Free News June 22, 2007

Shrimp Farming in Queensland, Australia

2004/2005 to 2005/2006

Once a year, Ross Lobegeiger, supervising extension officer at the Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Centre in Queensland, the state with almost all of the country’s shrimp farms, prepares a report on the status of aquaculture in Queensland. The 2005-2006 report contains 34 pages, numerous tables, and lots of current data on redclaw (crayfish), finfish, pearl oysters—and shrimp.

Editorial Note: Lobegeiger’s year runs from July 1 through June 30, so summer (December, January and February) and the shrimp farming season straddle the year change. Consequently, you’ll see lots of “2004/2005 to 2005/2006” comparisons in his report. Also, in Australia, India and several other places around the world that were once part of the British Empire, they call penaeid shrimp “prawns”. That’s why we hear so much about the black tiger “prawn” (Penaeus monodon) and the banana “prawn” (P. merguiensis). Shrimp News has reserved the word “prawn” for the giant freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), so in this report, I changed all of Ross’s “prawns” to “shrimp”. Finally, I converted Australia dollars to USA dollars.

Excerpts

Summary: In 2005-2006, the value of Queensland’s farmed shrimp production, mostly giant tiger shrimp (P. monodon), increased marginally to $39 million, from $38 million the previous year. In addition, shrimp hatcheries sold postlarvae valued at $1.3 million. Shrimp production, however, increased by over 11% from 2,964 metric tons (31 farms) in 2004-2005 to 3,300 tons (29 farms) in 2005-2006. Because of low prices and competition from imported shrimp, some farms have ceased production and one has been sold. Kuruma shrimp (P. japonicus) production, which has been declining for the past three years, has almost disappeared with only two farms producing small quantities for the Australian market.


Farmed Shrimp Production in Queensland, Australia
	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006
Total Production (metric tons)	3,361	2,964	3,300
Average Farmgate Price, Per Kilo*	$13.26	$12.95	$11.82
Total Value in USA Dollars (millions)*	$44.55	$38.36	$38.70
Average Yield per Hectare per Crop	3,457	3,684	4,118
*USA dollars.

Prices: Farmgate prices ranged from $9.25 to $15.96 a kilo (excluding kuruma shrimp, P. japonicus), averaging $11.88 a kilo. Only 2% of the crop was exported, down from 7% in 2004-2005.

Ponds: Pond sizes ranged from 0.4 to 1.7 hectares with an average size of 1.02 hectares. Most farms produce one crop a year, although six farms (four in 2004-2005) produced more than one crop. The average stocking density decreased from 36 postlarvae per square meter to 33. Stocking rates varied from 13 to 50 with 4 farms stocking at 40 or more, compared to 8 farms the previous season.


Shrimp Farms and Hatcheries in Queensland, Australia
	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006
Number of Producing Farms	34	31	29
Number of Non-producing Farms	14	18	19
Number of Hatcheries*	7	6	5
* Independent hatcheries, not associated with a farm.

Feeds: Shrimp feed purchases increased from 6,653 tons in 2004-2005 to 7,325 tons in 2005-2006. The estimated feed conversion ratio remained at 2.2:1. More of the shrimp feed was produced in Australia in 2005-2006 (36%) than in 2004-2005 (29%).

Hatcheries: Fifteen (16 in 2004-2005) shrimp hatcheries produced an estimated 338 million postlarvae (337 million in 2004-2005).


Shrimp Hatchery Production in Queensland, Australia
	2003-2004	2004-2005	2005-2006
Number of Spawners Purchased	6,546	4,996	3,521
Number of Spawners Used	6,203	3,969	3,505
Number of Postlarvae Produced (millions)	710.5	330.8	338.5
Number of Postlarvae Stocked (millions)	394.1	299.2	295.7
Number of Postlarvae Sold (millions)	166.5	142.0	97.7
Value of Postlarvae Sold (millions)*	$2.35	$1.86	$1.30
* USA dollars.

Labor: There has been a continued increase in the efficiency of full-time labor. Production per person increased from 12.4 tons in 2004-2005 to 18.9 tons in 2005-2006.

Marine Worms (also see Australia below): At the Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Center, two species of polychaetes from the family Nereididae have been tested in a water treatment system. Shrimp pond effluent is passed over sand beds that contain polychaetes. The polychaetes remove nutrients from the wastewater and can be harvested as a shrimp feed. This low-power, low-maintenance approach appears to improve the filtration process and has the potential to produce large volumes of a very valuable by-product. Australia’s National Landcare Program has funded research that will test this concept at a commercial shrimp farm in 2007.

Genetics: A consortium of Australian institutions has sustained 30 pedigreed families of Penaeus monodon over three generations. Second and third generation animals have shown improvements in reproductive performance, disease resistance and weight gain. Industry has made a commitment to commercialize this technology by 2010, and Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries has granted $260,000 to the Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Center to overwinter broodstock animals in a heated pond. The most cost-effective solution for heating the ponds has been identified. It consists of a structure to cover a single growout pond (1,600 m²), a gas-fired boiler system, solar collectors and heat exchangers. It is capable of maintaining water temperatures at 28°C in the winter.

Information on Shrimp Statistics: Kerrod Beattie, Senior Policy Officer, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (phone 61-7-3224-2247, email kerrod.beattie@dpi.qld.gov.au).

Information on Polychaetes: Dr. Paul J. Palmer, Senior Biologist, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (phone 61-7-3400-2050, email paul.palmer@dpi.qld.gov.au).

Information on Genetics Program: Michael Burke, Senior Fisheries Technician, Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries (phone 61-7-3400-2051, email michael.burke@dpi.qld.gov.au).

Information on the Report: Ross Lobegeiger and Max Wingfield, Bribie Island Aquaculture Research Center, P.O. Box 2066, Bribie Island, Queensland, Australia 4507 (phone 61-7-3400-2000, fax 61-7-3408-3535, email ross.lobegeiger@dpi.qld.gov.au).

Source: Report to Farmers. Aquaculture production survey Queensland 2005-2006. Ross Lobegeiger and Max Wingfield, Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries, Queensland. May 2007.

Running a Shrimp Hatchery in Mexico

Josh Wilkenfeld

Josh Wilkenfeld, a shrimp hatchery consultant, is leaving his current position as a Director of Genitech, S.A. de C.V., a big shrimp hatchery in Sonora, Mexico, in June 2007. He reports:

Production wise, things have gone much better at Genitech this year. Our survival rates climbed from 36% in 2005 and 42% in 2006 to 58% so far this year. We completed the main part of our production cycle for this year in May and are now about a week into one, small, final run for some new customers in the Mochis area. I’m hoping that survival rates in this run will be up to 60%, or maybe a little higher.

Even though production results are better, our total sales for this year are still going to be way down, mostly because of the problems we had last year. It’s an unfortunate fact of hatchery life that once you have scheduling problems or problems with PL quality, both of which occurred in 2006, customers are very quick to jump to other sources, and you have to reestablish your credibility to regain their confidence. As you will see below, this tendency may actually work to Genitech’s advantage in 2008.

It’s a complicated story, but last year we worked with a disease-free strain of broodstock that we obtained from a research institute in nearby Guaymas. We were very excited about those animals because they were free of all of the major diseases of concern in Mexico: WSSV, TSV, YHV, IHHN and NHP. Actually, IHHN and NHP are not usually a major concern here, but total disease-free status was very important to the Genitech associates at that time since many of them suffered drastic losses in 2005, as a result of a severe outbreak of WSSV in the Obregon area.

Unfortunately, little was known about the durability of that line of shrimp in farm conditions, and it turned out that they possibly were not very resistant to TSV and NHP, which affected both survival and growth at some farms. Because we never had the opportunity to run bioassays to answer the question of resistance (because of combined institutional and political problems in Mexico and the USA), we may never know if the problem was due to genetics or just general larval quality issues, or possibly both.

We could not risk a second year with the same line of broodstock, so for 2007 we switched to a completely different group of animals from Acuacutura Mahr, a big hatchery in La Paz. These stocks also turned out to be virus and NHP free and had a pretty good growout record at other farms and at one of our associated farms. The process of deciding on which broodstock to use is a long and interesting story that will have to be told at some other time.

Though the change in broodstock lines undoubtedly had something to do with better performance at Genitech this year, we knew we also had to address the possibility of technical management problems, so quite a few other changes were made in 2007 as well.

I’m not even sure exactly how I got into this monologue, but the point is that even though we still had a couple of interesting glitches this year that we managed to overcome, I think it was a turning point for a number of reasons, and there is a good chance that next year could see a marked increase in Genitech sales and a return to profitability.

This is based not only on the better results that we have had in the hatchery this year and the carry-through that I expect to see in the farms, but also because I have heard rumors that a number of the key hatcheries that supply PLs in Sinaloa and Sonora have had some production problems this year which affected delivery schedules as well as PL quality. As I said, I don’t have solid confirmation, but names I have heard include three of the top PL producers for the areas of Sinaloa and Sonora.

If the stories are true and the effects carry through to farm results, I expect that some of the growers will be looking for other PL alternatives next year to spread out their PL purchases into a number of baskets, just as the owners of Genitech did this year.

I’m sure you have already heard that Lorenzo Juarez is scheduled to leave SyAqua Mexico, a big hatchery that’s up for sale, at the end of May to take over as general manager of Shrimp Improvement Systems’ hatchery in Florida. That will be very good for SIS, especially with its new broodstock contract with CP Indonesia. However, it’s an unfortunate loss for the Mexican shrimp industry. Lorenzo is a really great and talented guy, and he did a lot to energize things here. I think this will also be a significant blow for SyAqua, which really needs a strong and personable guy like Lorenzo to help sell the company.

As you also know, my two-year contract ends on June 30, 2007. Too bad, I really do like it here in Mexico. However, I’ll keep in touch with my guys, and I hope to be able to report a real success story for Genitech by this time next year.

Should anyone wish to contact me, my email address remains the same (josh.wilkenfeld@gmail.com).

Information: Josh Wilkenfeld, Arizona Shrimp Hatchery Consultants, Ltd., 2554 West 16th Street, #340, Yuma, Arizona 85364 USA.

Source: Email from Josh Wilkenfeld to Shrimp News International. June 13, 2007.

Country Reports

Australia

Import Argument

Biosecurity Australia has recommended that the Federal Government ban the import of raw, frozen shrimp and that it implement costly new quarantine measures for processed shrimp to prevent the importation of exotic shrimp diseases that might affect wild and farmed shrimp. The recommendations are now under consideration by the government. The price of shrimp in Australia will probably skyrocket if the new import regulations are adopted.

Shrimp importers are prepared to go the World Trade Organization to stop the ban. Shrimp farmers are in favor of it. The June 2007 issue of AustAsia Aquaculture presents both sides of the argument.

Source: Austasia Aquaculture (www.austasiaaquaculture.com.au). Tim Walker, Editor-in-Chief (AustasiaAquaculture@netspace.net.au). Prawn importers question draft import risk analysis. Norm Grant (seafooda@bigpond.net.au). Stricter quarantine management of imported prawns is warranted. Scott Walter (info@apfa.com.au ). V-21, N-2, P-16 and 21, June 2007.

Australia

Marine Worms Eat Shrimp Farm Waste

Bullock Creek Prawn Farm, a small family-run shrimp farm in Queensland, is investigating the use of marine worms (polychaetes) to remove nutrients from its sand filters and settlement ponds.

Source: Austasia Aquaculture (www.austasiaaquaculture.com.au). Tim Walker, Editor-in-Chief (AustasiaAquaculture@netspace.net.au). Fishenews/Other Marine Species/Ocean Worms Investigated. V-21, N-2, P-62, June 2007.

India

Andaman and Nicobar Islands

India imports $12 million worth of Artemia cysts (brine shrimp eggs, a hatchery feed) from the USA every year. Consequently, the government has earmarked $5.6 million to produce Artemia in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (owned by India, but off the southwest coast of Thailand). The project will come online in mid-2009, and the Artemia will be supplied to hatcheries throughout the country. The government will also look into selling Artemia to China and Japan.

Source: The Telegraph. Key role for Andamans in aquaculture (http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070606/asp/business/story_7881871.asp). June 6, 2007.

Indonesia

CP Prima and Dipasena

Jakarta...the Neptune Consortium won the bidding war for PT Dipasena Citra Darmaja, the largest shrimp farm in the world. Over the next five years, Neptune, which includes PT Central Proteinaprima (CP Prima), the Indonesian shrimp farming unit of Thailand’s Charoen Pokphand Group, will invest $322.5 million to revitalize its huge, new farm.

Shrimp production at the farm is forecast to rise 562 percent, from an estimated 6,394 tons in 2007 to 42,371 tons in 2008.

CP Prima Director Mahar Sembiring forecasts 2009 sales at $450 million. Sembiring said Neptune had already secured $97 million in working capital and investment credits from Bank Panin to bring the farm back to full production.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). Neptune prepared to invest $322.5 million in Dipasena shrimp ponds. Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email kencoons@seafood.com). Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com). June 13, 2007.

Indonesia

MOI Virus ?

Chairman of the Indonesian Shrimp Commission Shidiq Moeslim said the country’s reputation was dented early this year by Japan’s rejection of “poor quality” Indonesian shrimp. He said the recent decline in exports, however, was not caused by poor quality shrimp, but by the “MOI” virus [?, most likely infectious myonecrosis virus, IMNV], especially in East Java. He said the MOI virus has spread and attacked shrimp ponds in East Java for the past two years and it was suspected to have been carried to Indonesia in Penaeus vannamei broodstock from the United States.

Shidiq said he was optimistic that Indonesia’s export target of 420,000 tons would be reached this year. Last year, the country’s shrimp production was 327,260 tons, falling short of the target of 360,000 tons.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). MOI virus cuts Indonesia’s 1Q shrimp export volume by 20 percent. Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email kencoons@seafood.com). Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com). June 14, 2007.

Malaysia

Seeks Investors

Kuala Lumpur...The Malaysian government is seeking $1.1 billion in private funding for agriculture and aquaculture projects.

About 100,000 hectares have been earmarked across Malaysia for finfish, ornamental fish, other seafood species—and shrimp, said Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin.

“We’ll issue a prospectus, we will provide the incentives,” said Muhyiddin. “We have a problem with big import bills. You must be self-sufficient in many of the main foodstuffs that you require.”

Source: International Herald Tribune. Malaysia seeks investors for agricultural upgrade (http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/07/news/sxfish.php). Angus Whitley (Bloomberg News). June 7, 2007.

The Netherlands

Happy Shrimp Farm

Happy Shrimp Farm, a closed system, greenhouse-enclosed shrimp farm, received seedstock for its first crop in May 2007. It expects to harvest its first crop by the end of the year.

Information: Gilbert Curtessi and Sebastian Greiner, Happy Shrimp Farm, Postbus 30086, 3001 DB Rotterdam, The Netherlands (phone 31-6-430-50426, email gilbert@happyshrimpfarm.nl, webpage www.happyshrimp.nl).

Source: If It’s Hip, It’s Here. Happy Shrimp/So Much Global, Don’t Forget Local (http://ifitshipitshere.blogspot.com/2007/06/so-much-global-dont-forget-local.html). June 9, 2007.

Pakistan

$33 Million About to Disappear

Karachi...$33 million earmarked for the development of shrimp farming is about to disappear because the government has done nothing to initiate the project—for the third year in a row.

Source: Daily Times. Marine Aquaculture project: Rs 2b earmarked for shrimp farming growth (http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C08%5Cstory_8-6-2007_pg5_10). June 8, 2007.

Peru

Update

Lima...The Peruvian shrimp sector, which ships primarily to the United States and the European Union, will receive investments of $500 million over the next eight years.

The shrimp industry is concentrated around Tumbes and Piura in northern Peru. Peru currently has 5,000 hectares of shrimp ponds and one hatchery capable of stocking all the ponds in the country. In 2007, Peru expects to export shrimp worth more than $50 million, a 6.4% increase over 2006. Shrimp harvests in 2007 will be about 10,000 metric tons. Peruvian shrimp producers have to deal with low international shrimp prices, high fish meal prices and increased competition from Ecuadorian shrimp, which is likely to face lower tariffs in the USA in 2007 and 2008.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). Peruvian shrimp sector to see $500 million in investment, say analysts (translated by Angel Rubio Canas). Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com). June 14, 2007.

Saint Lucia/Taiwan

Governments to Provide Postlarvae

A project funded by the governments of Saint Lucia (an island nation in the eastern Caribbean Sea) and Taiwan will provide seedstock to fish and shrimp farmers in Saint Lucia.

Source: The Star Online. Taiwan explores tissue and aquaculture (http://www.stluciastar.com/NewsHome/LocalNews/tabid/571/newsid1152/1863/Default.aspx). June 11, 2007.

Saudi Arabia

National Prawn Company—Job

National Prawn Company, a large shrimp farm on the Red Sea, has a position open for a processing plant manager at a 100-ton-per-day plant that uses spiral, block, and brine freezing technologies.

Closing Date: July 15, 2007.

Requirements: Eight years of supervisory/managerial experience in processing seafood, preferably shrimp. Experience with Carnitech, Marrell and Cabinplant processing equipment is desired.

Contact: S. Imtiaz Ahmed (phone 966-7-7420742, extension 217, email imtiaz@robian.com.sa).

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources, http://aquanic.org/index.htm). Jobs Directory (http://aquanic.org/jobs/search.asp, in cooperation with the WAS Employment Service, search on “shrimp”). Shrimp Processing Plant Manager (http://aquanic.org/jobs/jobinfo.asp?jobid=2449). June 10, 2007.

United States

Arizona—False Positives for IHHNV

False positive assays for IHHNV can cause a lot of trouble, including denial of specific pathogen free status, forced destruction of broodstock and quarantine or sterilization of farms. This paper reports on a PCR primer sequence that can distinguish between integrated IHHNV (false positive) and real, functional viral IHHNV. It has sensitivity equivalent to a PCR assay commonly used for detecting IHHNV in Penaeus vannamei and can be used for routine detection.

Information: Kathy Tang (fengjyu@u.arizona.edu).

Source: Genetic Computation Limited (free online summaries of aquaculture genetics research). Editor, Roger Doyle (gcl@genecomp.com). Hard-to-find papers. Avoiding false positive IHHNV assays (http://www.genecomp.com/May-June_2007.htm). Item No. 607, May/June 2007.

United States

Florida—Durwood Dugger’s Webpage

BioCepts International, Inc., a shrimp farming consulting company run by Durwood Dugger, has updated its webpage. BCI intends to provide frequent modifications to the page’s content and will post aquaculture related articles from time to time.

Information: Durwood Dugger, President, BioCepts International, Inc., 947 Sandpiper Lane, Vero Beach, FL 32963 USA (phone 772-332-1046, fax 772-234-8966, email duggerdm@bellsouth.net, webpage http://www.biocepts.com).

Source: The Shrimp List (a mailing list for shrimp farmers, “shrimp-subscribe@yahoogroups.com”). Subject: [shrimp] BCI web page. From: duggerdm@bellsouth.net. June 12, 2007.

United States

Hawaii—New System

This paper describes a low-cost system for the production of Penaeus vannamei. The system consists of shallow, lined raceways with the water flow powered by airlifts. The airlifts and an electric water pump to drive the biofilter are powered by a commercial photovoltaic system, freeing the system from the local power grid. A low-cost formula of artificial seawater supported all fish and crustaceans tested in the system.

Information: John Cooksey, World Aquaculture Conference Management, P.O. Box 2302, Valley Center, CA 92082 USA (phone 760-751-5005, fax 760-751-5003, email worldaqua@aol.com, webpage www.was.org).

Source: World Aquaculture Society. The CD of the Aqua 2007 Abstracts (San Antonio, Texas, USA, February/March 2007). Low Cost Raceway Demonstration System for High Density Production of White Shrimp Litopenaeus Vannamei in Low Salinity Artificial Seawater. James P. Szyper (jszyper@hawaii.edu, University of Hawaii, 875 Komohana St., Hilo, HI 96720 USA).

United States

Washington State—Ken Talley, Shrimp Market Analysis

In April 2007, imports of shrimp fell compared to the previous year. Some 79 million pounds of shrimp (all forms) came into the USA market during April, a drop of 3.2% compared to April 2006, after a 9.8% drop in March. For the first four months of the year, imports are still up from a year ago, but only by 0.2%, to 357.2 million pounds.

The slowdown in shipments has done very little to reduce drooping wholesale shrimp prices. In 2005, the average import value of imported shrimp through April was $3.14 a pound. In 2006, that value fell to $3.12 a pound. In 2007, the price has continued to drop, to $3.09 a pound. Importers and holders of imported product have been forced to lower prices to move product. There seems little to indicate these trends will end. In fact, the situation may get worse before it gets better. Not only are new crops of farmed shrimp on the horizon and in the pipeline, but the summer season of fishing in the Gulf of Mexico will soon be at hand.

Source: Seafood Trend Newsletter (independent coverage of the seafood market since 1984, 8227 Ashworth Avenue North, Seattle, WA 98103-4434 USA, phone 206-523-2280, fax 206-526-8719, email seafoodtrend@aol.com). Editor, Ken Talley. June 11, 2007.