May/June 2010 - Global Aquaculture Alliance

Abdominal
wall
Ovarian
Follicle
Intestine
Transverse
Cross-Section
This ultrasonic image of a mature female white sturgeon
identifies the ovaries.
Gonad Comparison
A secondary aspect of this study was
to use ultrasonic imaging technology to
evaluate the gonad tissue of adult male
sturgeons and compare the images to
Abdominal
wall
Testes
Intestine
Transverse
Cross-Section
mature female sturgeons. Despite the few
adult male sturgeons scanned, the identification
of testes was unambiguous.
However, the occurrence of large fat
deposits made positive identification of
Ultrasound testing clearly identified the testes
in adult male sturgeons.
testes more difficult than confirming the
presence of mature egg masses in adult
females.
advocacy
The True Cost Of Thai Shrimp
Thailand’s conversion from black tiger production to raising healthy, fast-growing
Pacific white shrimp increased efficiencies and reduced costs.
Summary:
Large volumes of shrimp continue to be exported into the United States at
historically low prices. The reasons for this, however, are not about underpaid
labor. The evolution of shrimp farming in Asia that included the conversion
from black tiger shrimp to domesticated, disease-free white shrimp
and practices that tightened biosecurity have led to greater efficiency and
higher production that has outpaced demand.
During the months of December
2009 and January 2010, cables news outlet
CNN ran a report entitled “Slave
Labor Blamed for Falling Shrimp Prices.”
In this report, a shrimper from Louisiana,
USA, stated: “We are trying to make a
living, but because these foreign countries
are using cheap labor, slave labor – call it
whatever you want – we just can’t compete.
Our biggest foe is cheap shrimp
pouring in from Asia.”
The report ends with the shrimper asking
how Asia can produce so much shrimp
so inexpensively. His answer: “Well, it can
be done because you are not paying people
or you are barely paying them.”
The question of how shrimp can be
exported into the United States at historically
low prices is legitimate, but does
the shrimper’s explanation reflect the true
situation?
Lamae Farm
Consider the Lamae Farm, a shrimp
farm owned and operated by Charoen
Pokphand Foods (CPF) in the township
of Lamae, Chumphon province, Thailand.
This farm is neither large nor small
by Thai standards, and is neither the best
nor the worst of Thai farms. It represents
a good farm about which to tell the story
of the true cost of Thai shrimp.
In 2002, the Lamae Farm grew black
tiger prawns, as did 99% of all Thai farms
that year. The farm was composed of six
Robins McIntosh
Senior Vice President
Charoen Pokphand Foods Public Co.
C.P. Tower 27 Floor
313 Silom Road, Bangrak
Bangkok, 10500, Thailand
robmc101@yahoo.com
ponds totaling 8.5 ha of culture area. The
ponds were rectangular with earthen bottoms,
and filled and drained through a
canal system. Water for the farm was
pumped directly from the Gulf of Thailand
into a series of settling reservoirs.
Production statistics for the farm are
presented in Table 1. In 2002, the farm
produced 11 successful harvests out of 12
ponds stocked for a turn rate of 1.8
cycles/year. The cost to produce 1 kg of
60/kg shrimp was 174 baht (U.S. $4.35).
The farm was profitable because the farm
was able to sell its shrimp for 188 baht
(U.S. $4.70)/kg (Table 2).
In 2002, Lamae was a very successful
farm by Thai standards. At that time, the
annual pond failure rate in Thailand was
over 10%. Average survival and growth
rates had declined to less than 50% of
what they were in 1995. With production
trending in the wrong direction, costs
were increasing.
World production of shrimp in 2002
was estimated at 1.3 mmt, with Thailand’s
contribution of 250,000 mt produced
from a pond area of 85,000 ha. But
something was about to change in Thai
shrimp farming: the introduction of new,
more sustainable technologies.
Sustainable Technologies
The use of domesticated, disease-free
shrimp and biosecure technologies was
key to reversing the declining trend in the
Thai shrimp industry. The domesticated
Pacific white shrimp that came from the
Americas allowed the creation of selective-breeding
programs that further
developed the shrimp for more and more
efficient culture in the Asian systems and
environment.
In addition, the industry further
adopted biosecure culture technologies
for the exclusion of viruses from the pond
environment. Farms were reconfigured to
recycle water and use little if any exchange
from open sources. Settling ponds were
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