimp Culture Symposium and Trade Show” (May 2007, León, Nicaragua) and at “Aquaculture 2008” (February 2008, Orlando, Florida, USA), I interviewed Neil Gervais, a seasoned shrimp farmer with twenty eight years of farm and hatchery experience in Ecuador, Brazil and Guatemala.

Shrimp News: What’s your current job?

Neil Gervais: I am currently with Zeigler Bros., Inc., as their technical sales representative for hatchery feeds.  Zeigler is a great company to work for, and it is going to be introducing some exciting new products for shrimp farmers in 2008.

I’ve just left the position of production manager for Acuicola “El Rincon” in Guatemala, a shrimp hatchery that’s owned by two groups: Pesca and Tecojate/Esteromar, in a fifty/fifty joint venture partnership.  In 2007, the hatchery completed three production cycles and produced around 1.2 billion postlarvae, all of which were stocked in Guatemala.

There is another large shrimp hatchery in Guatemala, Mayasal.  It produced about 1.5 billion PLs in 2007, 200 million of which went to ponds in Honduras, Costa Rica and El Salvador.

Shrimp News: How many shrimp farms are there in Guatemala?

Neil Gervais: Basically, four large groups run most of the farms in Guatemala: Pesca group with 350 hectares of ponds managed by Mike Corser, the Tecojate/Esteromar group with 650 hectares managed by Carlos Knebusch Franke, the Aquamaya/Mayasal group with 250 hectares managed by Alexander “Zandy” de Beausset, and Mar Azul with 150 hectares managed by Scott Horton.  Altogether, they produced 45 million pounds of shrimp in 2007.  Most of the ponds in the country are in operation and are aerated.  There are very few dry ponds.

Shrimp News: Are there any small farms?

Neil Gervais: Yes, quite a few.  Over the past several years, there has been tremendous growth in small artesian shrimp farms that service local markets.  Zandy at Mayasal has done a tremendous job in helping the small-scale farmers get started.  It’s a small industry in Guatemala.  The farms and hatcheries help each other out.

For the last few years, the basic strategy in Guatemala has been a single pond stocking, followed by four or five partial harvests and then a final harvest of 24 to 30-gram shrimp.  For the first crop in 2007, however, farmers followed a different strategy.  They harvested the entire crop of small animals and sold them whole, fresh.  The fresh market has been a tremendous boom to the shrimp farms in Guatemala, and farmers are taking advantage of it.  It’s also been good for the hatcheries.  Two years ago, Rincon produced 500 million PLs a year; in 2007, it produced 500 million in less than three months.

One of the other interesting things about Guatemala, and one that a lot of people have difficulty believing, is that pond survivals average 85 percent, whether from direct stocking or stocking from nursery ponds.  And in 2007, for the first crop, survivals were over 90 percent in ponds that were stocked directly.  Hatchery survivals are also very good, averaging between 50 and 70 percent.

Whitespot is still everywhere in Guatemala.  In 2007, it showed up on almost every farm at the end of the season (October/November), but had relatively no effect on the final harvest numbers.  As ponds became positives for WSSV, they where harvested immediately to minimize mortalities.  No farms reported mass mortalities.  Whitespot hit some ponds in 2006 that were stocked early, and farmers had to harvest early, but they were able to keep the virus from spreading to other ponds.  Farmers have oxygen problems here and there, and NHP shows up now and then, but in 2007, there were no major problems.

Shrimp News: Are farmers using SPF animals?

Neil Gervais: No, Guatemala works with a strain of Penaeus vannamei that was domesticated in Colombia by CENIACUA that now has undergone several more years of selection in Guatemala.  It’s an animal that resists the Taura virus and shows good growth and survival.  It really is one of reasons for Guatemala’s success today.

Mayasal now has 84 maturation tanks and produces around 40 million nauplii a day.  Rincon built its own maturation facility, which came into production in 2007.  It has 3,000 animals (1,700 females) in production and produces about 25 to 30 million naups a day.  All broodstock is grown in closed recirculating systems.  In 2008, the demand for seedstock from Rincon and Mayasal will be around 3 billion PLs—and the numbers could go up from there.

Shrimp News: What else is happening in Guatemala?

Neil Gervais: Esteromar built two, 500-ton, high-density nurseries to produce large postlarvae early in the stocking season.  Most of Guatemala doesn’t start stocking until February or March, so there are two to three months when the ponds are empty.  In 2008, farmers plan to get a head-start on the season by stocking early with larger postlarvae.

Using heavily aerated ponds, Mayasal is running a twenty-hectare trial on hyper-intensive production.

Shrimp News: What are the typical stocking densities in Guatemala?

Neil Gervais: The traditional stocking densities are 30 PLs per square meter without aeration and 60 to 70 with aeration.  In 2007, farmers increased the stocking densities to 120 to 150 PLs per square meter and harvested smaller animals.

The farmers sell about 20 percent of their production into the local market at very good prices.  The large Guatemala shrimp farms have almost all intensified and added 14 to 20-horsepower of aeration per hectare and lined many of their ponds.  Guatemala has an advantage over most farms in Central America.  Temperatures in most of the country are over 28 degrees C during the growing season from February to November.  Animals show fast growth, disease resistance and good feed conversion even at high densities.  But, Guatemala is not without problems.  It has high feed, fuel, labor and security costs.  Stealing shrimp has become a tradition in Guatemala.  Even after thefts, however, it has higher survivals than most other countries.

Shrimp News: Are farmers using probiotics?

Neil Gervais: They are starting to because of the switch to higher stocking densities.  Probiotics to treat the water and pond bottoms are being tested, and some antimicrobial type probiotics are being added to feeds.  In Ecuador, I saw large areas that were unproductive because of disease become productive again through the use of probiotics.  In fact, some of those ponds produce better now than before the whitespot virus hit.  In Brazil, I saw many cases where ponds were brought back into production with probiotics.  Guatemalan farmers worry about the amount of organics and feeds going into their ponds.  They use mainly ten-hectare, earthen ponds with very little aeration, so they’re testing probiotics to see if they can help sustain the higher production levels.

The two large hatcheries in Guatemala are great believers in probiotics.  They no longer use antibiotics.

Guatemala’s shrimp farms are widely distributed along the east coast.  The water quality for most farms is superb.  There are very few farms on any one water source.  The hatcheries don’t have any major water quality problems.  Not that minor problems don’t exist, but they are very rare.  All the farms have good management practices and there are no environmental problems at this time.  Most of the farms will try for Global Aquaculture Alliance (GAA) certification.  The farmers would probably not have gone for certification, but customers are demanding it.  The big buyers like Wal-Mart and Costco are changing the market, and no one wants to be closed out, even if they are not currently selling to them.  Guatemala is also doing a lot of work to stay within the standards of the European Community.  The GAA certification is for the clients in the United States.  The European standards are very strict and Guatemalan farms and packing plants passed all the European requirements.

Shrimp News: I heard that you recently sold your hatchery in Ecuador.  What’s the status of shrimp farming in Ecuador?

Neil Gervais: I worked in Ecuador for over 15 years and have recently sold my shares in a hatchery to Santa Priscila, owned by Santiago Salem.  Ecuador has been going through some tough times.  Some of the large shrimp farms, those with over a thousand hectares of ponds, have gone out of business.  But there was a resurgence in production in the last half of 2007 that was a real boost to the entire industry.  The farms that are most successful these days seem to be the smaller ones, in the 100 to 200-hectare range.  This is a major change in direction from the trend of five years ago when the farms were getting bigger and bigger, although some of the best run groups such as Naturisa and Expalsa have continued to grow.

The same thing is happening in the hatchery industry.  The large hatcheries and farms have overhead costs that the small farms and hatcheries don’t have.  Ecuador has hundreds of small hatcheries that can open and close depending on market conditions.  The large operations have to remain open year round.  The price for PLs in Ecuador has averaged around $1.00 to $1.20 a thousand for the last six years.  Today, the going price from the smaller hatcheries is $0.70 to $0.80 cents per thousand PLs.  The large hatcheries just can’t compete with that.  There are some very good genetic projects by groups such as Seaquest, Macrobio and Farralon, but at such low prices, the overall quality of Ecuadorian seed has suffered.

Information: Neil Gervais, Zeigler Bros., Inc., 1134 Shillington Dr., Katy, TX 77450 USA (phone 717-968-6917, email neil.gervais@zeiglerfeed.com and ecneil2@yahoo.com).

Sources: 1. Neil Gervais, interview by Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International.  León, Nicaragua.  May 3, 2007.  2. Neil Gervais, interview by Bob Rosenberry.  Orlando, Florida, USA.  February 12, 2008.

Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Foods

Not Just a Huge Shrimp Feed Company Anymore

Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) has been one of the largest suppliers of shrimp feed in Thailand for the last two decades.  In 2002, due to production problems with black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, in Thailand, CPF introduced specific pathogen free (SPF) Penaeus vannamei.  Within six months of switching to P. vannamei, management determined the time was right to shift the company’s emphasis from being primarily a feed business to becoming a fully integrated shrimp farming operation.

CPF realized that it could capture small profits from the many links in the shrimp production chain, from feed and postlarvae production to growout, processing and marketing.  From 2001 to 2006, its aquaculture division sales increased by 68%, and its aquatic feed sales increased by 80%.

The new business plan meant establishing a genetics and breeding program for vannamei and the expansion of hatchery production to several billion high-quality, disease-free postlarvae per month!  It meant increasing the number of shrimp farms while also upgrading the farms to make them environmentally sound, biosecure and efficient.  It also meant expanding processing and cold storage capacity to handle up to 180 metric tons of shrimp daily, with extra emphasis placed on value-added products.

The company also recognized the need to produce safe, traceable products at ever-decreasing costs.  All antibiotics and banned chemicals were therefore prohibited from use in the company’s feed mills, hatcheries, farms and processing plants.  Applying a new “green” approach, which featured SPF shrimp, farm biosecurity and the use of probiotics in place of chemicals and antibiotics, farms achieved high productivity.  In 2006, CPF produced over 50,000 metric tons of shrimp from 2,060 hectares of ponds.

Intensive production done in an environmentally sensitive way allows the production of more shrimp at lower production costs while utilizing less coastal land.  The CPF shrimp farms recirculate their water between reservoirs and ponds.  When water must be discharged due to heavy rains, it is passed through sedimentation basins.

Growout ponds are lined with high-density polyethylene plastic to reduce erosion and prevent seepage of saline water into local groundwater.  Liners also allow more efficient production of shrimp, higher growth rates and lower feed conversion ratios.  In 2006, CPF farms generated an average pond yield of 14.5 mt/ha/crop with an average survival of 75%.

Healthy, disease-free postlarvae selected for disease resistance and fast growth are essential to the implementation of the green technology.  CPF established a modern, family-based, selective breeding program for SPF P. vannamei shrimp in 2002 and has since constructed three biosecure SPF broodstock farms.  The program has developed shrimp lines with greater survival and faster growth under intensive culture conditions.

Initially, imported shrimp grew 1.3 grams a week, from 4 grams to 24 grams under standard conditions at a density of 120/m².  Today the shrimp grow at an average rate of 1.9 grams a week under the same conditions.

CPF operates three aquatic feed mills in Thailand that can produce 70,000 metric tons of feed monthly.  Feed ingredients are constantly monitored for pesticides, microbial toxins, heavy metals and other contaminants.  It operates analytic and microbial laboratories that test for heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics in the feed; viruses and bacterial and fungal infections at hatcheries; and antibiotic residues and a range of microbial contaminants in the processing plants.

In meeting rising international standards, CPF’s processing plants are certified for HAACP, ISSO 14001 and Best Aquaculture Practices compliance.  In most cases, the shrimp are processed into a variety of value-added products sought by the global marketplace.

In addition to following protocols to ensure food safety in its feed mills, hatcheries, farms and processing plants, the company established a system based on radio frequency identification that makes every package of shrimp traceable to the ponds, hatcheries and the broodstock from which it originated.

To reflect the increasingly global nature of the seafood business, CPF operates offices in Europe, the United States, Japan, Korea, Russia, Turkey, Dubai and Hong Kong to promote CPF-branded products as well as help customers develop shrimp products with their own private labels.

CPF recently established a shrimp product research and development center to help create new shrimp and fish value-added products.  Emphasis is placed on processing fresh shrimp into semi-cooked and cooked food products by flavoring and applying varied cooking methods to meet the specifications of customers—from raw shrimp to cooked and breaded shrimp to ready-to-eat meals.

Source: The Global Aquaculture Advocate (http://www.gaalliance.org).  Editor, Darryl Jory (dejry2525@aol.com).  Production/From Feeds to Farms/Charoen Pokphand Foods Evolves from Feed Company to Integrated Shrimp Producer.  Robins McIntosh (Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co. Ltd., C.P. Tower, 27th Floor, 313 Silom Road, Bangkok 10500, Thailand, email robmclOl@yahoo.com).  Volume 11, Issue 1, Page 63, January/February 2008.

Country Reports

Belize

WWF Shrimp Dialogue Meeting

The World Wildlife Fund will hold its first meeting to begin developing standards for certifying responsible shrimp farming in Central America and Mexico in Belize on April 1-2, 2008.  The standards will be designed to reduce or eliminate the key environmental and social impacts related to shrimp farming.

The region’s leading shrimp farmers and processors, as well as retailers, academics, government officials, nongovernmental agency representatives and others are invited to the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue.

“We view, with much excitement, the interest in a certification program in Belize,” said Alvin Henderson of Royal Mayan Shrimp Farm in Belize.  “Our farmers understand that the industry’s farming practices must be sustainable.  We are committed to adopting practices to sustain what has become a livelihood to several thousand workers and their families.”

“The fact that we can begin this discussion with principles in hand is exciting,” said Jose Villalon, director of the WWF’s USA Aquaculture Program and a 26-year veteran of the shrimp farming industry.  “It will allow us to jump into an open dialogue about the science-based criteria that will be used to evaluate shrimp farms.”

“Over the past two years, WWF’s Central America office and the Belize Shrimp Growers Association have been discussing a plan for certifying shrimp farms,” added Mauricio Mejia, agriculture/aquaculture program officer for WWF-Central America.  “This regional workshop will be a tremendous help in finalizing the plan so that, among other things, pollution will be substantially reduced in the Mesoamerican Reef area—a priority area for WWF.”

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

If you are interested in attending the shrimp dialogue meeting, which will be held at the Radisson Fort George Hotel and Marina in Belize City, please contact Eric Bernard at eric.bernard-ac@wanadoo.fr or Mauricio Mejia at mmejia@wwfca.org by March 15, 2008.

For additional information about the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue, go to www.worldwildlife.org/aquadialogues.

Over the last 45 years, WWF has worked in 100 countries and is supported by 1.2 million members in the United States and close to 5 million globally.

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: World Wildlife Fund.  News Release.  Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue Heads to Belize/Standards to be Created for Certifying Farmed Shrimp from Central America and Mexico.  February 19, 2008.

Belize

Belize Aquaculture, Ltd., Goes Underground

The ABB Group is a global leader in power and automation technologies that enable customers to improve their performance while lowering their environmental impact.  Since 1997, Belize Aquaculture, Ltd., has used ABB’s durable pad-mounted transformers to supply power to its aerators and pumps.  ABB’s distribution system was installed underground in order to ensure reliable power, even during hurricanes.

The transformers are mounted on pads to protect them from the salty/acidic soil and encased in stainless steel to keep out airborne moisture, salt and other particles.  Belize Aquaculture has added more than $400,000 worth of pad-mounted transformers since 1997.

Source: ABB.com.  Belize Aquaculture is more productive with ABB (http://www.abb.com/cawp/seitp202/2c224fd51f37fe25c125727b003112b4.aspx).  February 18, 2008.

Brazil

Local Consumption of Farmed Shrimp Increases

The consumption of locally produced farmed shrimp has grown fivefold in Brazil in recent years.  Just 10% of the farmed crop was consumed in Brazil in 2003, a number that has now risen to between 60% and 70%.

In 2007, shrimp farmers sold shrimp for less than their production costs.

Source: Brazil-Arab News Agency.  Consumption of shrimp raised in captivity grows in Brazil (http://www.anba.com.br/ingles/noticia.php?id=17345).  Agência Brasil (translated by Mark Ament).  February 11, 2008.

Canada or USA

Wants Shrimp Feed

I’m looking for shrimp feed suppliers in the USA or Canada.

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources, http://aquanic.org/index.htm).  Shrimp Discussion Group (http://www.aquanic.org/discuss/shrimp.htm).  North American feed suppliers (http://www.aquanic.org/discuss/_shrimp/000011b0.htm).  From: John ASF (tremblar@telus.net).  February 18, 2008.

China

Rotifers May Carry Whitespot

From abstract: Cell membranes from the rotifer Brachionus urceus were found to specifically bind whitespot syndrome virus (WSSV) in vitro.  This finding suggests that there is probably a WSSV receptor on the rotifer cell membrane and provides evidence that rotifers may be a host for WSSV.

Source: Electronical Larviculture Newsletter (http://www.rug.ac.be/aquaculture).  Editor Gilbert Van Stappen (gilbert.vanstappen@ugent.be).  Rotifer Cellular Membranes Bind to White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV).  Dong-Chun Yan, Shu-Ying Feng, Jie Huang (huangjie@ysfri.ac.cn) and Shuang-Lin Dong (Department of Life and Science, Ludong University, Yantai 264025, PR China).  Issue 281, January 15, 2008.

Ecuador

A Blogger Visits Muisne Island

We took a breath-taking bus ride to another town called Muisne, an island town in the mangroves of northwest Ecuador.  Muisne was once one of the top producers of farmed shrimp in the country.  The industry has dramatically decreased since the glory days in the 1980s; now farmers get about 70 cents for five pounds of shrimp.  Considering what we pay for shrimp in the States, it makes you wonder about the middleman’s cut.

Source: Mlive.com.  Along the coast of Ecuador: Muisne (http://blog.mlive.com/spartan_abroad/2008/02/along_the_coast_of_ecuador_mui.html).  Posted by Sarah Losinski.  February 11, 2008.

India

Biggest Problem Antibiotics

Patrick Wood (patrickjwood@yahoo.com): “The biggest export related problem facing India is the underlying and consistent use of antibiotics in aquaculture...and the strengthening of the rupee over the last six months....”

Source: The Shrimp List (a mailing list for shrimp farmers).  Subject: [shrimp] Re: Another $0.02.  Patrick Wood.  February 9, 2008.

Mexico

Ocean Garden Products

John Filose, VP of sales and marketing for Ocean Garden Products in San Diego, California, says, “Wild shrimp is in short supply from all sources this year.”  Farmed shrimp, which has a more stable supply, represents nearly 60 percent of Ocean Garden’s product line, up from 40 percent five years ago.  Farmed shrimp are cheaper and more reliable to produce, Filose added.

Ocean Garden, largely a foodservice supplier with shrimp farms and fishing fleets in Mexico, found that its upscale retail customers like Whole Foods do well with the company’s Pride of Mexico bags of frozen farmed Pacific whites, both peeled and shell-on in one-pound bags—a convenient size for shoppers to create shrimp meals at home.

Source: SeaFood Business (www.seafoodbusiness.com).  Editor, Fiona Robinson (frobinson@divcom.com).  Farmed Shrimp.  Thyra Porter.  Volume 27, Number 2, Page 36, February 2008.

United States

South Carolina—Live Bait, Year Round

With the threat of wild shrimp stocks being depleted in the Gulf of Mexico and a practically nonexistent live bait shrimp industry in South Carolina, the Waddell Mariculture Center is developing technology to supply live bait year-round.  The three-year project to raise a disease-free line of native white shrimp (Penaeus setiferus) for recreational fishermen is being funded with a federal grant.  Al Stokes, manager of the Waddell Center and a wildlife biologist for the state Department of Natural Resources, said he hopes Waddell can pass the project on to the private sector when the grant expires in December 2008.

“The reason we are doing this is...the continued harvesting of bait shrimp in the ocean has been considered environmentally unsustainable,” Stokes said.  “We’re trying to develop the technology where we’ll be able to start a bait industry to supply live bait shrimp year-round.”

In May 2007, the center captured a bunch of wild shrimp, but only kept the healthiest looking ones.  It then tested 58 female shrimp for viruses.  All were clean.  They were artificially inseminated and produced 20,000 offspring.  The center stocked them in a production pond, and they grew to about 25 grams each—about 18 to a pound.

The Center gave thousands of those animals to bait shrimp hatcheries Florida and kept 500 of them to produce bait locally.  The Center’s shrimp are now separated by sex into two one-ton tanks, where the water is recycled and sterilized to keep out pathogens.  In April 2008, the center will combine the shrimp into smaller tanks and breed them.

Mills Rooks is starting a shrimp production complex in Ridgeland this summer.  He plans to use technology the Center developed, along with its disease-free line of shrimp.  “I’m not aware in South Carolina of anybody that raises bait shrimp,” Rooks said.  “We think it will be a fairly decent market.”

While local bait shrimp is available between May and December, much of what is sold in the state comes from Florida, where bait shrimp is raised in large hatcheries.

Information: Alvin Stokes, Waddell Mariculture Center, South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 809, Bluffton, SC 29910 USA (phone 843-837-3795, fax 843-837-3487, email stokesa@mrd.dnr.state.sc.us).

Source: BeaufortGazette.com.  Centers focuses on raising shrimp year-round (http://www.beaufortgazette.com/local/story/196265.html).  Liz Mitchell (phone 843-706-8169, email lmitchell@islandpacket.com).  February 19, 2008.

Vietnam

Local Consumption

Seafood prices in southern Ben Tre province increased sharply when local people shifted their consumption to shrimp and fish from pork and beef.  Tiger shrimp prices rose to $8.15 a kilo.

Source: FreshPlaza.com.  Vietnam: Stabilizing market prices after Tet (http://www.freshplaza.com/news_detail.asp?id=16718).  February 19, 2008.

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