Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture (2+1)

Unit 1 - Shore based aquaculture and mariculture

1.2.2. Crustaceans - shrimps

By far the greatest tonnage of farmed crustaceans are brackish water and marine shrimps in the Asia-Pacific region. Effectively all of this production is undertaken in coastal ponds under extensive, semi-intensive an intensive systems. Such is the scale of shrimp farming, that it induced significant changes in market structure and prices since the 1980s. An abundance of shrimps in the medium size ranges (20-32g) caused a fall in prizes in south east Asia. The decline in prizes emphasized the vulnerability of intensive farming methods which have narrower profit margins than many low cost extensive farms. Production in some countries has been adversely affected by a number of factors in recent years, notably the outbreak of diseases and fluctuation in prizes.

Seed stock is produced mainly in hatcheries though brood stock comes mainly from the wild in Asia. There is a widespread shortage of wild brood stock (more on the status of shrimp aquaculture is presented in the chapter: Shrimp Farming).

Black tiger shrimp - Penaeus monodon