Bahamas
Shrimp Farm For Sale
Asking Price: $2 million.
Description: Established shrimp farm in tax-free Bahamas. Four 2.5-acre ponds on a 100-acre lot with infrastructure and frozen storage. Does not use recycled water.
Personnel: The local general manager has a master's degree in aquaculture from Nova University in Florida, USA. He and his principal assistant will stay with the farm.
Production: Typical production is 22,000 to 28,000 pounds per pond.
Customers: The Atlantis Resort and many other steady customers.
Information: Jack Zollinger, VR Business Brokers SW Florida (Naples, FL, USA, phone 239-596-8200).
Source: Acquireo. Distribution, Dist-Frozen Products business for sale (http://www.acquireo.com/search/viewlisting.aspx?listingid=67728). No date on item. Appears to be a new listing. Site visit on May 16, 2006.
Bangladesh
We Would Like to Market Your Product
We are a specialized marketing group for aquaculture feeds, medicines, probiotics and accessories. We also have a shrimp hatchery. We would like to market your product in Bangladesh.
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://ag.ansc.purdue.edu/discuss/shrimp.htm). Looking For Shrimp Hatchery Feed, Probiotic etc., Manufacturer (http://www.aquanic.org/discuss/_shrimp/00000f3b.htm). From: rahaman_ghl@yahoo.com. May 16, 2006.
Bangladesh
Shrimp Meltdown
All of Bangladesh suffers from acute power shortages. Khulna, the southwest district with the most shrimp farms, needs at least 500 megawatts (MW) of electricity a day, but only receives around 200 MW. Satkhira, another shrimp farming district in the southwest, receives only two to three of the eight MWs it requires. Sheikh Azhar Hossain, president of the Satkhira Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said frequent power cuts and voltage fluctuations have damaged machinery in at least 39 fish processing plants, 3 cold storage facilities and 49 ice making facilities. He said, "Shrimp exports will be hampered this year as the processing plants do not get adequate power supply."
Atiar Rahman, director of Satkhira Ice and Cold Storage, installed standby generators--which doubled his operating expenses.
Aftab-uz-Zaman, president of the Bangladesh Shrimp Cultivators Association, said huge quantities of shrimp rot during the power outages.
Source: The Daily Star. Country reels under frequent outages (http://www.thedailystar.net/2006/05/13/d6051301011.htm). May 13, 2006.
Bangladesh
Hatcheries and Farms
Bangladesh has over 55,000 marine shrimp farms with an average size of three hectares, although some ponds as large as 40 hectares exist. The farms cover about 170,000 hectares in the coastal districts of Satkhira, Khulna, Bagerhat, Cox's Bazaar, Chittagong, Barguna and Bhola.
Shrimp culture is mostly practiced in the low-lying tidal flood plains within the Bangladesh Water Development Board's dikes, originally built to reclaim land with potential for agriculture and save human lives and assets from catastrophic cyclones. In many areas, private farmers have also constructed smaller levees along river-banks for agriculture and aquaculture.
According to the Shrimp Hatchery Association of Bangladesh, 55 shrimp hatcheries (at various stages of operation and development) produced nearly 7 billion postlarvae in 2004. Most hatcheries locate along the high-salinity southeastern coast around Cox's Bazar.
Although the collection of wild postlarvae has been banned for the last four years, the practice continues on a smaller scale. The screening of broodstock and postlarvae for viral diseases by polymerase chain reaction testing has just started on a limited scale.
Source: The Global Aquaculture Advocate (http://www.gaalliance.org). Editor, Darryl Jory (dejry2525@aol.com). Shrimp Farming in Bangladesh. Dr. Mahmudul Karim (Bangladesh Shrimp and Fish Foundation, House 47, Road 23, Block-B Banani, Dhaka, Bangladesh, email karim@shrimp foundation.org). Volume 9, Issue 2, Page 58, April/May 2006.
Ecuador
High-Turnover
Some shrimp farmers in Ecuador use a high-turnover production model. They stock juveniles at 100 per square meter and harvest at 12 grams after 60 days of growout. They get survivals of 85% and production of 10 metric tons per hectare.
Source: Panorama Acuicola Magazine (http://www.panoramaacuicola.com). The case of Ecuador. Máximo Quispe and Christian Berger. Volume 11, Number 2, Page 59, February 2006.
India
New Shrimp Farming Technology
On the southwest tip of India, in the state of Kerala, the Fisheries College and Research Institute has begun commercial production of shrimp using greenhouse-covered raceways. "The stocking density is high, 200 shrimps per square meter, compared to 10 per square with the old system," said professor S. Felix of FCRI's Fisheries Biotechnology Centre. The government is extending 60 to 75 percent subsidies to help farmers get started with the new intensive technology.
Source: NewKerala.com. FCRI shifts to new technology for commercial shrimp production (http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=59650). May 16, 2006.
Indonesia
Shrimp Farmers Hope to Ban Shrimp Imports
Shrimp farmers have asked the government to maintain the ban on shrimp imports that was imposed to stop transshiments of shrimp from China. Sony Wibisono, chairman of the association of fisherman and fishpond farmers, said domestic production was large enough to supply all the country's shrimp needs, including its exports.
Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). Indonesian Govt Urged to Maintain Ban on Shrimp Imports. Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com). May 16, 2006.
Iran
Banks Withhold Funding
Sohrab Rezvani, deputy head of the Iran Fishery Organization, said banks have refused to lend money to shrimp farmers, despite a directive by the minister of agriculture to instigate the loans. The shrimp farmers already owe huge amounts to the banks. Rezvani said many shrimp farmers would not be able to continue in the business due to a shortage of funds. "If the lack of cooperation (from the bank) continues, many farmers will become broke," he said. He expects shrimp production to decline in 2006.
Source: Panorama Acuicola Magazine Webpage (http://www.panoramaacuicola.com). Funding Challenges Cripple Shrimp Farmers, Iran (http://www.panoramaacuicola.com/noticia.php?art_clave=2607). May 15, 2006.
Peru
Welcome Back
In 1996 and 1997, Peru produced more that 6,000 metric tons of whole farmed shrimp, record years with crops valued at close to $50 million. Then along came the whitespot virus and production dropped to 560 tons in 2000. Production has been recovering ever since, and in 2005 Peru probably produced its biggest crop of farmed shrimp ever, around 7,000 metric tons, with 30% of it from intensive farms.
Source: Panorama Acuicola Magazine (http://www.panoramaacuicola.com). Peru and Ecuador. Máximo Quispe and Christian Berger. Volume 11, Number 2, Page 54, February 2006.
Thailand
Aquaculture Certification Council Clusters
As the Aquaculture Certification Council's Best Aquaculture Practices (BAPs) program expands, large, integrated farms such as those in Central and South America have adapted nimbly to BAP criteria. Smaller farms in Asia, however, often do not have the resources to seek certification and demonstrate compliance on their own. The solution for multiple small farms is to form clusters and collectively comply with BAP criteria. The Global Aquaculture Alliance, which licenses the BAPs to ACC, has scheduled a meeting of "small farm" stakeholders in Bangkok, Thailand, on June 1-2 , 2006, to discuss the procedural details for cluster certification. With financial support from the Darden Environmental Trust, the meeting will be chaired by Dr. Claude Boyd (ceboyd@acesag.auburn.edu), chairman of the Shrimp Farm Standards Technical Committee at GAA.
Source: Email from the Global Aquaculture Alliance (homeoffice@gaalliance.org) to Shrimp News International. Important News on GAA activities Around the World/Consolidated Data. May 25, 2006.
United States
Hawaii-Oceanic Institute on Copyrighting Shrimp
This article, which appeared in the April/May 2006 issue of the Global Aquaculture Advocate, describes some basic steps shrimp breeders can take to protect their stocks from genetic thieves.
Shrimp breeders invest a lot of money in the development of genetically improved broodstock, but how can they profit from their investment if their customers propagate the broodstock they buy without permission? Or even worse, what can they do if their customers compete with them by selling postlarvae at a price that does not reflect the cost of genetic research and development?
Shrimp breeders can protect their genetic investments with inbreeding programs, which have a surprisingly high effect on the survival of later generations, especially if the shrimp are farmed in inferior environments. When the environment is good and the survival of noninbred shrimp is greater than 50%, inbreeding depression won't cause much of a problem until the third generation. But in times of stress, when oxygen, water temperature, disease, or some combination of these factors reduces primary survival, inbreed stocks are at a high risk of being wiped out in one or two generations.
There is not a lot secondary breeders can do to escape the genetic traps set by vigilant primary breeders. The best strategy for hatcheries is to purchase the latest generation of improved broodstock every year.
Source: The Global Aquaculture Advocate (http://www.gaalliance.org). Editor, Darryl Jory (dejry2525@aol.com). Shrimp Copyright. Roger W. Doyle (Genetic Computation, Ltd., 4630-1 Lochside Drive, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8Y2T1, email rdoyle@genecomp.com), Dustin Moss and Shaun Moss (The Oceanic Institute, Waimanalo, Hawaii, USA). Volume 9, Issue 2, Page 76, April/May 2006.
United States
Texas-Risk Analysis on Imported Bait Shrimp
On February 15, 2006, Dr. Kenneth Hasson, a scientist with the Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, submitted a petition to USDA/APHIS (United States Department of Agriculture/Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) requesting that it conduct a risk analysis of imported bait shrimp.
On May 18, 2006, Hasson received APHIS's response to the petition: "APHIS is unable to facilitate your request for a risk assessment at this time. ...A future risk assessment would necessarily incorporate impacts and input from all stakeholders involved."
On May 19, 2006, Hasson emailed: I think we should be satisfied that our request was taken seriously and will influence the National Aquatic Animal Health Plan decision process as that program develops, disease introduction issues are discussed and preventative measures formulated. Naturally, we are disappointed that nothing will be done immediately concerning the imported frozen bait shrimp issue, but this was our expectation when we initiated the petition. There are currently just too many other animal health concerns (avian influenza, mad cow) that have priority over shrimp diseases.
Sources: 1. Letter from USDA/APHIS to Ken Hasson and Patricia Varner. Subject: Response to the Concerned Residents of Texas Petition. No date or signature on the letter which was received by TVMDL on May 18, 2006. 2. Letter from Ken Hasson to Shrimp News International. Subject: APHIS petition response letter. From: khasson@tvmdl.tamu.edu. May 19, 2006.
Vietnam
Concentrating on Hatcheries
From 2006-2010, the fisheries department plans to invest over $50 million in a plan to help the private sector develop 84 seedstock production facilities for fish and shellfish. The shrimp hatcheries that become part of this program will probably buy nauplii or broodstock from large hatcheries and produce postlarvae for sale to shrimp farmers.
Sources: 1. VNAnet.vn. Fisheries sector to focus on fry investment (http://www.vnagency.com.vn/NewsA.asp?LANGUAGE_ID=2&CATEGORY_ID=30&NEWS_ID=199477). May 17, 2006. 2. Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, May 18, 2006.
