Shoreline Polychaete Farms, LLP

Acquires the Business and Assets of Seabait, Ltd.

In July 2008, Shoreline Polychaete Farms, LLP, acquired the business and assets of Seabait, Ltd., a polychaete farm in the United Kingdom.  Polychaetes, or marine worms, are widely used to feed shrimp broodstock.  Dr. Steven Craig, director of research and development at Shoreline, says, “We have now separated the business into two brand groups.”  The first group, “Sustainable Feeds”, is for the development of feeds and feed supplements for aquaculture and shrimp maturation facilities.  The second group, “Seabait”, is for the fish bait business.  The new owners have extensive interests in aquaculture in the United Kingdom.

Under new management, but with the benefits of the continuous involvement of key staff, notably Dr. Stephen Craig, director of research and development, and Jonathan Land, director of production, Shoreline is investing in the expansion of production and the continued development of patented advances in polychaete farming.  Shoreline’s Sustainable Feeds are based on over 20 years of experience in this field and offer exceptional results in a wide variety of aquaculture applications.

Features of Shoreline’s Worms

Unique Production System: The use of patented techniques results in a very fat-rich ragworm (Nereis virens, 17% fat, dry weight), twice that of other European farmed worms.

Location: Shoreline’s location on England’s North Sea coast provides good air and sea links to markets all over the world and completely isolates it from the viruses that occur on tropical shrimp farms.

Biosecurity: Shoreline worms are specific pathogen free and independently tested for WSSV, TSV, YHV, IHHNV, BPV and MBV.  When required, fisheries department and veterinary certification are provided.  Strict hygiene and traceable feed sources ensure a safe product that is free of crustacean and land animal content.

Regular Testing: A government-registered veterinary surgeon regularly assesses conditions at Shoreline and provides a “Certificate of Status”.

Broodstock: Shoreline maintains its own captive broodstock.  All production and brood beds are independent of each other to maximize biosecurity.

Feed Quality: Shoreline feeds its worms nongenetically modified, terrestrial plant-based feeds containing very low levels of fish meal and fish oil (<2%) and high levels of wheat, maize and soy meal.

Specimen Service

In addition to its aquaculture and bait groups, Shoreline also offers a “Specimen Service” for scientists and educators doing work on polychaetes.  Key features:

• Undamaged, size-graded animals

• 10% overpacking on all orders (at no additional cost)

• Information on parentage, birth dates and growth rates

• Guaranteed availability of additional stocks with the same lineage

• Consistent supply throughout the year

• Rapid response to enquiries

Information: Dr. Stephen Craig, Shoreline Polychaete Farms, Woodhorn Village, Ashington, Northumberland, NE63 9NW, England, United Kingdom (phone +44-(0)-1670-858-108, fax +44-(0)-5603-110-182, email stephen.craig@shorelinepolychaetes.com, webpage http://www.shorelinepolychaetes.com).

Sources: 1. Email to Shrimp News International from Dr. Stephen Craig on January 9, 2009, with PDF attachment.  2. Email to Shrimp News International from Tim Mott, representing Shoreline Polychaete Farms, on January 15, 2009.

Country Reports

Ecuador

Military to Divest Itself of Shrimp Farms

General Ernesto Gonzalez, Commander in Chief of the Ecuadorian Army, says Ecuador’s armed forces have begun the process of selling 30 private-sector companies that it owns.  A new constitutional mandate requires the armed forces to divest itself of economic activities that are not related to national security.  Some shrimp farms are among the companies that will be sold.

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune.  Ecuador Military to Shed Stakes in Non-Strategic Companies.  January 6, 2009.

Ecuador

Finds Big Market for Farmed Shrimp in Germany

According to the Ministry of Foreign Relations, Ecuadorian exports of shrimp to Germany soared to $2.5 million in the first three quarters of 2008, compared to $277,000 in the same period in 2007.

Source: FIS United States.  Tuna and shrimp exports to Germany soar.  Analia Murias (editorial@fis.com).  January 12, 2009.

India

Job—Marketing Manager for Shrimp Seedstock

Raj Hatcheries Madras, Pvt., Ltd., has a position open for a marketing manager of shrimp seedstock in the states of Gujarath and Maharashtra.

Salary: Negotiable.

Closing Date: January 28, 2009.

Qualifications: Any degree, but must have marketing experience in shrimp aquaculture.

Contact: S. Jeya Kumaran, Raj Hatcheries Madras, Pvt., Ltd., H-28A, 8th East Street, Kamaraja Nagar, South Avenue, Thiruvanmiyur, Chennai 600 041, Tamil Nadu, India (phone 09-444-902-756, email samyin7682@bsnl.in).

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources).  Jobs Directory in cooperation with the WAS Employment Service.  Search jobs.  Marketing Manager Shrimp Seeds (http://aquanic.org/jobs/jobinfo.asp?jobid=3032).  Posted January 7, 2009.

India

Shrimp Farmers Must Register

Shrimp farmers that don’t register with the Marine Product Export Development Authority face a three-year jail term and a fine of $200,000.  The Authority will demolish the ponds of those that don’t register, and the unregistered farms will not be entitled to government subsidies, bank loans or compensation for natural disasters.

Source: The Times of India.  Aquaculturists to register with authority.  January 11, 2009.

Indonesia

CP Prima Questions USA Customs’ Tests on Transshipments

Erwin Sutanto, president and director of CP Prima, the world’s largest shrimp farm, is challenging USA Customs’ accusations that Indonesia transshipped shrimp from China to the United States.  He says that Customs will not reveal the laboratory tests that it used to determine that the shrimp were transshipped.

In August 2008, Customs began detaining containers of the company’s shrimp at the Port of Los Angeles, in California.  Officers said that trace mineral tests indicated that the shrimp were transshipped from China.  So far, Customs has retained about 40 containers.  Some were later released, but those that were not released face a 112 percent dumping duty.

CP Prima vigorously disputes the transshipment allegation and says Customs’ tests are invalid for determining the origin of farmed shrimp.  “The typical way to discuss country of origin is through production records,” Sutanto said.  “We have them all the way back to the broodstock.  For every bag of shrimp that we sell, we can tell you which farm it came from, what the growing conditions were, where the feed came from, and even the mother of the shrimp.”

“This lab test, unfortunately we don’t know what it is,” Sutanto said.  “We don’t exactly know which minerals they’re testing for, or how they came up with the conclusion that the shrimp are from China and not Indonesia.”

Customs officials declined to comment on its testing protocol, or on CP Prima, saying the case is still under investigation.  Attorney Susan Kohn Ross, who represents CP Prima, said Customs indicated it would send investigators to Indonesia to sample the company’s shrimp ponds, but that it has not done so yet.

Ross said Customs is relying on a trace-mineral test, but the company has scientific evidence to the contrary on its side.  If Customs is testing seawater, it’s the same, whether it’s China, Indonesia or anywhere else.  Traces in shrimp feed have also been ruled out because the same feed formula is used in 16 countries.

“Our scientists tell us that the trace minerals test is not a reliable indicator of origin as it relates to shrimp,” Ross said.  “The reason is something that even nonscientists can understand: Seawater has basically the same mineral content, regardless where it comes from even if it’s diluted.”

Steve Otwell, professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Florida, said Customs’ testing methods are interesting, but he’s unconvinced.  “I don’t have enough information to draw a final conclusion, but on first appearance, I think it will be a challenge to use this type of technology,” he said.

“The black box of our conversation is that Customs has not shown its hand,” Otwell said.  “Until we know the science behind it, and the instrumentation that’s involved, I’m skeptical.”  Otwell runs an annual shrimp school for the shrimp processing industry.  He has invited Customs to attend the “shrimp school” in March 2009 to discuss its laboratory methodology.  [Editor: To register for the Shrimp School, click on the following link http://www.laitrammachinery.com/Shrimp_School.aspx.]

Otwell said the European Union has used trace mineral profiles in limited circumstances to determine the origin of beef and dairy products.  “Even if the test was used for agricultural animals eating greens from the locally grown fields, it had some complications,” he said.  “Now you’re using an aquacultured animal.  There can be a myriad of complications.”

One way of mitigating the complications would be to collect a large database of samples that could be used for comparison.  “I don’t know if Customs has done that,” Otwell said.

“It’s Customs’ position that they have a test that is valid, and that’s what we have to overcome,” Ross said.  “The lab folks can’t afford to give up the test because they use it in so many different contexts.  If they admit the test is not valid in one case, it calls the use of the test into question in every other context.”

Sutanto said CP Prima’s exports jumped 50 percent in 2008 and that may have set off Customs’ alarms.  The spurt in exports came because the company purchased a huge bankrupt shrimp farm from the Indonesian government that resulted in increased exports.  CP Prima now has more than 18,500 acres of shrimp ponds in Indonesia.  Last year, it exported 100,000 tons of shrimp, a third of Indonesia’s production.

“I’m sure Customs suspects there’s something funky going on,” Ross said.

“If you take a look at the size of CP Prima’s operations, it doesn’t need to get...shrimp from China and then transship it.  It would be unbelievably foolish for them to be doing the sort of thing that’s being suggested.”

Sutanto said until CP Prima knows more about Customs’ testing, “It’s very hard for us to say what the outcome is going to be.  We hope that more information will be shared so we can have a healthy discussion about the test.  We obviously think it’s wrong, but we hope we will be given the opportunity to at least discuss it and come to a rightful conclusion.”

Source: PacificShipper.com.  Company disputes Customs’ shrimp testing.  R.F. Edmonson.  January 12, 2009.

Indonesia

Sulawesi—Spiny Lobster Farming

Sulawesi (formerly known as Celebes), a large, irregularly shaped island in the Indonesian archipelago, is recognized by the government as a major area for the development of mariculture.

In Sulawesi, the most commonly farmed spiny lobster species is Panilurus versicolor in cage (5 x 5 x 3 meters).  Farmers feed the lobsters low-value fish.  The seedstock, as is the case with spiny lobster farming throughout Southeast Asia, is wild-caught.  The wild seedstock supply is based on a tribal fishery in the waters surrounding the Tiworo Islands.  The seedstock is typically a young lobster of about 100 grams.  They are fattened for 12-14 months and sold live to local wholesalers for export.  Photo: Typical cage farms in Kendari Bay, southeast Sulawesi.

Lobsters are stocked at a density of 50 animals per cage and harvested at 750-1,000 grams.  The feeding of lobsters is well controlled, with each lobster typically being fed 1–2 small fish a day.  Most lobster farmers have their own sero (weir, trap) for harvesting fish to feed lobsters.  Lobster farmers also believe that putting papaya leaves and stems into the cages increases growth and molting frequency.

In 2007 and 2008, to encourage the development of a lobster farming industry, the provincial fishery service (Dinas Perikanan) provided free seedstock to farmers.  The mortality rates in lobster farming are very low, and thus far disease has not been a problem. 

Source: Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific Webpage.  Marine Finfish: Mariculture development opportunities in SE Sulawesi, Indonesia (http://www.enaca.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=1799).  La Ode M. Aslan, Hotman Hutauruk, Armen Zulham, Irwan Effendy, Mhummaed Atid, Michael Phillips, Lars Olsen, Brendan Larkin, Sena S. De Silva and Geoff Gooley.  Posted by SimonWilkinson.  January 13, 2009.

Italy

Restaurateur Prosecuted for Keeping Live Lobsters on Ice

Milan...A well-known restaurateur and his wife have been charged with the mistreatment of lobsters and will find themselves before a judge in early March 2009.  The alleged crime took place in November 2007, when health inspectors found that live lobsters were on display on packs of crushed ice, not in tanks of water as required by law.  According to the prosecutor in the case, Giulio Benedetti, not only did this constitute a violation of food preservation laws, but the couple were also guilty of mistreating the lobsters and causing them “insupportable physical pain” by keeping them alive out of their natural habitat, water.  The prosecution also suspects that this treatment may have been a contributing factor in the lobsters’ death.

The case is similar to an April 2006 one in Vicenza, a city in northern Italy, where a restaurant operator was fined $905 for mistreating lobsters by keeping them on ice.  The fine was the result of a complaint filed in March 2002 by a former activist from Italy’s animal protection agency ENPA.  According to the restaurateur, at the time of his alleged crime, there were no specific guidelines on maintaining live lobsters.  The regulations weren’t activated until 2004.  The general opinion of lobstermen is that a hard-shell lobster can survive out of water for 24 hours or more, while soft-shell lobsters that are regrowing their shells after shedding are best kept in water.

Lobstermen also maintain that lobsters, sometimes referred to as the “cockroaches of the sea”, do not feel pain, even when they are thrown into boiling water for cooking.  Most lobsters in Italy have hard shells and arrive from northern Europe and North America packed in ice.

The local press in Vicenza noted that the case had given the restaurant operator some excellent, free publicity.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Restaurateur in Italy prosecuted for keeping lobsters on ice “causing physical pain”.  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  January 7, 2009.

Thailand

Training Course on Shrimp Hatchery Management

This exchange recently took place on the Shrimp List:

Irfan (microbiologist_bd@yahoo.com): One of my friends is looking for a training course in Thailand, China or Vietnam on Penaeus monodon, P. Vannamei and P. indicus hatchery management. 
Can anyone tell me about a training program for hatchery managers that starts in February 2009? If available, please forward information on the cost and duration for any courses you might suggest.

Michael Autrand (michelautrand@yahoo.fr): Contact David Kawahigashi (
kawahigashi@yahoo.com) in Thailand. His company, Vannamei 101 (http://www.vannamei101.com), offers an excellent training course in 
hatchery management in Phuket, Thailand.

Source: The Shrimp List (a mailing list for shrimp farmers). Aquaculture and Fisheries Service Providers. January 13-14, 2009.

Thailand

CPF Plans to Expand Its Biosecure Shrimp Farming System

In 2005, to meet a growing demand for food safety, Charoen Pokphand Foods (CPF) set up its first biosecure shrimp farm on a 480-hectare site in Trat Province, 230 kilometers east of Bangkok.  The operation currently produces about 600 metric tons of shrimp products that comply with strict food-safety regulations in the European Union, Japan and the USA.  Production capacity is slated to increase to 4,000 tons in 2009.  All the output is trucked to CPF’s processing plant in nearby Rayong.

Once production under the first phase has stabilized, CPF plans to expand the system in Trat over the next two years.  The expansion is expected to start by 2010.  The investment budget for the next phase was not disclosed, but it is likely to be less than $30 million, according to Sujit Kaewchum, a vice-president at CPF.

The company also plans to expand into new markets to offset declining sales in its traditional markets like the USA and Japan.  In 2009, for example, CPF plans to open new branches in Ukraine and Portugal.

According to Sujit, the biosecure system guarantees the production of white shrimp that are free of disease and safe for human consumption, giving the company greater access to markets with stringent safety standards.

CPF’s high-tech, recirculating system uses temperature control and automatic feeding.  The system facilitates consistent, year-round production because temperatures in the system are stabilized at 31-33 degrees Celsius.

According to Sujit, the Trat site will provide the prototype for CPF’s future expansion into other countries, including China!

In a bid to offset shrinking consumption, CPF plans to expand into fast-food chains!

Source: TradingMarkets.com.  CPF set to expand biosecure shrimp farm.  January 5, 2009.

United States

California—Shrimp News International

Hi, earlier in the week I uploaded a review of a new book on freshwater prawn farming to my Free Reports Page.  You can check it out at http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreshwaterPrawnBookNair.html.

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, January 19, 2009.

United States

California—John Filose, Consultant

John Filose, a young and healthy 63, has retired from Ocean Garden Products (OGP), a San Diego-based company that owns shrimp farms, hatcheries, processing plants, procurement centers and fishing fleets throughout northwest Mexico.  He will now begin doing consulting work in the seafood industries.

In addition to being vice president of marketing and a officer at OGP for 23 years, John has broad experience in the corporate world, the seafood industries and aquaculture.  He said, “It was a good time for me to leave the company because I played a large role in the company’s transition from a government-controlled company to a privately-owned company, and now it’s time for some of the younger guys to take over.”

John graduated from the Naval Academy in 1967 and later became a decorated fighter pilot.  Early in his career, he worked for Castle Cook/Dole, Nalley’s Fine Foods and the Carnation Company.  In 1996-1997, he was President and Chairman of the National Fisheries Institute, the nation’s leading advocacy organization for the seafood industry.  He has seen the shrimp farming industries in all the major shrimp farming countries and visited salmon farms in Norway and Chile.  While at OGP, he helped start Storm Seafoods, a distributor of farmed salmon in Norway.

Information: John Filose (phone 760 -753 –2757, email jfilose@sbcglobal.net).

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International.  Telephone conversation with John Filose on January 22, 2009.

United States

South Carolina—Does Wild Shrimp Taste Better Than Farmed Shrimp?

South Carolina shrimp fishermen complain that imported farmed shrimp is destroying their industry.  They say foreign shrimp just doesn’t taste as good as locally caught shrimp.  Dean Jordan has set up his own cooker to prove it.  Here’s Jordan’s challenge: try any imported farmed shrimp, then have lunch at his place and taste locally caught shrimp.  He says, you won’t go back.  “Most of the imported shrimp that I’ve...tasted have a real bland taste to them, actually doesn’t have any taste at all, really,” Jordan said.

Source: CarolinaLive.com.  Shrimper offers local vs. foreign taste test.  Joel Allen.  January 5, 2009.

United States

Washington, DC—Inspecting Our Food

Photo: Michael O. Leavitt, center, secretary of health and human services, and Dr. Andrew C. von Eschenbach, Food and Drug Administration commissioner, with Teresa Fox, an FDA consumer safety officer.  Leavitt oversees the FDA, which splits responsibility for food inspection with the Agriculture Department.

The New York Times reports: For reasons that defy logic, the nation’s food safety functions are split.  The Agriculture Department inspects about 20 percent of the food supply (meat and poultry), and the Food and Drug Administration is responsible for almost everything else, including fish and shrimp.  And yet the Agriculture Department receives a majority of federal food safety dollars.

The division of labor creates internal squabbling and some bizarre situations.  Frozen cheese pizzas are inspected by the FDA, pepperoni pizzas by the Agriculture Department.  Fresh eggs are under the jurisdiction of the FDA; egg products go to Agriculture.  That this makes no sense is no secret.  It’s why Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, and Representative Rosa DeLauro, Democrat of Connecticut, have raised again and again the idea of creating a single food agency—so far to no avail.

Then, along comes Barack Obama, who has vowed to cut programs “that have outlived their usefulness or exist solely because of the power of politicians, lobbyists or interest groups.”  It would seem that the chances for a single food agency—which has the potential to cut all sorts of bureaucracy—would be better than ever.  But don’t hold your breath, at least initially.  DeLauro and others are calling for less-drastic changes, in part because the Obama Administration has thornier problems to deal with first.  In addition, some consumer advocates argue that the food side of the FDA, in particular, must be fixed before it can merge with the Agriculture Department’s food safety arm.

The problem at the FDA is that while it is called the Food and Drug Administration, a vast majority of the attention and financing is directed at drugs.  With a limited budget and a huge workload, the food side of the agency has lurched from one crisis to the next.

DeLauro’s proposal to split the FDA has won wide support among food-safety wonks.  Under the new system, there would be a Food Safety Administration and a Federal Drug and Device Administration, with separate budgets and administrators reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services, who now oversees FDA.

Many consumer groups say FDA should scrap voluntary food-safety guidelines that are issued to the industry and replace them with concrete rules, backed by tough penalties.

In addition, they say FDA and the Agriculture Department should have mandatory recall authority if a manufacturer refuses to pull bad food off the market.  And they argue that food processing plants in the United States and abroad need to be inspected more often, which would require more inspectors.

Source: The New York Times.  Inspecting Our Food: How Many Cooks.  Andrew Martin.  January 11, 2009.

United States

Washington, DC—USA Customs to Dump Bonding Requirement

Five years after the shrimp dumping case was initiated, USA Customs is now dismantling one of its most odious requirements: the need for 100% continuous bonds in an amount sufficient to cover duties for an entire year.  All other commodities imported into the USA have bonds applicable to that shipment’s value, which are then rolled over and applied to a subsequent shipment.

The net effect of the 100% continuous bond requirement was a significant import barrier that effectively blocked exports from India and Brazil, and greatly increased the expense of imports from China, Vietnam, Thailand and Ecuador.

Thailand and India took the USA to the World Trade Organization (WTO) over this requirement, and won their case.  When the USA appealed, the dispute settlement body again ruled against the continuous bonds, partly on the grounds that they were being applied in a discriminatory way because only a single commodity was impacted and only importers from certain countries were affected.

Now Customs is ready to comply with the WTO ruling.  It has published a notice of its proposed rule in the federal register and will accept comments until February 11, 2009.  After that, it will issue the final rule.

Shrimp importers can request termination of existing continuous bonds pursuant to 19 CFR 113.27(a) and submit a new continuous bond application pursuant to 19 CFR 113.12(b).

What this means is that once Customs publishes the notice, no further continuous bonds will be required for new shrimp imports.  Importers will have to ask Customs to terminate the existing bond and replace it.  So it will be up to each importer to terminate its current bond.  The notice of this action was published in the federal register on January 9, 2009.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Customs ready to end continuous bond requirements for shrimp importers.  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  January 13, 2009.

Vietnam

Job—Shrimp Farm Technician

BIM Seafood has a position open for a shrimp farm technician.

Closing Date: February 4, 2009.

Requirements: A degree in fisheries, aquaculture or marine biology.  Hatchery and growout experience with Penaeus monodon and P. vannamei in semi-closed ponds.  Good communication skills, ability to work with a team, and working knowledge of Microsoft Word and Excel.

Job Description: Duties will include daily pond monitoring, record keeping and personnel supervision.

Information: Jun Dajay (jundajay_aquaculture@hotmail.com).

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources).  Jobs Directory in cooperation with the WAS Employment Service.  Search jobs.  Shrimp Farm Technician (http://aquanic.org/jobs/jobinfo.asp?jobid=3039).  Posted January 18, 2009.

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