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The government is going to allow commercial cultivation of non-native vannamei species of shrimp, also known as whiteleg shrimp, as experimental farming in three farms in the southern coastal region showed severalfold higher yields compared to that of locally farmed black tiger shrimp.
The development comes as a technical panel, formed by the Department of Fisheries (DoF) earlier to assess the feasibility of the whiteleg shrimp culture in Bangladesh, suggested taking necessary steps to grow the shrimp commercially to catch up with the export market.
The DoF is going to place the recommendation before the fisheries and livestock ministry for final approval, said DoF Director General Kh Mahbubul Haque.
“We expect the ministry to give a decision this month. If so, it will be possible to start commercial cultivation of vannamei in the coming farming season, starting from March,” he said.
Frozen food exporters who had been pursuing the government to allow cultivation of the non-native shrimp in the face of falling export earnings for over a decade cheered the decision.
Photo: Star/file
“It is a historical achievement. This is going to bring a revolutionary change in shrimp production and brighten prospects in frozen foods sector,” said Md Amin Ullah, president of Bangladesh Frozen Foods Exporters Association.
He said a majority of shrimp processing plants were going through a downturn as they could not utilise their full capacity because of a dearth of their raw material.
Today, around 35 plants are operational while the rest of our 105 members are going through a downturn, he said.
“Production of shrimp will increase for cultivation vannemei and we will get enough raw materials,” he said.
The DoF, which had been unwilling to grant permission for cultivation of the non-native shrimp fearing negative impact on biodiversity and environment, started giving permission for experimental culture of the whiteleg shrimp since 2019.
Initially it allowed Shushilan, a nongovernmental organisation, to pilot the first culture of whiteleg shrimp in the southwestern division of Khulna, a major farming region for export-oriented shrimp.
Later, it granted permission to MU Seafood, Jashore and Grotec Aquaculture, Paikgacha in the southwestern division.
In the third phase, it allowed eight firms to conduct experimental culture of vannamei.
Of the firms, Shushilan, MU Seafood and Niribili Fisheries farmed the vannamei between 2021 and 2022, and yields of the shrimp in these farms stood between 8.33 tonnes and 12.34 tonnes per hectare, according to the minutes of a meeting of the technical committee held last week.
Per hectare yield of locally farmed black tiger shrimp is nearly half a tonne, according to the sector’s people.
“The results that we have got are positive,” said DoF DG Haque.
Introduced in the US in the 1970s, commercial cultivation of whiteleg shrimp started to expand in the 1980s, reaching many Asian countries such as China, Thailand, Indonesia and India over time.
As such, production of the shrimp soared, making a huge stride in the global market.
The vannamei put locally grown black tiger shrimp out of competition as though it is smaller in size, it is cheaper, affecting export earnings of Bangladesh.
Export receipts from shrimp, which stood at $545 million in fiscal year 2013-14, had been on a downward trend since then before it rebounded in fiscal year 2021-22.
In the first half of the current fiscal year of 2022-23, shrimp exports slumped 32 per cent year-on-year to $183 million, weakened by a drop in demand in the western markets, according to Export Promotion Bureau data.
The association president, Amin Ulllah, said export earnings would double in five years due to commercial cultivation of vannamei.
DoF Chief Haque said India was growing the whiteleg shrimps for the past couple of years and it has not faced any negative effect on biodiversity there. So, the species will not sustain and breed even if it enters water bodies.
He said they would give permission to farm vannamei in enclosed environments and impose conditions that water can be discharged in open water bodies only after proper treatment. “We will give permission case by case,” he said.
Md Monirul Islam, professor & chairman of the department of fisheries at the University of Dhaka, said the shrimp would be grown through the use of feed.
So, there will be waste and there are environmental risks if the waste are not managed properly, he warned.
He suggested that the whiteleg shrimp be allowed to be farmed through zoning so that it cannot spread sporadically initially. The government also should prepare a manual for culture of the non-native species, he added.
(TDS)
