February 21, 2007

 

Hawaii succeeds in breeding bigger, stronger penaeid shrimp

 

 

Hawaii's Oceanic Institute at Makapuu in Hawaii said they have managed to breed a bigger sized and more disease resistant version of the highly popular penaeid family of shrimp.

 

The penaeid shrimp industry is worth US$9.7 billion worldwide, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

 

As wild catches decline, shrimp researchers are hoping selective breeding would create the sort of species that revolutionized the chicken and cattle industry.

 

The institute produces 120,000 Pacific white shrimp a year by raising 500 shrimp from each of 240 genetically distinct families, said programme director Shaun Moss.

 

By implanting a tag in each shrimp, researchers are able to differentiate the different families of shrimp.

 

This family-based selective breeding programme has increased shrimp weight by 8.3 percent per generation over three generations. Survival rates have also improved by 7.9 percent per generation.

 

The findings were presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science at a three-hour symposium on technological advances toward sustainable fisheries.

 

In recent years, due to greater disease resistance, white shrimps have surpassed giant tiger prawns as the most commonly cultured shrimp species in the world.

 

From 2000 to 2004, farming of white shrimp grew more than eight-fold while the farmed tiger prawn crop only increased 14 percent, Moss said, adding that research from Hawaii has played quite a significant role in the shift.

 

However, shrimp breeding programmes would still need to be managed carefully to avoid inbreeding, he cautioned.

 

The Oceanic Institute, a nonprofit organization affiliated with Hawaii Pacific University, specializes in marine aquaculture, coastal resource management and biotechnology. It offers surplus virus-resistant white shrimp to various farms around Hawaii, Florida and Guam.