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November 24, 2006
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SITE MAP SEARCH SITE Free News
November 24, 2006
I update this page on Fridays.
Click here for previous Free News reports in 2006.
To SEARCH this page, hit CONTROL-F; to find the next occurrence of your search, hit CONTROL-G.
Give USA Farm-Raised
Shrimp for Christmas
You can buy shrimp online from at least two shrimp farms in the United States: Desert Sweet Shrimp in Arizona and Harlingen Shrimp Farms in Texas.
Desert Sweet Shrimp
Desert Sweet Shrimp, the only surviving shrimp farm from a small industry that got started in the 1990s, is servicing niche markets and increasing production.
If you have Google Earth (free, but you must download it from Google's website) installed on your computer, you can view the farm at latitude 33°--01'--1.51"--N; longitude 112°--40'--27.91"--W. The satellite image that you see was taken in the winter when the ponds were dry. What appears to be a divider down the center of the rectangular ponds is actually a drainage ditch that accumulates the shrimp and moves then to a basin during harvest.
You can visit the farm during the winter, but must make an appointment with farm manager Craig Collins first.
Here's the complete listing of Desert Sweet's online shrimp products (all of them antibiotic free):
Desert Sweet Shrimp Farms Online Shrimp Products
I purchased two pounds of Desert Sweet's 26/30s, shell-on, deveined, easy-peel shrimp for $25.98, plus $13.66 for overnight shipping. Yes, that works out to about $20 a pound, but I got four meals out of them, which works out to about $10.00 a meal. Not bad for top-quality shrimp.
Information: Craig Collins, Desert Sweet Shrimp, P.O. Box A-1, Gila Bend, AZ 85337 USA (phone 602-768-6281, email desertshrimp@hotmail.com, webpage http://www.desertsweetshrimp.com/index.html).
Harlingen Shrimp Farms
Harlingen Shrimp Farms, Ltd., produced its first crop of shrimp in 1982. Its Bayview farm, one of five, is the oldest continuously operating shrimp farm in the United States.
Harlingen's operations are regulated by eight federal agencies, some of which use Harlingen as a model on how to do shrimp farming right.
If you have Google Earth, you can view the farm at latitude 26°--8'--56.76"--N; longitude 97°--18'--58.69"--W. The satellite image that you see was taken in the winter when the ponds were dry.
Here's the complete listing of Harlingen's "Texas Star" online shrimp products:
Harlingen Shrimp Farms Online Shrimp Products
I purchased five pounds of Harlingen's 16/20s for $25.10, plus $36.98 for over-night shipping, which worked out to about $12 a pound. They also were top quality.
Information: Fritz Jaenike, Harlingen Shrimp Farms, Ltd., 44099 Schafer Road, Los Fresnos, Texas 78566 USA (phone 956-233-5723, email hsfbayview@compuserve.com, website http://harlingenshrimp.com).
Taste Test: Desert Sweet grows its shrimp in low-salinity, inland ponds, while Harlingen utilizes high-salinity coastal ponds, so I was amazed when I could not detect any difference in their taste or texture, after using several different cooking methods. Another thing that surprised me was that microwaved, shell-on and shell-off shrimp came out with a "tougher" texture than boiled or fried shrimp. I only cooked a few shrimp at a time and watched over them the entire time they were cooking, making sure not to overcook any of them, sometimes ending up with "medium-raw" shrimp that tasted quite nice.
Both websites have easy to use checkout systems called "shopping carts", but I was so impressed with Harlingen's system that I'm in the process of switching to Yahoo web hosting (http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/ecommerce/) just to take advantage of it.
Sources: 1. Telephone conversations with Craig Collins on November 6, 2006. 2. Desert Sweet Shrimp. Website visit (http://www.desertsweetshrimp.com/index.html) on November 6, 2006. 3. Google Earth on November 6, 2006. 4. Harlingen Shrimp Farms, Ltd. Website visit (http://harlingenshrimp.com) on November 10, 2006. 5. Telephone conversation with Brent Burkott, web administrator at Harlingen, on November 14, 2006.
Country Reports
Ecuador
Metabisulfite--From the Crust-L Mailing List
Could someone tell me what happens on the cellular level as sodium metabisulfite penetrates a shrimp's shell? Best regards, Francisco Camino (a shrimp quality control specialist in Ecuador).
Source: The Crust-L Mailing list (To subscribe, send an email to LISTPROC@VIMS.EDU. In the body of the email, put SUBSCRIBE CRUST-L). Subject: [CRUST-L:2322] Calculation of penetration gradients in shrimps. From: frankcamino@yahoo.com. November 10, 2006.
Mexico
Ocean Garden Products
On November 15, 2006, General Electric's finance and lending division announced that it provided a $70 million, asset-based loan to Ocean Garden Products, Inc., a seafood importing and exporting company and the number one supplier of Mexican shrimp to the United States. Ocean Garden is owned by five businesses in Mexico that have interests in agriculture, shrimp fishing and shrimp farming.
Sources: 1. BusinessWire. GE–Corporate Lending Provides $70-Million Credit Facility to Ocean Garden Products, Inc. (http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20061117005115&newsLang=en). November 15, 2006. 2. Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, November 21, 2006.
South Africa
Natal Province--Amatikulu Prawns
Trade and Investment KwaZulu (TIK), a provincial trade and investment promotion agency, is helping 14 businesses in Natal finalize investment deals. One of those businesses is a shrimp farming project [Amatikulu Prawns, Penaeus indicus, north of Durban, near the Mozambique border] that will receive $6 million and create 85 jobs. The project is 100 percent black-owned and managed.
Sources: 1. AllAfrica.com. South Africa: KZN Jobs to Boom From R1 Billion in Investments (http://allafrica.com/stories/200611160330.html). Chris Khumalo. November 16, 2006. 2. Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, November 18, 2006.
United States
Florida--Free AREA Catalog
Jason Mulvihill, owner and manager of AREA, Inc., a supplier of aeration, pumping, filtration and heating/chilling systems to shrimp farmers worldwide, reports: We just completed our new, revised catalog. It's full color and full of our products and research papers. It's free to everyone--domestic and international! Send us an email at areainc@aol.com or call us at 305-248-4205 to request your free copy.
Information: Jason Mulvihill, AREA Aquaculture Division, P.O. Box 901303, Homestead, FL 33090-1303 USA (phone 800-257-2732, fax 305-248-1756, email jason@aol.com, webpage http://www.areainc.com).
Source: Email to Shrimp News International from Jason Mulvihill on November 13, 2006.
United States
Washington, D.C.--Bonding with NFI
In mid-November 2006, the Court of International Trade issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting USA Customs from enforcing 100% bond payments on 27 shrimp importers. The National Fisheries Institute filed the case with the support of the importers.
The 100% bond requirement has been one of the most contentious issues in the shrimp dumping case. It requires importers to post a bond for the full amount of their imports every year. Many importers say it has been far more disruptive to the shrimp trade than the dumping duties.
Other major changes are afoot in the shrimp dumping case. Byrd amendment money for the shrimp fishing industry will come to an end in 2007. After that, any duties collected will go to the USA treasury.
Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). Shrimp Importers win major victory with injunction against 100% continuous bonds. News analysis by John Sackton. Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com). November 17, 2006.
Vietnam
Where Did Whitespot Come From?
The whitespot virus shows relatively little variation in its genome or its protein make-up, which suggests that it emerged recently. The authors of this report propose that whitespot entered Vietnam by multiple introductions from a common ancestor on one side or the other of the Taiwan Strait. From there, it probably spread to Thailand, North Vietnam, China (Hainan Island) and Cambodia, mutating slightly as it went.
Source: Genetic Computation Limited (free online summaries of aquaculture genetics research). Editor, Roger Doyle (gcl@genecomp.com). Hard-to-find papers. Where did Vietnamese WSSV come from (http://www.genecomp.com/Nov_2006.htm)? Item No. 562, November 2006. Original Source: Journal of General Virology. Molecular epidemiology of white spot syndrome virus within Vietnam. B.T. Dieu, H. Marks, J.J. Siebenga, R.W. Goldbach, D. Zuidema, T.P. Duong and J.M. Vlak (just.vlak@wur.nl). Volume 85, Pages 3607-3618, Year 2004.
Vietnam
Shrimp Prices Continue to Increase
In the last month tiger shrimp prices at retail markets in Vietman have increased $0.94 to $1.56 a kilo. Tigers [size and product category not given] currently sell for $10.29 to $10.92 a kilo.
Source: Saigon Times. Tiger shrimp price increases (http://www.saigontimes.com.vn/daily/BRIEFs.asp?loai=2&Sobao=2821&Ten=business%20brief). Nguoi Lao Dong. November 17, 2006.
