Sweeping Changes in Import Regulations

In the May 2008 issue of Fish Farming International, Charles Woodhouse, the tabloid’s shrimp farming columnist who’s also an attorney, a former shrimp farmer and a long-term participant in the seafood and shrimp industries, discussed sweeping changes that are coming in USA import regulations.

Woodhouse Said

A mark-up of the USA House of Representatives’ comprehensive food safety legislation was passed in late April 2008.  This bill (HR-3610), drafted by Congressman John Dingell’s House Energy and Commerce Committee, focuses on strengthening Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations on food imports.  It contains sweeping changes that will affect all participants in the worldwide shrimp farming industry!  If you produce, process or distribute shrimp products, then you need to understand that this legislation will have a profound impact on your business.  Any talk about “We’ll only sell to Europe” is a fantasy.  In short, something quite close to HR-3610 will be enacted by Congress in 2008 and the President will sign it.  With all 435 Representatives and one-third of the Senate up for reelection in November 2008, no member of Congress will vote against cracking down on foreign food suppliers.

Key Provisions of the Bill

• Civil penalties for violations would be increased to a maximum of $100,000 per violation per day for individuals and $500,000 for corporations.

• FDA would be given authority to issue mandatory recalls when violations occur and to order the condemnation of imported products.  The response period to a condemnation order would be 48 hours (Section 104).

• USA retailers are unlikely to accept these new import risks, so they would fall on the importer of record, meaning that the cost of financing first receiver sales would be shared by the exporters and importers.

• Needless to say, there will be major increases in product liability and recall insurance costs.

• Section 101 requires all companies exporting to the USA to register annually with the FDA and pay an annual registration fee of $2,000 per facility.  Additionally, there would be a $10,000 annual fee for importers (Section 401).

• Additional fees would be imposed on facilities if a violation is committed that requires reinspection by the FDA.  Each facility and importer would be given an FDA identification number.  Do not confuse this additional requirement with the BioTerrorism Registration Number already required.

• After a phase-in period, food from facilities that are not certified could only be shipped through the limited number of USA ports that have local FDA laboratories, thus eliminating “port-shopping” by importers.

• All certified facilities would be subject to unannounced inspections by FDA employees every four years.  Noncertified facilities would be inspected every two years and be subject to extensive additional testing requirements at FDA certified laboratories.

• Producers would be required to identify on their websites the countries of origin for all ingredients (Section 131), with this information readily accessible to consumers on packages as well.

• Use of carbon monoxide would subject all producers to the requirement that their packages must prominently display the following text: “CONSUMER NOTICE: Carbon monoxide has been used to preserve the color of this product.  Do not rely on color or the use or freeze by date alone to judge the freshness of the product.”

• FDA would be empowered to accredit third-party laboratories to perform testing to ensure that HACCP process controls are working and that processing standards are being measured and observed (Section 107).  Accredited labs will be required to send all test results to the FDA.  This will put an end to the practice of “analysis shopping” by importers and the submission of only favorable results to FDA.

• As is presently required, all facilities would be required to have HACCP plans in place to identify and control hazards.  These plans would be part of the basis of review during the mandatory inspections by FDA personnel (Section 102).

• On the positive side, within two years FDA would implement a program to “Fast Track” imports from certified facilities that have pledged to follow FDA food safety and security guidelines.

Woodhouse added: This legislation would greatly change the landscape of the certification movement.  Obviously, the FDA is unlikely to give accreditation to environmental activists groups to inspect food processing plants.  Only certification agencies that focus on food safety will be relevant to this process as accredited food safety certifiers.

Source: Fish Farming International.  Editor, Kenny McCaffrey (kenny.mccaffrey@informa.com).  Sweeping changes in US import regulations.  Charles Woodhouse (email cfwoodhouse@woodhouselaw.com, webpage http://www.lawyers.com/seafoodlaw).  Volume 35, Number 5, Page 8, May 2008.

Country Reports

Australia

Sensors That Measure Feed Consumption

Researchers at CSIRO’s (Commonwealth Scientific & Industrial Research Organization) Marine and Atmospheric Research Center in the state of Tasmania are developing automated submersible sensors that measure the feed consumption of shrimp.  Currently, the shrimp farming industry uses a variety of methods for measuring feed consumption, all of them manual, labor intensive and very expensive.

While still under development and with many problems to be overcome, the current system consists of a digital camera that records images of a lighted feed tray.  The images are processed by computer.  Advanced algorithms are being developed that will extract information from the images, like the amount of feed consumed and the size of the shrimp.  In the next stage of the project, the system will be tested at a working shrimp farm.

Information: Lyle Borlase, Business Development and Commercialisation, CSIRO ICT, Castray Esplanade, Hobart TAS 7001, Australia (phone 61-3-6232-5552, fax 1300-363-400, email lyle.borlase@csiro.au).

Source: CSIRO’s webpage.  Improving prawn feeding efficiency.  Site visit on May 28, 2008.

Australia

Wants Software That Tracks Biomass

Aquabait is seeking easy-to-use farm management software with a graphic interface that would help with day-to-day operations and record keeping.  Ideally, it would include a formula for growth rates and generate daily feeding charts.  Most of the software that we’ve looked at focuses on the number of animals in a pond.  Since we harvest marine worms by the kilogram, we’re much more interested in biomass than the number of animals.  Does any one know of a software product that might help us?

Information: Ladislav Safarik, Aquabait, Pty., Ltd.,  P.O. Box 5107, Dora Creek, NSW 2264 Australia (phone 61-2-4973-5505, fax  61-2- 4973-5515, email ladislavs@bigpond.com, web page http://www.aquabait.com.au).

Source: Emails to Shrimp News International from Ladislav Safarik on May 27, 2008.

Bangladesh

Hatchery Problems

Shrimp hatcheries around the city of Chittagong are asking for a tax holiday until 2015 because of a variety of problems, including higher feed costs, higher costs for raw materials, frequent power failures, a shortage of trained technicians and rising production costs.  Of the country’s 58 hatcheries, 53 are around Chittagong.  Without the tax break, the hatcheries may not be able to stay in business.

Source: Fish Farming International (http://www.fishfarminginternational.com).  Editor, Kenny McCaffrey (kenny.mccaffrey@informa.com).  Bangladesh shrimp hatcheries trouble.  Volume 35, Number 5, Page 9, May 2008.

Belize

Storms Flood Shrimp Farming Industry

From June 1-5, 2008, tropical storms Alma and Arthur produced severe flooding, washed out bridges and roads and killed at least nine people.  Ten to fifteen inches of rain fell on some parts of the country.  Shrimp farms in the southern half of the country have been reported to be “under water”, and because of the flooding and destruction of bridges, some farms may not be able to get their shrimp to processing plants and shipping terminals.  [Email updates to bob@shrimpnews.com.]

Source: 1. Huntington News.  Belize Diary: 2 Tropical Storms Depart Belize, Leaving Millions of Dollars Damage, 7 Dead, Many People Evacuated, Especially in Stann Creek District.  David M. Kinchen.  June 4, 2008.  2. Alalam.ir.  Storms Kill 9 in Central America.  June 4, 2008.

India

Vannamei Versus Monodon

The shrimp farming industry, heavily dependent on the giant tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon), is facing a major crisis because of the shift in global demand to the western white shrimp (P. vannamei), which has lower production costs and greater meat yields than the tiger shrimp.  The production of tigers, along with farmer income, has dropped substantially in the last three years.

The Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture and the National Fisheries Development Board are expected to support the import of vannamei broodstock from the USA, and both groups are expected to encourage and educate farmers on the production of vannamei, according to L. Satyanarayana, president of the All India Shrimp Hatchery Association (AISHA).

On May 26, 2008, addressing a press conference, Mr. Satyanarayana said that the demand for monodon in the USA, Japanese and Southeast Asian markets has declined substantially.  He said buyers are no longer interested in monodon.  But, he said, farmers don’t need to completely abandon monodon because there will still be a market for it in the future.

Y. Ravi Kumar, AISHA secretary, said the conversion to vannamei farming could be done easily and at a small cost.  Farmers don’t need to make major changes in their aquaculture methods.  He said the government and the farmers should rise to the occasion and save the industry by making the change, otherwise the Indian shrimp industry might collapse.

Information: Ravi Kumar Yellanki, Secretary, All India Shrimp Hatchery Association, C/O Vaisakhi Bio-Resources (p) Ltd., D. No. 49-38-15/3, NGGO’s Colony, Akkayyapalem, Visakhapatnam - 530016, India (phone 0091-98481-95821, fax 0891-251-7800, email yellra@rediffmail.com).

Source: The Hindu.  Shrimp Industry Facing Crisis.  May 27, 2008.

Indonesia

CP Prima’s Production Soars, Up 77%

Jakarta...PT Central Proteinaprima (CP Prima), the largest shrimp farm in the world, said its production of frozen shrimp rose 77 percent to 36,221 metric tons in 2007, up from 20,446 tons in 2006.

Gunawan Taslim, CP Prima’s finance director, said PT Aruna Wijaya Sakti, a shrimp farm that it acquired in early 2007, contributed to the surge in production.  An increase in the selling price of shrimp in export markets also encouraged more production.

The company’s sales (including feeds) were $266 million in 2007, up 19.87 percent from $215 million in 2006.  Net profit rose 83.8 percent to $38.5 million.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  CP Prima boosts shrimp production by 77 percent.  Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email kencoons@seafood.com).  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  May 27, 2008.

Japan

Shrimp Prices Dropping

While seafood and agriculture commodity prices, like grain and rice, increase—only shrimp prices are falling, says a major wholesaler at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Market, best known as one of the world’s largest fish markets, handling over 2,000 tons of marine products per day.  Industry observers blame the price drop on the volatile economic situation in the United States, a major shrimp importer.  Unlike agriculture commodities, which are propped up by expanding world population, expensive foods, like shrimp, are more sensitive to economic downturns.

Nippon Suisan Kaisha, Ltd., a commercial fishing and marine product procurement operation that had revenues of $4.7 billion in 2004, owns Gorton’s Seafood, a USA frozen seafood company.  An official of Nippon Suisan Kaisha said the major reason for the low price of shrimp was the slowdown in personal consumption in the USA, where spending for expensive seafood and eating-out have been slashed in the wake of the sharp fall in housing prices, soaring fuel prices and increasing prices for the major foodstuffs.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Falling shrimp prices in the world may reflect the volatility of the U.S. economy.  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  May 21, 2008.

Mexico

Shrimp Farming in Sinaloa

On April 3, 2008, at the World Wildlife Fund’s Shrimp Dialogue Meeting in Belize City, Belize, I interviewed Sergio Escutia and Carlos Urías, shrimp farmers from the state of Sinaloa in Mexico.

Topics Covered:

• The Aquatic Health Committees in Mexico

• The Confederation of Aquaculture Organizations in Sinaloa

• Shrimp Farming Strategies in Sinaloa

• Postlarvae Production in Sinaloa

• Mexico’s Imports of Shrimp from Central America

• Farmed Shrimp Production in Mexico

• The World Wildlife Fund’s Shrimp Dialogue Meeting in Belize

• Environmental Groups and NGOs in Mexico

Click here to read the full interview.

Source: Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International, June 6, 2008.

Norway

Job—Would be Great to Get a Crustee

The Bergen Museum has a four-year position open for a Ph.D. taxonomist (species classification).  Kenneth Meland at the University of Bergen says, “Would be great to get a crustee up at that museum.”  Salary: $65,000 a year.  Deadline: June 15, 2008.

Source: The Crust-L, an email-based mailing list for crustacean scientists (To subscribe, send an email to LISTPROC@VIMS.EDU.  In the body of the email, put SUBSCRIBE CRUST-L).  Subject: PhD fellowship in Norway.  From: Kenneth Meland (kenneth.meland@bio.uib.no).  May 23, 2008.

Taiwan

WAS Trade Show in Korea

At the World Aquaculture Society Meeting in South Korea (May 19-23, 2008), several companies from Taiwan offered products to shrimp farmers:

Hanaqua Tech, Inc., offered consultancy services through its Taiwan Aquaculture Corp affiliate, which also provides turnkey aquaculture feed mills, technical services and aquatic feeds, including shrimp feeds.  Information: Peter Chiang, Hanaqua Tech, Inc., 14F No. 109 Min-Cheng 2nd Road, Tso-Ying District, Kaohsiung City, Taiwan 813 (phone 886-7-557-0119, fax 886-7-557-7292, email peter@hanaqua.com, webpage http://www.hanaqua.com).

Hai-Yu Enterprise Co., Ltd., offered hatchery and growout feeds for shrimp.  Its newest product: organic feeds for shrimp hatcheries.  Information: Jeffrey Liu and Jackie Cheng, Hai-Yu Enterprise, Co., Ltd., 2 Ln 288 Min-Chu 1st. Road, Kaohsiung, Taiwan (phone 886-7-386-9027, fax 886-7-386-8875, email haiyultd@yahoo.com.tw).

Taiwan Hung Kuo Industrial Company, an aqua feed company established in 1984, offered “Lucky Star” Penaeus monodon and P. japonicus feeds.  In 2005, it introduced encapsulated larval diets for shrimp.  Information Ken Hung and Jack Hung, Taiwan Hung Kuo Industrial, Co., Ltd., No.7 Te Hsing 7th Road, Su-Ao, I-Lan, Taiwan (phone 886-3-9902-211, fax 886-3-9902-216, email ken@luckystarleed.net, webpage http://www.luckystaraquafeed.com).

GeneReach Biotechnology Corporation: GeneReach Biotechnology Corp introduced “i-screen”, a new virus detection kit that greatly simplifies the testing for shrimp viruses like whitespot and Taura.  Information: Simon Chung, GeneReach Biotechnology Corporation, No. 19 Keyuan Second Road, Central Taiwan Science Park, Taichung, Taiwan 407 (phone 886-4-2463-9869, fax 886-4-2463-8255, email sales@i-screen.com.tw, webpage http://www.i-screen.com.tw/en_index.html).

Source: Fish Farming International.  Editor, Kenny McCaffrey (kenny.mccaffrey@informa.com).  Huge Taiwanese presence at show.  Volume 35, Number 5, Page 18, May 2008.

United Arab Emirates

Water Temperature and Salinity

This exchange took place on the Shrimp List:

Webtrade77 (wetrade77@yahoo.com): Does anybody know the water temperature and salinity at the southern end of the Persian Gulf, along the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

M. Chandrasekar (hilsaqua@yahoo.co.in): The average water temperature in that part of the Persian Gulf is 28 to 30 degrees Celsius in the summer and 22 to 25 degrees Celsius in the winter.  The salinity is 38 parts per thousand.  Pond recordings will be higher for both parameters.

Source: The Shrimp List (a mailing list for shrimp farmers).  Subject: Question: water temp Persian Gulf+prices.  May 21, 2008.

United States

Hawaii—Kona Bay Marine Resources

Kona Bay Marine Resources, Inc., a leading supplier of disease-free shrimp broodstock, is getting into shrimp farming at the former Ceatech USA shrimp farm on the island of Kauai.  The new farm, named Kauai Shrimp, will stock 40 one-acre shrimp ponds and eight half-acre nursery ponds on 130 acres of state-owned land adjacent to the Barking Sands military base.  It has a lease agreement with the state for an additional 430 acres.

Kauai Shrimp is the only shrimp farm in the world to run on fully renewable hydroelectric power.  The company has access to hydroelectric power plants installed by sugar plantation owners in the early 1900s, and it gets super-clean water from four, 550-foot-deep saltwater wells powered by hydroelectric power.

Brian Goldstein, chief executive officer of Kona Bay Marine Resources, said, “We are the only shrimp company in North America that is fully integrated, from a nucleus breeding program to broodstock production, a commercial-scale hatchery, shrimp farm and shrimp processing.”  The company already has a deal with “a major USA grocery store chain” for national distribution of its white shrimp.  “We’re taking a measured start, so we’re going to have a small amount of product available in 2008,” he said.  “We aren’t making a big marketing push this year; we are just testing, evaluating our production and the market response.  You’ll see a bigger production and a marketing push in 2009.”

Goldstein said tests so far have been positive, adding: “It looks like we will be able to grow shrimp profitably here in Hawaii, which is not a low-cost production area.  ...There’s no question we’ll sell everything we can produce.  The question is determining the best production protocols and production densities.  We’re testing higher production densities now, but I am not prepared to say what the farm can produce.”

Goldstein said the farm will provide up to 40 jobs initially with the potential for many more as operations ramp up.

Kauai Shrimp will market its product as a premium white shrimp, and Goldstein expects a big consumer response because the company can trace every shrimp it produces, from broodstock to seedstock through growout and processing.  Even its feed is fully traceable and comes from USA feed manufacturers.

Kona Bay will continue to produce broodstock for its farm and for sale to other farms.  Goldstein said the broodstock business remains strong.

Information: Brian Goldstein, CEO, Kona Bay Marine Resources, 3465 Waialae Avenue, Suite 240, Honolulu, HI 96816 USA (phone 877-526-2746, fax 808-356-0203, email brian@konabaymarine.com, webpage http://www.konabaymarine.com/contactus.html).

Source: The Wave (an online, subscription-based news service published by IntraFish Media, Norway).  Editorial Director, John Fiorillo (phone 206-282-3474, extension 25, cell 206-963-5732, fax 206-282-3470, email john.fiorillo@intrafish.com).  Worlds first hydropower shrimp farm in Hawaii.  February 15, 2008.

United States

Wisconsin—Electronic Device Removes Ammonia

Researchers in Wisconsin have developed an electronic device that can convert aqueous ammonia into nitrogen gas.  The device looks a lot like an ultraviolet sterilizer and utilizes a process called “photoelectrocatalytic oxidation” (PECO) to mediate the reaction.  The researchers’ overall objective is to develop a PECO device that will replace biofilters in recirculating aquaculture systems.  They tested one of their devices in a flow-through system and found that anode chemistry, applied potential and salt concentration were the key variables mediating the catalytic efficiency of the reaction.  The initial ammonia concentration (0.1, 1.0 or 10.0 ppm ammonia-N) and pH (5-10) had little or no effect on the rate of ammonia removal from water.  Nitrogen mass balance analysis indicated that 85-100% of the ammonia was converted into nitrogen gas.  The remainder was primarily converted into nitrate, although low levels of nitrite and chloramines were sometimes detected.  The ammonia removal rate from the flow-through system was approximately 0.3 mg ammonia-N per hour.

Source: World Aquaculture Society.  The CD of Aquaculture 2008 America (Orlando, Florida, USA, February 2008).  Abstract 24.  A Device That Converts Aqueous Ammonia into Nitrogen Gas.  Terence Barry (tpbarry@wisc.edu), Dean Tompkins, Walter Zeltner, Ramsey Kropp, Timothy Barry, Greg Pepping and Marc Anderson (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Animal Sciences, 1675 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706 USA).

Vietnam

Shrimp Farmer Makes Fortune with “Green-Clawed Shrimp”

In Tram Chim Town, Tam Nong District, in southern Dong Thap Province, shrimp farmer Kieu Van Hinh is raking in the cash.  He attributes his success to farming the green-clawed shrimp.

[Editorial Note: This might be the green tiger shrimp, Penaeus semisulcatus, a native from the tip of South Africa to southern Japan and everywhere in between, including the north coast of Australia.  If anyone knows the correct species name for the green-clawed shrimp, please forward it to bob@shrimpnews.com, and I’ll post it to this page.]

In 2004, after years of farming rice, Kieu Van Hinh (60) heard about farmers in neighboring An Giang Province reaping big profits from farming the green-clawed shrimp.  He decided to take a trip across the provincial border and see what all the fuss was about.  He got a job with a green-claw farmer and spent a year learning the ropes.  When he returned home, he set up his own six-hectare farm, shrugging off concerns that such a big farm was quite a risk because he’d never done it before.  “I knew what was at stake,” he says.  “I risked losing my entire savings, $5,000, and if I failed my family would be out on the street.”  But despite the worries of family and friends, he persevered.  “The promise of what I’d make if my plan was successful far outweighed the risks involved.  Of course I was worried, but I had to hide it from my family,” he said.

He got his seedstock from the local aquatic products bureau and then worked around the clock to make his first harvest a success.  It was worth the hard work.  Six months later, he harvested 9,500 kilos of shrimp worth $5.43 a kilo, grossing $51,585 and netting $28,000.  “That was triple the amount I made from growing rice.  I never dreamed of making that amount of money in the past,” he said.

As news of his success spread, more people wanted to know how he did it.  “I knew I couldn’t have gotten to where I am without the help of the people around me, so I didn’t keep any secrets from them,” he said.  In 2005, 32 local farmers set up the Phu Long Cooperative and started raising the green-clawed shrimp in 160- hectares of ponds.  Managers of the cooperative are in charge of choosing seedstock, feeds and production strategies, while the members work on their own ponds and the 3.5 hectares of ponds owned by the cooperative, which help pay the cooperative’s bills.

“It’s better if we work together because as a cooperative we buy big volumes of products at one time, so we are offered good prices, ten percent cheaper than if families buy on their own,” he said.  “Moreover, our products are protected by an official trademark.  ‘Tram Chim Green-Clawed Shrimp’ are registered with the Dong Thap Province’s Science and Technology Department and well known all over the nation.”

The shrimp have been such a big hit because they are easy to feed and because they are new to the area and therefore they are not vulnerable to disease.  That means farmers do not need a lot of antibiotics, which in turn lessens the effect on the environment.

In 2006, Kieu Van Hinh doubled his ponded area with a capital investment of $18,700.  Four months later, he harvested 19,000 kilos of shrimp.  In 2007, he made a profit of $68,750, nearly ten times the amount he would have made from growing rice.  He said, “It’s a pity we can only raise shrimps in the wet season from September to January.  In the other months, we have to grow rice.”  In 2008, he plans to increase his shrimp farm to 17 hectares and the cooperative hopes to increase to 1,000 hectares.  “We have already expanded our market abroad.  Companies from Japan and the USA have registered our trademark as safe and imported 600 tons of Tram Chim shrimp,” he says.

Source: Vietnam News Agency.  Farmer nets fortune in shrimpy endeavour.  May 25, 2008.

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