Shrimp farming is an
aquaculture business that exists in either a marine or freshwater environment, producing
shrimp or
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature' ...
s (crustaceans of the groups
Caridea
The Caridea, commonly known as caridean shrimp or true shrimp, are an infraorder of shrimp within the order Decapoda. This infraorder contains all species of true shrimp. They are found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Many ...
or
Dendrobranchiata) for human consumption.
Marine
![Shrimp pond](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Shrimp_pond.jpg)
Commercial marine shrimp farming began in the 1970s, and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Japan, and Western
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
. The total global production of farmed shrimp reached more than 2.1 million
tonne
The tonne ( or ; symbol: t) is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton ( United State ...
s in 1991, representing a value of nearly
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
9 billion. About 30% of farmed shrimp is produced in
Asia
Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
, particularly in
China and
Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
. The other 54.1% is produced mainly in
Latin America
Latin America or
* french: Amérique Latine, link=no
* ht, Amerik Latin, link=no
* pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
, where
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Ecuador
Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...
, and
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
are the largest producers. The largest exporting nation is Indonesia.
Shrimp farming has changed from traditional, small-scale businesses in
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainlan ...
into a global industry. Technological advances have led to growing shrimp at ever higher densities, and
broodstock is shipped worldwide. Virtually all farmed shrimp are of the
family
Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...
Penaeidae
Penaeidae is a family of marine crustaceans in the suborder Dendrobranchiata, which are often referred to as penaeid shrimp or penaeid prawns. The Penaeidae contain many species of economic importance, such as the tiger prawn, whiteleg shrimp, ...
, and just two species – ''
Litopenaeus vannamei
Whiteleg shrimp (''Litopenaeus vannamei'', synonym ''Penaeus vannamei''), also known as Pacific white shrimp or King prawn, is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.
Description
''L. vannamei'' grow ...
'' (Pacific white shrimp) 70% and ''
Penaeus monodon
''Penaeus monodon'', commonly known as the giant tiger prawn, Asian tiger shrimp, black tiger shrimp, and other names, is a marine crustacean that is widely reared for food.
Taxonomy
''Penaeus monodon'' was first described by Johan Christian ...
'' (giant tiger prawn) 20% – account for roughly 90% of all farmed shrimp.
These industrial
monoculture
In agriculture, monoculture is the practice of growing one crop species in a field at a time. Monoculture is widely used in intensive farming and in organic farming: both a 1,000-hectare/acre cornfield and a 10-ha/acre field of organic kale are ...
s used to be very susceptible to diseases, which caused several regional wipe-outs of farm shrimp populations in past decades. Increasing ecological problems, repeated disease outbreaks, and pressure and criticism from
NGOs
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in ...
, consumer countries and even producers themselves, led to changes in the industry in the late 1990s and generally stronger regulation by governments.
In 1999, a program aimed at developing and promoting more
sustainable farming practices was initiated, including governmental bodies, industry representatives, and environmental organizations.
Freshwater
![Construction of Freshwater Shrimp Farm, Pekalongan](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Construction_of_Freshwater_Shrimp_Farm%2C_Pekalongan.jpg)
Freshwater prawn farming shares many characteristics with, and many of the same problems as,
marine shrimp farming
Marine shrimp farming is an aquaculture business for the cultivation of marine shrimp or prawns for human consumption. Although traditional shrimp farming has been carried out in Asia for centuries, large-scale commercial shrimp farming began ...
. Unique problems are introduced by the developmental lifecycle of the main species (the giant river prawn, ''
Macrobrachium rosenbergii
''Macrobrachium rosenbergii'', also known as the giant river prawn or giant freshwater prawn, is a commercially important species of palaemonid freshwater prawn. It is found throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the Indo-Pacific reg ...
'').
[New, M. B.: ]
Farming Freshwater Prawns
'; FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 428, 2002. ISSN 0429-9345. The global annual production of freshwater prawns in 2010 was about 670,000 tons, of which China produced 615,000 tons (92%).
[Data extracted from th]
FAO Fisheries Global Aquaculture Production Database
for freshwater crustaceans. , the most recent data sets are for 2010 and sometimes contain estimates. Accessed October 21, 2012.
Animal welfare
Eyestalk ablation
Eyestalk ablation is the removal of one (unilateral) or both (bilateral) eyestalks from a crustacean. It is routinely practiced on female shrimps (or female prawns) in almost every marine shrimp maturation or reproduction facility in the world, ...
is the removal of one (unilateral) or both (bilateral)
eyestalk
In anatomy, an eyestalk (sometimes spelled eye stalk and also known as an ommatophore) is a protrusion that extends an eye away from the body, giving the eye a better field of view. It is a common feature in nature and frequently appears in fic ...
s from a
crustacean
Crustaceans (Crustacea, ) form a large, diverse arthropod taxon which includes such animals as decapods, seed shrimp, branchiopods, fish lice, krill, remipedes, isopods, barnacles, copepods, amphipods and mantis shrimp. The crustacean group can ...
. In a context of shrimp domestication, ablated females produce more eggs and for a longer time period than non ablated.
It was routinely practiced on female shrimps (or prawns) in almost every marine shrimp maturation or reproduction facility in the world, both research and
commercial
Commercial may refer to:
* a dose of advertising conveyed through media (such as - for example - radio or television)
** Radio advertisement
** Television advertisement
* (adjective for:) commerce, a system of voluntary exchange of products and s ...
. The aim of ablation under these circumstances was to stimulate the female shrimp to develop mature
ovaries
The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. T ...
and
spawn
Spawn or spawning may refer to:
* Spawn (biology), the eggs and sperm of aquatic animals
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Spawn (character), a fictional character in the comic series of the same name and in the associated franchise
** '' Spawn: ...
.
Initial captive conditions for shrimp caused inhibitions in females that prevented them from developing mature ovaries. Domestication removed these inhibitions. Even in conditions where a given species will develop ovaries and spawn in captivity, use of eyestalk ablation was considered to increase total egg production and increased the percentage of females in a given population that participate in reproduction. Once females have been subjected to eyestalk ablation, complete ovarian development often ensues within as little as 3 to 10 days.
See also
*
Exploitation and conservation of mangroves
*
Pain in invertebrates
Pain in invertebrates is a contentious issue. Although there are numerous definitions of pain, almost all involve two key components. First, nociception is required. This is the ability to detect noxious stimuli which evokes a reflex response ...
*
Integrated mangrove-shrimp aquaculture Integrated mangrove-shrimp (IMS) aquaculture is a sustainable farming system used as one of the measures for mangrove rehabilitation and can be described as a method of organic aquaculture. Silvoaquaculture or silvofisheries are also terms used to ...
: creates less destruction of mangroves in mangrove-areas, subjected to tidal flow reducing disease
*
Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture: can be used to reduce diseases compared to when closed-ponds systems are used
Footnotes
References
{{Authority control
Aquaculture
Decapods