March 14, 2016

Philippine province's shrimp farms hit by EMS

The dreaded early mortality syndrome (EMS) has hit a major shrimp-producing province in the Philippines, Negros Occidental, the state-owned Philippine News Agency (PNA) reported.

Raoul Flores, vice chairman of Negros Prawn Producers, said the emergence of the EMS was aggravated by the hot weather caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon.

Flores added that as preventive measure, the province's shrimp and prawn producers have used various equipment in checking and monitoring the disease in around 1,000 hectares of production areas.

The PNA report did not elaborate on the extent of the EMS outbreak.

Producers were also advised to maintain ideal temperature and water salinity level in their ponds.

Negros Occidental accounts for 30% of the Philippines' total annual prawn production, next only to Central Luzon, with 40%.

It produces mostly vannamei, or whiteleg, shrimp (about 95%) and the rest tiger prawn (5%).

"Vannamei or whiteleg shrimp, a more resistant and easier-to-raise kind of shrimp, wiped out and replaced prawns in the pond," Flores pointed out, adding the province had no more prawn hatcheries left.

The Philippines had heretofore prided itself as disease-free in comparison with other shrimp-producing countries in the Southeast Asian region, which have been hit for years by EMS.

The value of Philippine shrimp production has remained flat at US$50 million (P2.35 billion), according to Philippine Shrimp Congress president Roberto Gatuslao.