El Nino delays Philippine 2010 shrimp season

The latest dry spell caused by El Nino in Negros Occidental has delayed the stocking of shrimp fries for this year and been sanitising ponds with heat.

At a meeting, Roberto Gatuslao, president of PhilShrimp and chairman of the Negros Shrimp Producers marketing cooperative, announced that shrimp harvesting would be delayed from August-September to October-December this year due to the climatic phenomenon. Regarding pond sanitisation, the heat kills bacteria in the shrimp and shrimp ponds, he explained.

Shrimp growers are not stocking their ponds with fries now as they normally would due to the current extreme heat. Pond stocking will probably take place in May instead, Gatuslao said.

Additionally, due to the limited supply of shrimps this year, he said, 30-grammers are now selling at PHP360 (US$7.86) a kg up from PHP260 (US$5.68) last year. Still, he noted that the delay should not cause a drop in shrimp and shrimp production for 2010.