Country Reports

Australia

Bullock Creek Prawn Farm Shuts Down

Peter Spindler and Judith Butler, owners of Bullock Creek Prawn Farm, have decided to close their 40-hectare shrimp farm because of an increase in environmental fees from $465 to $4,650.  Rising fuel, power and other costs also played a role in their decision.

Source: FisheNews (an email supplement to Austasia Aquaculture magazine).  Editor, Tim Walker (austasiaaquaculture@netspace.net.au).  Increased EPA Charges to Shut Down Farm.  April 8, 2008.

Australia

DNA Fingerprinting System for Tiger Shrimp

One of the key problems in shrimp-breeding programs is how to track pedigrees and assess the relative performance of individual families and family groups in communal environments.  Molecular markers will make on-farm selection of high-performance shrimp families a reality some day, without the need to use costly alternatives such as separate rearing of families/groups or tagging.  Researchers have already generated reproducible, low-cost, high-throughput systems for applications such as the assessment of broodstock diversity and tracing parentage of high-performing families.  Molecular markers allow producers to maximize the gains from selective breeding and monitor inbreeding.  DNA marker technologies can then be utilized to carry out pedigree tracking and family assessments that ensure the selective breeding is effective.

DNA fingerprinting using microsatellites has wide-ranging applications, including investigations of genetic variability, inbreeding, parentage, species and strain identification, and the construction of high-resolution genetic linkage maps that typically consist of repetitive DNA sequences of two, three or four nucleotides.

A tank trial using 120 animals from known families demonstrated that the correct mothers and fathers could be identified with 98 and 92% accuracy.

Source: The Global Aquaculture Advocate.  Editor, Darryl Jory (dejry2525@aol.com).  Seedstock: DNA Fingerprinting System for Black Tiger Shrimp.  Russell Lyons, Ph.D. (russell.lyonsc@siro.au), Leanne Dierens, Tom Dixon, Ph.D., and Yutao Li, Ph.D. (CSIRO Food Futures Flagship, CSIRO Livestock Industries Level 5, QBP 306, Carmody Road, Saint Lucia, Queensland 4067, Australia); and Nigel Preston, Ph.D. (CSIRO Food Futures Flagship, CSIRO Marine and Atmosphere Research, Cleveland, Queensland, Australia).  Volume 11, Issue 2, Page 74, March/April 2008.

Colombia

Cartagena Shrimp Company’s Shrimp Market

Cartagena Shrimp Company, an integrated shrimp farm (hatchery, farm, processing and distribution) in Colombia, owns a new and expanding casual dining chain in Aventura, Florida, USA, called the Shrimp Market, the first quick-service restaurant specializing in shrimp.  Over the next year, Shrimp Market will expand from two to fifteen stores.  Its menu consists predominantly of shrimp—Cadillac Shrimp Cocktail, Three Alarm Buffalo Shrimp, New England Shrimp Roll, Cajun Shrimp Jambalaya, Shrimp Carbonara and Shrimp and Clams in Red Sauce.

Shrimp Market demonstrates that shrimp can be affordable enough to enjoy on a regular basis.  Most of the menu items cost around $7.  The most expensive is an 18-ounce container of chilled cocktail shrimp for $14.99 that can easily serve three or more people.  Shrimp Market is ready to roll out the concept with 14 more stores over the next year in South Florida and the Northeast.  Vanessa Abramowitz (pictured), president of Shrimp Market, says, “We want shrimp to be accessible to everyone.”

Salomon Finvarb founded Cartagena Shrimp Company in 1983.  Today, it produces 10,000 tons of shrimp a year, generating annual revenue of about $100 million.  The company opened a USA wholesale subsidiary, Caribco, in 2002, and its sales grew to $12 million in 2007.  “Because we control the whole supply chain, there’s no fat in our chain and no middleman,” said Finvarb, president of Cartagena Shrimp Company.  “We can get the product to the public at very reasonable prices.”

Shrimp Market takes advantage of the parent company’s expertise by having all its products processed in Colombia.  Fried shrimp are butterflied and breaded in Colombia.  Shrimp for the rice and pasta dishes are blanched, peeled, deveined, frozen, portioned into plastic bags and then shipped to Miami, along with the shipments for Caribco.

The Aventura Mall, where the first store is located, has been pleased with Shrimp Market’s performance, which rang up $650,000 in sales last year.  The company’s goal is to get average store volume up to $800,000 a year.  The new stores will have open kitchens so customers can watch their food being prepared.

Information: Vanessa Abramowitz, President, Shrimp Market, Inc., 19495 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura, FL 33180 USA (phone 3059320777, fax 305-932-0044, email info@caribco.com).

Sources: 1. Aquacopia.  Vertical Integration in Shrimp.  David Tze.  April 14, 2008.  2. MiamiHerald.com.  Gourmet shrimp dishes head to the food court.  Elaine Walker (ewalker@MiamiHerald.com).  April 11, 2008.

Dominican Republic

Job—Internship

Industria Nacional Agropesquera Company is looking for an intern for its shrimp farm.

Salary: $500 a month.

Closing Date: May 31, 2008.

Qualifications: The candidate should have a strong interest in fisheries, aquaculture and aquatic sciences, and:

• Basic understanding of water chemistry

• Ability to use standard test kits

• Computer skills (Excel, Microsoft Word and the Internet)

• Basic mechanical skills

• Ability to lift 50 pounds safely

• Flexibility to work a varying schedule

• Tolerance of a hot and humid climate

• Fluency in Spanish (a plus but not mandatory)

Description: This semi-intensive shrimp farm is developing technology in intensive, heterotrophic culture systems.  Living in a tropical environment for six months, the candidate will be involved in all aspects of the culture process from stocking to harvest.  Duties will include: acclimation, water quality monitoring, feed scheduling, feeding, shrimp health assessment, growth sampling and harvesting.  This is an excellent opportunity for the right candidate to gain experience in semi-intensive and intensive culture technologies.  Housing, insurance, transport and food allowance will be provided.

Information: CVs should be sent to John Harvin (phone 809-659-1368, email johnharvin@msn.com).

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources).  Jobs Directory in cooperation with the WAS Employment Service.  Search jobs.  Internship at Shrimp Aquaculture Facility Location.  Posted: April 19, 2008.

India

The Sundarbans, the Most Dangerous Place in the World

At the mouth of the Ganges Delta, the Sundarbans is the largest single mangrove ecosystem in the world, of which roughly forty percent lies in India and sixty percent in Bangladesh.

Women trudge through the water near the shoreline, pulling nets behind them as they trawl for shrimp seed.  This practice, introduced in the past twenty years or so, has disastrously reduced shrimp and fish populations, and the constant pacing along the fragile shore by the women and children who drag the nets has contributed to erosion.  In their flowing saris, the women presented picturesque silhouettes that belie the danger of their work, up to ten hours a day waist high in the murky water.  As many as ten fatal crocodile attacks are documented each year, and too many shark attacks to report.  The most common are by dog sharks, which take a bite of soft tissue—a leg or buttock—but do not kill.  They are considered minor hazards.  The Sundarbans’s occupational hazards—crocodiles, sharks, cobras, kraits (poisonous sea snakes), swimming tigers and cyclones—make it one of the most dangerous places in the world.

Source: The New Yorker.  Tigerland.  Caroline Alexander.  April 21, 2008.

Mayotte (Indian Ocean)

How Do You Capture Penaeus monodon and P. indicus

Jean-Marie Bouchard: I would like some information on the habitats and fishing techniques for Penaeus monodon and P. indicus.  I need to collect some samples of them from the reefs and mangroves of Mayotte (French owned islands between northern Mozambique and Madagascar in the Indian Ocean).

Information: Jean-Marie Bouchard, Kraken Underwater Works, 40, rue Babou Salama, Cavani, 97600 Mamoudzou, Mayotte (phone 02-69-69-11-18, fax 02-69-63-74-18, email bouchard@mnhn.fr).

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: Finding P. monodon and P. indicus.  From: Jean-Marie Bouchard.  April 15, 2008.

New Zealand

Huka Prawn Park—Killer Prawn Golf, a Blogger Reports

Huka Prawn Park—a freshwater prawn farm (Macrobrachium rosenbergii), a fish-out operation for prawns, a tourist stop and a restaurant—has a driving range called “Killer Prawn Golf”.  You purchase a bucket of golf balls like you would at a driving range, and hit them into the prawn ponds!  There are prizes for hitting a ball into a floating ring.

Source: NewZ from New Zealand (a blog).  Skydiving/Tongariro.  April 14, 2008.

Norway/India

Shrimp Vaccines

PHARMAC AS, a Norwegian vaccine company, has been awarded $8.8 million to develop new vaccines for fish and shrimp.  The four-year research project will be conducted in collaboration with seven research institutions in India.

Source: Fish Farmer.  Editor, Christina Reid (editor@fishfarmer-magazine.com).  Norwegian-Indian research project to develop new vaccines.  April 14, 2008.

Peru

Fish Meal Prices to Rise Slightly

Tecnologica de Alimentos (TASA), a Peruvian fishing company, is forecasting a slight increase in international fish meal prices, primarily due to increasing demand from China and a surge in the price of its closest substitute, soy meal.

TASA, the largest producer of fish meal in the world, has 20 processing plants in Peru and an 80-ship fleet.  Fish meal prices softened slightly in 2007, but have begun to rise in 2008, currently ranging between $900 and $1,060 per metric ton.  Peru is the largest producer of fish meal in the world.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  International fishmeal price moving up (translated by Angel Rugio Canas).  Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email kencoons@seafood.com).  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  April 10, 2008.

Qatar (Persian Gulf)

Mawashi to Diversify into Shrimp Farming

Mawashi, a meat and livestock company, has plans to diversify into foodstuffs and fish and shrimp farming.  In cooperation with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, Mawashi has entered into a contract with a global consultancy company that specializes in the field of shrimp farming and fish breeding to assess initial feasibility of a mega project, which might be located near Al Areesh, a fishing village in northwest Qatar.

Source: The Peninsula.  Mawashi enters into foodstuff trade.  April 10, 2008.

Saudi Arabia

Job—Arabian Shrimp Company

Arabian Shrimp Company has a position open for a processing plant manager at a facility located on the southern coast of the Red Sea.  The plant is part of a new, totally integrated shrimp farming company.  The plant will begin processing 20 tons a day and gradually expand to 40 plus tons a day.

Closing Date: June 15, 2008.

Qualifications

• Minimum of twenty years of experience in shrimp processing plants with seven years in
managerial positions

• Experience with value-added processing and freezing technology

• Experience with head-on/head-off shrimp processing for European, USA and Japanese
markets

• HACCP trained and certified

• Knowledge and application of current G/BMP, SSOP and environmental regulations

• Fluency in English

• Hands-on, take-charge person, a people motivator capable of managing a large
multicultural and multinational workforce

Objectives

• To develop production protocols, product strategy and specifications

• To establish a staff and management team

• To undertake periodic reviews of the system and its operation

• To implement modifications to the team and system

• To implement a quality control system based on EU, FDA and other relevant
international standards

• To develop and implement GMP, SSOP, HACCP, SQF, traceability and recall systems

• To design an appropriate data recording, storage and retrieval system

• To control the cost of production and achieve production of the highest quality
finished products

Information: Michael Stirnberg, General Manager, Arabian Shrimp Company (mstirnberg@arabianshrimp.com).

Source: AquaNic (The Aquaculture Network Information Center, a gateway to the world’s electronic aquaculture resources).  Jobs Directory in cooperation with the WAS Employment Service.  Search jobs.  Shrimp Processing Plant.  Posted: April 20, 2008.

Sweden

New Technique for Testing Chloramphenicol in Shrimp

On April 10, 2008, MIP Technologies AB and Supelco, a division of the Sigma-Aldrich Group, announced the launch of a new product for the selective extraction of chloramphenicol from shrimp that improves selectivity, decreases the amount of interfering compounds, reduces analysis time and improves detection limits, compared with other products on the market.  Detection limits are in the low parts per trillion range.

“This new...application in combination with mass spectrometry (MS) detection leads to higher throughput and gives lower detection limits than other methods on the market, benefits that are particularly advantageous where trace level detection and routine analyses are required,” said Dr. Christine Widstrand, Chief Business Officer at MIP Technologies.

Information: Dr. Christine Widstrand, MIP Technologies AB, Box 737, 220-07 Lund, Sweden (phone 46-0-46-16-3900, fax 46-46-16-3901, email info@miptechnologies.com).

Source: PharmaLive.  MIP Technologies and Supelco Launch a New SPE Application for the Selective Extraction of Chloramphenicol from Shrimp.  April 10, 2008.

United States

Florida—The Southern Shrimp Alliance

The Southern Shrimp Alliance, the organization of shrimp fishermen and processors from eight southeastern USA states that instigated the shrimp dumping case, reports:

Since 2001, USA importers have failed to pay nearly $1 billion in antidumping and countervailing duties assessed on unfairly traded imports.  This problem is directly attributable to the lack of an effective USA mechanism to enforce the collection of duties on importers.  Importers willfully employ a number of unethical tactics to escape their obligation to pay.  The inability to collect dumping and countervailing duties has meant that, for many domestic agricultural and aquacultural industries, the effectiveness of United States’ trade laws designed to protect them from unfair trade has been completely undermined.  For example, over the last five years, USA Customs and Border Protection has reported that nearly 95 percent of the antidumping duties assessed as trade relief for the domestic crawfish, garlic and canned mushroom industries has been uncollected.  In total, for all trade remedies implemented on behalf of agricultural and aquacultural industries, the USA government has been unable to collect nearly 72 percent of the duties assessed on these products.

In 2005, in a concerted effort to address this problem, USA Customs and Border Protection implemented an enhanced continuous bonding program for shrimp imports subject to dumping duties.  As a result, less than 15 percent of the shrimp duties have gone uncollected.  Despite its dramatic effectiveness in enforcing USA trade laws designed to protect the shrimp industry from unfair trade, the enhanced bonding program is now under attack by foreign governments and the World Trade Organization.

In addition to nonpayment of duties, importers of products subject to trade remedies have sought to import product falsely labeled as originating from a different country not subject to the trade remedy or falsely labeled as a different product that is not subject to the trade remedy.

The widespread circumvention of USA trade laws also demonstrates the substantial difficulties facing federal laws and programs designed to prevent unsafe imported food products from entering the USA market.  For example, trade data indicate that substantial quantities of Chinese shrimp are likely being transshipped to the United States through Malaysia.  Such violations of USA law can be committed with relative impunity.  Importers caught at a USA port attempting to bring in product falsely labeled are allowed to withdraw the merchandise and try and enter the United States through another port.  Since only one percent of food products are inspected by the USA Food and Drug Administration, such efforts are usually successful.  The government of Malaysia has refused to cooperate in preventing the transshipment of Chinese shrimp.  As a result, large quantities of unlawful, unfairly traded and potentially unsafe imported shrimp enter the United States.

The introduction of an enhanced continuous bonding program for shrimp products subject to antidumping duties by Customs has succeeded in significantly limiting the ability of importers to avoid the payment of USA duties on shrimp imports.  In comparison to the staggering undercollection rates that plague most trade remedies on agricultural and aquacultural products, over 85 percent of the duties assessed on imports of shrimp have been collected.  Customs cracked down on the transshipment of shrimp through Indonesia and the false labeling of product schemes that sought to allow importers to avoid payment of legally owed duties.  Now, however, Customs’ enhanced continuous bond program on shrimp imports has been imperiled by an overreaching WTO panel.  The WTO panel invented a prohibition not contained in the agreements negotiated by the United States and found that any action by the United States to collect duties is impermissible!

Information: Deborah Long, Southern Shrimp Alliance, Post Office Box 1577, Tarpon Springs, FL 34688 USA (phone 727-934-5090, email deborah@cohesivecommunications.com).

Source: Email to Shrimp News International from the Southern Shrimp Alliance.  Subject: SSA Press Release/Shrimpers Decry the Administration’s Reluctance to Aggressively Defend U.S. Trade Laws.  April 15, 2008.

United States

New York—Aquacopia

Aquacopia is a venture capital firm for aquaculture.  It’s investing $16 million in seafood farms, farming technologies and companies that supply, service and market aquaculture products.  By the close of 2009, the fund will have made start-up and early-stage investments in seven or eight companies.  Aquacopia contributes strategic direction, operational expertise, connectivity with partners and vendors and helps in expanding management teams.  It guides technology transfer from academic institutions and has an arm that supports basic research.

Information: David Tze, Aquacopia Venture Partners, LLC, 595 Madison Avenue, 34th Floor, New York, NY 10022 USA (phone 1-212-202-0885, email info@aquacopia.com).

Source: Aquacopia.  About Us.  Site visit on April 14, 2008.

United States

South Carolina—What’s in Shrimp?  Is it safe?

In this study, sixty-two samples of warmwater marine shrimp were collected from supermarkets, fish houses and seafood distributors.  The samples included imported, domestic, farmed and wild shrimp.  Edible tissue was analyzed for fatty acid composition and for 155 chemical contaminants (21 metals, 19 pesticides, 78 PCBs, 13 PBDEs and 24 PAHs).  Individual contaminant burdens were compared to Environmental Protection Agency action levels.  An index to evaluate the cumulative effect of multiple contaminants was developed and used to estimate total potential detrimental impact of each sample.  Drawing upon several major published human epidemiological studies the relative beneficial effects of long-chained omega-3 fatty acids and the health risks posed by chemical contaminants were evaluated for each source of shrimp.

Component analysis of selected fatty acids clearly indicated similarities and differences between wild and farmed shrimp.  The separation of farmed from wild shrimp was influenced primarily by higher amounts of 18:2n-6 and 18:1n-9 fatty acids in farmed shrimp.  Natural groupings of shrimp samples, based on fatty acid profiles, were explored using Ward’s hierarchical cluster analysis.  With the exception of two samples, wild and farmed shrimp were correctly grouped regardless of species or location.  Fatty acid profiling has been used successfully to distinguish between wild and farmed populations for several fish species and with appropriately certified samples and verification may be developed as a regulatory forensic tool for shrimp.  While a few samples could be differentiated by their contaminant loads, harmful chemicals in the shrimp samples were quite low.  In general, a shrimp’s short life span and low body fat minimize the accumulation of most contaminants.  Thus, shrimp are generally one of the healthiest seafoods from this perspective.  Comparisons of the fatty acid content with the contaminant loadings in the context of human health studies indicate that the shrimp evaluated in the present study represent a nutritious and safe seafood for consumers whether obtained from wild or farmed sources.

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).

Source: World Aquaculture Society.  The CD of Aquaculture 2008 America (Orlando, Florida, USA, February 2008).  Abstract 43.  Assessing Human Health Benefits and Risks Associated with Consumption of Farmed and Wild Shrimp.  Craig L. Browdy (browdyc@dnr.sc.gov), Gloria Seaborn, Ed Wirth and John W. Lessler (South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Research Institute, 217 Fort Johnson Road, Charleston, SC 29412 USA).

United States

Washington DC—Seafood Legislation

On April 9, 2008, Representative Mike Ross (Democrat, Arkansas) introduced legislation that would increase oversight and inspections of seafood imports by requiring the USA Department of Commerce and the USA Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to work together on the inspection of seafood.  Under his proposal, the USA Department of Commerce would inspect foreign facilities that export seafood, and the USA Department of Health and Human Services would inspect the shrimp imports once they arrived in the United States.  Companion legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Senator Daniel Inouye (Democrat-Hawaii).

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Companion House bill introduced to increase oversight of seafood imports.  Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email kencoons@seafood.com).  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  April 10, 2008.

United States

Washington State—Seafood Trend Reports

As usual, shrimp was the most popular seafood imported into the USA in 2007, but import volume fell 5.6% to 555,299 tons from the record level in 2006.  The shrimp was worth $3.9 billion, a drop of 5.1%, but still represented 29% of the value of total edible seafood imports.  The average price of imported shrimp gained very slightly, up 0.6% to $3.18 a pound.

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.  April 14, 2008.

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