There Will Be No Shrimp News Next Week, Friday, March 4, 2011.

Shrimp News Will Return on Friday, March 11, 2011.

Aonori Aquafarms, Inc.

A New Way to Farm Shrimp

Armando León, with one of his products on the left and a Trader Joe's product, "Roasted Seweed Snack" in the middle, that he bought on the way to the meeting.

Armando A. León, President and CEO of Aonori Aquafarms, Inc., has 20 years experience in investment banking and 13 years experience in agribusiness with companies like Banamex, New VAR and Franks Distributing.  For the past fifteen years, he has been dreaming about a new way to farm shrimp, an environmentally friendly way with lower production costs and greater output than traditional semi-intensive shrimp farming.  Those dreams started working with Sinaloa Seafields and its Mexican subsidiary, Algalimentos, a seaweed company pioneering new, low-cost production methods.  But seaweed was only the beginning.  In 2006, he began changing those dreams into reality.  He leased ponds and ran growout trials on his ideas.  He backed peer-reviewed research on his system at one of Mexico’s best universities.  He secured patents on the system and built a team of professional managers and consultants to develop a commercial project in San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico.

On February 16, 2011, I met with Armando and Dr. Dominick Mendola at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, to find out more about the new shrimp farming system and how it works.  Dr. Mendola, a Senior Development Engineer at Scripps, is on Aonori’s advisory board.  He also has a long history in shrimp farming, dating all the way back to the first attempt at biofloc shrimp farming in the United States!  One of the main reasons Dominick agreed to serve on the advisory board was “the high caliber of the team” (some of the names and affiliations below) that Armando assembled to run Aonori Aquafarms.

What’s New About This System?  Just About Everything!

Aonori Aquafarms plans to grow a mat of green seaweed (Ulva clathrata, a high-protein macroalga, frequently used to wrap sushi) on the surface of traditional shrimp ponds.  That algae mat, which Aonori calls its “Magic Carpet”, and the web of small, invertebrate “prey” organisms that it harbors, purify the water and provide food and oxygen for the shrimp.  The system requires no aeration and only supplemental low-cost, low-protein, non-marine feeds to fertilize the food chain, rather than feed the shrimp.  Shrimp feed costs drop by 45%.  Labor costs also drop because less time is spent feeding shrimp.  The algae and the natural food chain in the pond provide most of the feed for the shrimp.  Based on growout trials, Aonori envisions stocking densities of 30 animals per square meter and production of 15 to 20 metric tons per hectare per year.

A recent study in the journal Aquaculture showed that shrimp fed combinations of U. clathrata and traditional feeds had growth rates 60% greater than controls!  The study suggests that carotenoids in U. clathrata were efficiently assimilated and metabolized by the shrimp and may have played a role in the exceptional growth rates.

Armando believes in “putting the flavor back into shrimp” and says the fresh, wild feeds in his ponds achieve that goal.  His shrimp have a deep red color and superior taste and texture.  Mendola agrees, “Back in the 1970s, at Solar Aquafarms’ greenhouse in Encinitas, California, we fed Penaeus vannamei about 10% Ulva and other natural food organisms, and they had the same deep red color and superior taste that the Aonori shrimp have today.”

The shrimp consume only 60 percent of the seaweed in the surface mat; the remaining 40 percent can be harvested and sold as a nutritional supplement or to wrap sushi.  There’s a $2.3 billion world market and a $250 million USA market for these products, and Aonori plans to aggressively pursue that market because it thinks it can become the low-cost producer by becoming five times more productive than the macroalgae farms in Asia.

The Aonori system has other advantages over traditional semi-intensive shrimp production systems—including no water exchange—not even during harvesting.  Harvesting takes place at night.  Shrimp are concentrated into a harvest basin with lights and pumped out of the pond.  Water only needs to be pumped to compensate for evaporation loss and to adjust salinity, allowing the farm to connect to the ocean with an eight-to-twelve-inch pipe, instead of a broad canal.  It also allows farms to locate farther inland, away from expensive coastal property.  And, of course, less overall pumping means lower energy costs.

Aonori plans to culture the Mexican brown shrimp, Farfantepenaeus californiensis (Penaeus californiensis), which is widely fished along the Pacific Coast of the Western Hemisphere from northern Mexico to northern Peru.  It tolerates cooler temperatures better that P. vannamei, and in trials, it performed as well as P. vannamei in the Aonori system.

For the first two years of production, Aonori will get its seedstock (F. californiensis postlarvae) from Mexico’s CIBNOR (Centro De Investigaciones Biologicas Del Noroeste), one of the leading marine ecology institutes in Latin America, in La Paz, BCS, Mexico, where the technology to produce F. californiensis was developed.

The Management Team

Eduardo Correa, Chief Operating Officer (45 years experience with agriculture and food businesses (Dekalb, Bachoco, Vimifos, Del Fuerte, Prodemex, Vepinsa and US AID) in the USA, Europe and Mexico).

Benjamin A. Moll, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer (the inventor of the Aonori technology, Stanford University, Class of 1971; PhD, University of California, Berkeley; and 35 years experience in the fields of plant physiology, biotechnology, aquaculture, inventions and consulting in algal biofuels).

Peter H. Mattson, Advisor (Chairman of Mattson Foods, the largest independent developer of new products for the food and beverage industry in the USA).

University Support

Since 2005, Aonori has been collaborating with the Mariculture Program at Nuevo Leon Autonomous University (UANL) in Mexico, the third largest University in Mexico with 27 research centers and 393 full times researchers.  Lead by Dr. Elizabeth Cruz, a nutrition researcher, and Dr. Denis Ricque, a disease specialist, the biology faculty at UANL has done 25 years of research work on crustacean health and nutrition.

The Pilot Farm

The Company plans to build a ten-acre, pilot farm for training and shakedown of operations in San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico.  It will be scaled to produce 50 tons of shrimp the first year.  This region has an optimal climate for marine agriculture/aquaculture, pristine ocean water and affordable land—and is close to USA markets.

Aonori was recently awarded an $800,000 grant from CONACYT, an agency of the Mexican government.  In order to qualify for the CONACYT grant, it must raise matching funds from outside investors in the next four weeks.

The startup has established a collaboration agreement with Mattson Foods, one of the largest independent developers of new food and beverage products in the United States, to create a “Prime Shrimp” brand!

Information: Armando A. León, President and CEO, Aonori Aquafarms, Inc., 8684 Avenida de la Fuente, Suite 11, San Diego, California, 92154, USA (phone 1-619-785-3905, cell 1-408-439-4752, cell in Mexico +52-668-856-9473, SKYPE ArmandoALeon, email aleon@aonori-aquafarms.com, webpage http://www.aonori-aquafarms.com/home).

Information: Benjamin Moll, Chief Scientific Officer (phone 1-530-554-9545, SKYPE Benjamin.moll, email bmoll@aonori-aquafarms.com).

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, February 24, 2011.

Triploid Giant Tiger Shrimp on the Horizon

Australia Researchers Tell You How To Make Them
 

Recent successes in selective breeding programs for Penaeus monodon have created high-value broodstock whose progeny show improved growth and survival over wild shrimp.  Australian shrimp farmers want access to these genetically improved shrimp, while the shrimp breeders want to prevent the farmers from “genetic poaching”, that is, reproducing the improved stocks without paying a fee.  The development of a genetic protection strategy for P. monodon, such as reproductive sterility through triploidy, would be of high value to the breeders and could increase the availability of high-performance domesticated P. monodon postlarvae around the world!

Triploid induction has been successful in producing sterile shrimp using a variety of shock agents including temperature (heat and cold) and chemicals (6-dimethylaminopurine and cytochalasin B), but there’s not much information available on how these agents compare with one another.  With the western white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, cold shock works better than heat shock.

This paper reports on the first attempt to produce P. monodon triploids with cold shock.

Preparation of Broodstock: Twice daily, broodstock were fed to satiation on a diet of squid (Nototodarus sp.), green-lipped mussels (Perna sp.), ox liver and polychaetes (Diopatra sp.).  Female broodstock were unilaterally eyestalk ablated three days before the commencement of spawning experiments.

Tanks were fitted with an automatic spawning detection system and four glass trays to collect spawned embryos.  Chilled seawater was maintained in a 150 liter water bath at below 8.5 °C.

A total of 71 induction treatments (excluding controls) were completed across four spawnings at temperatures ranging from 6.5° to 13.8°C and over three treatment times (2, 4 and 6 minutes).  The female was removed from the tank immediately post spawning and embryos were left to settle into the glass trays for between 4 and 5 minutes.

The glass trays were then removed from the tank and the embryos concentrated by siphoning water from above the settled embryos.  Treatment beakers (425 milliliters) were filled with varying volumes of chilled seawater, the volume estimated so the desired shock temperature would be reached when the embryos were added.  A control beaker containing 27°C seawater was also used.  The induction shock commenced at 7 minutes, 30 seconds with the addition of 120 milliliters of embryos to beakers containing cold seawater.  The shock temperature of each treatment beaker was measured and recorded using calibrated thermometers.  After the desired treatment duration a 120 milliliter aliquot of embryos was removed from the treatment beaker and poured into a beaker containing 270 milliliters of 27°C seawater to stop the cold shock, the controls received the same treatment.  The embryos were then left to hatch for 20–24 hours at 28°C.

Triploid rates of each sample were determined by measuring DNA content by flow cytometry.

Results and Discussion: Triploid nauplii induction rates ranged from 0% to 12.4% in the 2-minute test, 0% to 44.5% in the 4-minute test, and 0% to 76.7% in the 6-minute test (treatment four at 9.0°C).  These results demonstrate that high triploid induction rates are possible in P. monodon using cold shock at the reported treatment and duration times.

Using a cold shock temperature of 10°C, triploid inductions of up to 100% have been reported in L. vannamei.  This induction temperature is comparable with the most successful induction temperature in this study, 9.0°C.  The high variability in triploid induction efficiency among spawnings found in this study has also been reported in Fenneropenaeus chinensis and Marsupenaeus japonicus.

Broadening the duration of the induction process increases the opportunity for the shock to be applied to more embryos at the optimal time; however, this could prove detrimental.  As the duration of the cold shock treatment was increased with L. vannamei, hatch rate decreased.  Other factors, such as the temperature of spawning tank water and variation in identifying the time of spawning also impact induction efficiency.

[When you download this study ($35), you get an excellent list of references that are hot-linked to their sources.]

Source: Aquaculture Research (Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.).  Triploid Induction of Black Tiger Shrimp, Penaeus Monodon (Fabricius) Using Cold Shock.  Andrew T. Wood (andrew.wood@csiro.au, CSIRO Food Futures National Research Flagship, CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 120, Cleveland, Queensland 4163, Australia), Gregory J. Coman, Andrew R. Foote and Melony J. Sellars.  Early View Articles Online in Advance of Print.  Downloaded on February 14, 2011.  2. Wikipedia.  Triploidy and Flow Cytometry.  Site visit on February 17, 2011.  3. Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, February 21, 2011.

AQ1 Systems

Sound Advise on Feeding Shrimp

AQ1 Systems, which is pioneering the use of listening devices to manage shrimp feeding, has published a nifty, five-page, PDF newsletter to explain its products to the shrimp farming industry—and to provide some information on its results so far.  It has great pictures and graphics.  The current edition of the newsletter covers results from feeding trials with the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), the feeding behavior of the western white shrimp (P. vannamei) and the Japanese shrimp (P. japonicus), plus some information on biomass and shrimp sizing technology.

Some excerpts:

In 2009, AQ1 installed the worlds first ever sensor-based shrimp feeding control system at Gold Coast Marine Aquaculture, a giant tiger shrimp farm in Queensland, Australia.  The system uses passive acoustics to interpret the level of shrimp feeding activity and then applies control algorithms to match feeding delivery rate to shrimp feeding levels.

The farm was stocked with 9th generation giant tiger shrimp (P. monodon) from Australia’s CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization) breeding program.  The AQ1 challenge was to control feeding so that all the prawns were feed fully at all times without waste using the “SF200 Sound Feeding System”.  The trials uncovered surprising information and produced positive production results.

Major feeding reductions were discovered at times of heavy molting and immediately after a significant rain event.  No news to farmers, but now the instantaneous feeding requirement can be measured and satisfied automatically with the SF200 System.

Measuring Biomass and Shrimp Size: Over the years many people involved in the shrimp industry have asked whether it is possible to automatically measure biomass and or shrimp sizes.  No easy task, but extremely valuable information.  In an endeavor to find a solution AQ1, has joined with CSIRO in a research partnership to investigate several techniques, one of which is the application of Echoview software and acoustic cameras.

AQ1 will be exhibiting at the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, next week.

Information: To get a copy of the PDF newsletter, email AQ1 at info@aq1systems.com or go to its website at http://www.aq1systems.com.

Source: AQ1 Systems.  Shrimp Farming Newsletter (first edition).  Received, February 24, 2011.

Country Reports

Brazil

World Aquaculture Society Meeting

After the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in New Orleans next week, the Society’s next meeting—“Aquaculture for a Changing World”—will be in Natal, Brazil, from June 6 to 10, 2011.

Currently, 98 percent of all Brazil’s aquaculture production comes from shrimp farms in northeast Brazil, which produced around 65,000 metric tons of shrimp in 2009.  The region has 1,200 shrimp farmers, 560 of them in the state of Rio Grande do Norte.

Itamar Rocha, the president of the Brazilian Association of Shrimp Breeders (ABCC), says that seven out of ten shrimp farmers in Rio Grande do Norte do not have environmental permits or access to finances and technology.  Rocha believes that it is important to help small-scale shrimp farmers get permits and financing.  He says, “Environmental licensing is the responsibility of the producer and the government.  If the producer does not have it, the Government has a duty to educate the producer and show them that it is necessary.”

Source: FIS United States.  Natal to Host Major Global Aquaculture Event.  Analia Murias (editorial@fis.com).  February 10, 2011.

Ecuador

La Niña Update

On February 10, 2011, the United States Climate Prediction Center reported: La Niña conditions are likely to weaken during the next several months, with neutral or normal conditions equally likely during May/June 2011.

La Niña persisted during January 2011, reflected in well-below-average, sea-surface temperatures across much of the equatorial Pacific Ocean. Some weakening was evident in certain atmospheric and oceanic anomalies.  Collectively, these oceanic and atmospheric anomalies reflect an ongoing, mature La Niña that has begun to weaken.

Nearly all of the models forecast a weakening La Niña in the coming months.  A majority of the models predict a return to neutral conditions by May/June/July 2011, although some models predict a weaker La Niña into the summer of 2011.  Recent trends in the observations and models do not offer many hints about which outcome is more likely.

Source: Climate Prediction Center.  El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) Diagnostic Discussion (a downloadable PDF or Word file).  February 10, 2011.

India

Shrimp Feeds—Avanti Feeds, Ltd.

Avanti Feeds, Ltd., which provides feeds and technical services to shrimp farmers in India, has three divisions: Shrimp Feeds, Aqua Products Export, and Shrimp Shell Meal.

The company’s Shrimp Feed Division has two mills that can produce 70,000 metric tons a year.  Its Aqua Products Export division processes giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and scampi.  It has the capacity to handle 1,200 metric tons a year and exports to the European Union, the USA and Japan.

Source: Live-PR.  Avanti Feeds Limited (5125730)-Financial and Strategic SWOT Analysis Review-New Company Profile Published.  February 14, 2011.

Thailand

Video—Artificial Insemination of the Giant Tiger Shrimp

With piano music in the background, this slow-moving, six-minute video shows the artificial insemination of the giant tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon.  Unfortunately, parts of the video are very dark, which makes it difficult to identify specific body parts like the petasma and thelycum.  You clearly see the manual extraction of the spermatophore, but its placement in the thelycum occurs in one of the dark spots.  The video also shows the capture of the female and her cozy surgical gown, a double wrapping of wet cloth that leaves only her head and thelycum exposed.  The video begins repeating itself at about the three-minute point.

Source: YouTube.  P. monodon Artificial Insemination.  July 19, 2010.

United States

California—King’s Fish House Uses Farmed Shrimp from Mexico

Matt Stein, chief seafood officer at King’s Fish House, which operates restaurants in California and Arizona, says farmed shrimp “has always been part of our plan,” and we use it in several dishes, while also buying wild shrimp for other entrées.  King’s prints farmed or fished on its menus.

Although he has seen prices for Mexican farmed shrimp increase by as much as 25 percent recently, Stein says his restaurants haven’t raised menu prices in three years.  “We fight not to do that.  We believe price is the only impediment to people coming in to buy seafood” he said.

His decision to use Mexican farmed shrimp was based on its flavor and his ability to view the farming and processing operations in person.  In addition to the Mexican white shrimp, Stein also purchases product from Indonesia for popcorn shrimp (see USA/California below).  “I’m not a fan of black tigers,” says Stein, “from either a taste or an appearance standpoint.”  And Pacific whites from Asia tend to be salty or bland, he says.

“With Mexico, I can travel there and go to the farm and the processing plants,” says Stein.  The farms from which he sources shrimp are based near the Sea of Cortez.  “I can see everything that is going on,” he says, adding that the plant “is very sophisticated and the conditions are excellent.”

Despite the higher price, Stein isn’t complaining.  “I don’t want to pay $9 a pound, but I think [the price] is getting closer to where it should be.  It’s more appropriate now.”

Information: Matt Stein or Kristal Evans, King’s Fish House‎, 825 Camino De La Reina, San Diego, California 92108, USA (phone 1-619-574-1230, fax 1-619-574-7695, email kevans@kingsseafood.com, webpage http://www.kingsfishhouse.com‎).

Source: SeaFood Business.  Editor-in-Chief, Fiona Robinson (frobinson@divcom.com).  Joanne Friedrick.  Volume 30, Number 2, Page 26, February 2011.

United States

Florida—Who Is Don Sweat?

The February 4, 2011, issue of Shrimp News contained an item titled Don Sweat Wins Award/Who is Don Sweat?  It told a short story about Don finding the site for one of the largest shrimp farms in the Western Hemisphere.  Since posting that story, I contacted Don and got some dates to go along with the story.  You can check them out here.  I put them in brackets so that you can find them easily.

Information: Don Sweat (dsweat1313@yahoo.com).

Source: Email from Don Sweat to Shrimp News International on February 9, 2011.

Vietnam

Tightens Down on Food Safety Inspections after Violations

The National Agro-Forestry-Fisheries Quality Assurance Department (NAFIQAD) has warned shrimp processors that inspections are going to increase in 2011.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) has urged people’s committees in key provinces in the Mekong River Delta to step up oversight of processing plants.  It also told local authorities to work closely with relevant agencies to penalize violators, especially those that inject “extraneous materials” into raw shrimp.  These incidents have been reported widely in Ca Mau, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang provinces, with NAFIQAD saying 25 processing plants, mostly in the four provinces, were caught doing it in January 2011!  MARD has ordered NAFIQAD to coordinate inspections with local agencies in the four provinces to make sure that products do not contain extraneous matter.

NAFIQAD will set up a process for inspecting all shrimp products for quality and safety and MARD will then approve all products before they are exported!

Following an inspection of 30 Vietnamese processing companies last month, Ukraine’s State Committee for Veterinary Medicine approved only ten of them.  Analysts said Ukraine’s high quality requirements could pose a big challenge for Vietnamese exporters.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 1-781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  Viet Nam Tightens Food Safety Inspections in Shrimp Residue Crackdown.  Ken Coons (kencoons@seafood.com).  February 14, 2011.

Vietnam

Production in Ca Mau Province

Ca Mau Province has 265,000 hectares of extensive shrimp ponds, representing over 40 percent of the shrimp farming area in the in Mekong Delta.

In 2010, farms produced an average of 400 kilograms per hectare, and total production reached 103,900 metric tons.  The province has 1,440 hectares of intensive shrimp ponds and hopes to have 10,000 by 2015.

Source: Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporters and Producers (VASEP) Website.  Ca Mau: Black Tiger Shrimp Sales Price Increase.  February 15, 2011.

Vietnam

Ca Mau Province—Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company

Ca Mau’s shrimp exports reached a record $800 million in 2010, according to the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Le Van Quang, general director of the Minh Phu Seafood Joint Stock Company, which led the country in shrimp exports last year, said it exported 23,871 tons of shrimp worth $248 million in 2010, exceeding its annual target by 50 percent.

The price of shrimp in the Mekong Delta is now $12.83 to $13.34 [size and product type not given] a kilo compared to about $11.29 a kilo at the end of 2010.

The province has 35 seafood processors, but at this time of year, they are operating at about 45 percent of capacity because shrimp farmers are between harvests.  Nguyen Thi Tuyet, general director of the Ca Mau Frozen Seafood Processing Import-Export Corporation, said this shortage was normal.  “There is a severe shortage of shrimp in the first quarter of every year as farmers have harvested their main shrimp crop and are preparing their ponds for a new crop.”

The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development thinks Ca Mau Province will produce 105,000 tons of farmed shrimp in 2011.

Source: Viet Nam News.  Ca Mau Looks to Increase Shrimp Exports.  February 15, 2011.