A "PERFECT STORM"

It has been a week of filled with several distressing news stories from around the world concerning shrimp farming, diseases, and the economic impact for global consumers.  That said, this is just more good news for our company as we move to expand production. Articles continuing to report news like the following will impact pricing on all sizes of shrimp.

 At the European Seafood Expo (April 23-25, 2013), Cui He, vice Executive President of CAPMA, the Chinese Aquaculture Producers Marketing Association, said that early mortality syndrome (EMS) was a continuing problem in Southern China and that China expected to import more shrimp from India, Indonesia and Ecuador.  He indicated that the imports would probably increase world shrimp prices. 

                   Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).   

                     The article below also appeared this week.

April 23, 2013

Europe: 50% of Shrimp Imported from Southeast Asia Is Short-Weighted

 According to a recent investigation by Belgafood, the association of Belgian food importers 50 percent of the frozen shrimp imported into Belgium, France, Germany and the Netherlands from Southeast Asia is short-weighted because of over-glazing. Out of 240 samples, 120 of them weighed from 3-28 percent less than what was indicated on the label. “It’s a very widespread problem,” said Olivier Hottlet, president of Belgafood.  “What we did was to remove the glazing from the product, weigh it and compare it with its label.” The use of protective glazing for frozen seafood products is a common practice to prevent dehydration and to deliver a quality product.  The practice of glazing is perfectly legal as long as glazing levels and product content are labeled correctly on the pack.  But, since water is cheaper than shrimp, some companies are tempted to over-glaze.  Customers wind up paying for ice. 

Hottlet said the study results are known to the European Commission, and it is “very interested”, but doesn’t intend to take any action.  If, however, individual member states did start investigating, he said, the EC is “ready to coordinate and broaden...the investigation at the European Union (EU) level.” 

Hottlet suspects fraud on a similar scale in southern European countries such as Italy, Greece and Spain, which import most of their shrimp from South American producers.

(Source: Boletin Informativo (Cámara Nacional de Acuacultura, Ecuador’s National Aquaculture Association).  Editor, Jorge Tejada (jtejada@cna-ecuador.com).  Illegal shrimp Overglazing “Widespread” in Central Europe.  April 16 2013).

For those of us who for the past decade have been screaming about this and other atrocious practices common throughout the aquaculture industry, this is too funny (Not "ha ha" funny, incredulous funny).

People in the aquaculture industry think this is news.

Go figure !!!!! 

We have been saying this for years and falsified weights are not limited to "glazed" shrimp.

The liberal use of additives, preservatives, and other forms of breading and even coconut breading all mask the weight of the actual shrimp by 10-25%. This has been a common practice in the industry in many countries for years. 

Articles like the two above are just examples of a myriad of related issues that underscore why we have spent over a decade developing our production system and our technology.

The growing awareness of these and other issues plaguing the traditional production of farmed seafood combined with a growing awareness of the damage we are doing by “over fishing” the oceans may also explain why suddenly in just the past year there is so much interest in our technology and production system. 

Weight fraud is just the tip of the iceberg of deeper underlying problems and these are not confined to the shrimp industry.

In addition to the liberal use of additives, preservatives, and other forms of breading and even coconut breading to increase actual weights, other common world wide practices include the overuse of carcinogenic compounds to retard degradation and mask spoilage, knowingly using contaminated feeds containing banned substances banned or human use, the widespread use of poultry offal as feed both as supplemental and very cheap protein sources and as a primary feed, the use of human waste and the list goes on.

This does include the enormous harm traditional aquaculture does to the environment by returning untreated raw waste water to the oceans and the destruction of mangroves which are essential to marine nursery systems as well as the “siltation” of pristine coast lines and reef areas from erosion and run off. 

We knew 12 years ago we could do better. 

Two major reasons we are so confident that our technology will allow us over time to compete profitably in the production of even smaller sizes than we now grow as a harvest target (such as U-20's and 21-25 counts) are 1) we believe prices for  all sizes of shrimp will continue to increase due to disease causing supply interruption an 2) the entire world is getting much more conscious of transparency in the food source chain.

Alarming increases in cancer in many national populations and increases in food borne diseases from improper processing and refrigeration have heightened consumer sensitivity and concern for where there food come from and how is it handled. .

12-15 years ago I was aghast as I saw these practices everywhere I went around the world, that is why I was determined to produce marine protein in a better and safer way. 

(And frankly nothing has changed).

We are sitting in a perfect position to expand production of jumbo white shrimp and over the next 3-5 years bring several species of fin fish to the market place as a "perfect storm" of disease, environmental degradation, and an increasingly concerned global consumer is demanding transparency in the supply chain so they can be assured what they eat, and what their children eat, is healthy, safe, and does not destroy the planet. 

All of the conditions above and more, will create a large (global) and profitable demand for our technology and production.  And the environment and the consumer will profit as well.

We Saw This One Coming !!!!

When we first embarked on the effort to develop our own aquaculture technology back in 1998, we had several key considerations that went into our planning.

The core team of Americans involved with this project had literally traveled the world and seen first hand the carnage that open air aquaculture and net pens were causing to, and on the environment.

First, we wanted something sustainable, environmentally clean, something that to paraphrase an old saying,"Does not harm" in the sense of harming the planet.

We did not want to see untreated raw waste water dumped back into the natural ocean and estuary environment from which is was originally sourced.

We wanted to produce a product that was "natural". In fact, even though organic labeling for farmed seafood did not exist then and does not exist today, (though I believe that designation is just around the corner, so to speak)  we felt we could produce a product that when the time was right would be able to be labeled "organic".

We did not want to use any additive or rely on any genetic manipulation. We did not want any "sodium metabisulfites" or *tri-polyphosphates in our processed product.  

(*Sodium tri-polyphosphates or STTP is a suspected neurotoxin, though it is still used at food grade levels to halt what is called "thaw drip"). 

In short, we wanted our product to be safe for people to consume without fear of unknown future consequences. 

We wanted a production system that was bio-secure. 

Having seen the multitude of diseases that had decimated the shrimp industry, as well as the trout and salmon and other fish farmed operations, we were determined to develop a methodology and use a technology that eliminated viral pathways and reduced or eliminated vectors for disease. 

We wanted an efficient system. We were not looking to produce the low yields of kilograms per cubic meter found in traditional open pond production. 

We wanted to grow a jumbo shrimp. We did not want a product whose live weight was 20-25 maybe 30 grams tops that was the size 85% of the farms in the world would be producing.

We were convinced he demand for shrimp would rise, consumption would rise and of course prices would rise.

As we begin the final construction stages to expand our production significantly in 2014 it would appear our crystal ball of 1998-2002 was working very well.

After a multitude of virus and disease outbreaks have decimated virtually every shrimp producing country in the world over the past 12 years now comes a new one, "early mortality syndrome" or EMS in the vernacular of the aquaculture industry. 

This new "virus" (?) "bacteria" (?), or "whatever" (?) it may be, is having a devastating impact of some of the largest shrimp producing countries in the world, most notably Thailand, Vietnam, and China. And it seems to be getting worse.

In April 2013, Mexico banned the importation of all forms of shrimp products from China, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Thailand. 

This past week this article appeared in Shrimp News. 

We think the situation for open air ponds producing shrimp and other forms of fin fish and marine protein is only going to get worse. For once we saw this one coming. 

April 20, 2013

Japan

Shrimp Prices Soar by 40%

Since fall 2012, wholesale prices of imported frozen shrimp have soared as supplies decrease because of infectious diseases on shrimp farms in Southeast Asia.  The fall in the value of the yen also contributes to higher shrimp prices.

Industry observers think high shrimp prices will persist through early summer or at least until the disease problem is resolved.

The wholesale price of white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei)—a species sold most frequently at supermarkets and other mass retailers—is now around $18 per 1.8 kilograms (head-off, 13-gram size), which is about 40% higher than at the end of 2012.

Just prior to the holiday-studded Golden Week in early May 2013—the second largest demand season in Japan after the end-of-the-year period—an official at a major seafood trading firm said it was difficult to secure enough shrimp, noting that it was an unprecedented situation.

The prices of tiger shrimp (P. monodon)—generally sold in larger sizes than vannamei and used for tempura and fried food dishes at restaurants—are also rising.  The wholesale prices of Indonesian black tigers (head-off, 25-gram size) spiked up over 40% from the end of last year to around $29 per 1.8 kg, a price not seen since the mid-1990s.

Since the summer of 2012, Japanese buyers have tended to concentrate on Indonesian tiger shrimp after an anti-oxidant in excess of the Japanese standard limit was detected in shrimp from India and Vietnam.  A wholesaler at Tokyo’s Tsukiji Fish Market observed that the Japanese criteria for the anti-oxidant are more rigorous than those in other countries.  Therefore, an increasing number of shrimp exporters are shifting sales to other destinations than Japan in a bid to avoid problems, he added.

Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).  Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 1-781-861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).  Shrimp Prices in Japan Reach Record Levels as Weak Yen and Supply Shortages Crimp Buying.  John Sackton.  April 19, 2013.

Just had to Share This

When I write on this Blog it is usually to simply get something that has been in my mind out and off my chest. In short, to vent, to release, to allow myself to move on. Every now and then I come across something that simply is so true and so important that I try and share it.. This was sent to me today from a very good friend. I think everything should read this. 

( Besides, Snoopy has always been my hero).


The Charles Schulz Philosophy
(This is marvelous!! Scroll thru slowly and read carefully to receive and enjoy full effect)



The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just ponder on them.

Even if you just read the e-mail straight through, you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

4 Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.

5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.



How did you do?

The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.

These are no second-rate achievers.

They are the best in their fields.

But the applause dies..

Awards tarnish..

Achievements are forgotten.

Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.




Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school..

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.



Easier?

The lesson:

The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the
most credentials, the most money...or the most awards.

They simply are the ones who care the most


Pass this on to those people who have either made a difference in your life,
or whom you keep close in your heart, like I did.

'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia !'

And it all started with Tarzan

I turned on the TV this afternoon for some background noise while I was doing some boring household chores and found that Turner Classics's was showing the 1932 "Tarzan of the Apes" movie starring  Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan.

I was suddenly transported for a few moments back to my childhood as I remembered how voraciously I devoured every adventure novel or novella I could get my hands on in those days. 

"Tarzan of the Apes", by Edgar Rice Burroughs was my first adventure tale and my favorite, of that there is no dispute. 

Tarzan, was the standard by which every other hero and adventurer was judged. He was fierce but he protected the animals. He was kind to Jane but brutal to poachers and con artists and wildlife traffickers. 

But, I was also captivated by many others. 

The stories of Allen Quatermain from H. Rider Haggard and anything from Jules Verne or Rudyard Kipling. 

I loved Jack London's stories and those of Arthur Conan Doyle and H.G. Wells. 

In fact, "The Sea Raiders" by H.G.Wells, and "Off The Mangrove Coast" by Louis L'Amour were two stories that in retrospect, planted the original seed in by mind that despite the fact I was a poor farm boy growing up in rural Virginia, a life of travel and adventure and seeing firsthand the wild animals and remote civilizations of the world was the only life for me.

My greatest fear was that everything would be discovered before I was old enough to travel on my own. 

While I did not open up darkest Africa with Livingstone and Stanley and while indeed many of the great wild life populations of Africa were decimated by the time I began to travel there, looking back it is amazing where I went and what I did and how much of my life and my career grew out of my fascination and admiration of those heroes of pulp fiction adventure. 

A few of my adventures prior to 1996 are documented in my book, "Undercover", but my travels to remote regions over the past 17 years are not. 

Since 2000 I have observed wild sturgeon in northern Iran on the Caspian Sea, and later I went to Kazakhstan investigating sturgeon populations.  

I have been to Indonesia, observing the vast wild fisheries of that region. I went to Papua New Guinea and on the remote north side of the island saw my first "slipper lobster".

I traveled to the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) to study and try to understand the issues and find solutions so there could be a potential for better controlled and thus sustainable fisheries there. 

I traveled to Entebbe, Uganda and saw an amazing fish processing plant for Victoria Perch an invasive species that has plagued many indigenous species in the Lake Victoria.

I went to Fort Dauphin, Madagascar and saw four species of wild lemurs in their natural habitat. 

I traveled south into China and witnessed the incredible amount of destruction and pollution caused by the tens of thousands of open air shrimp and fish ponds wreaking havoc on the waterways of the region. 

I have been to Mexico, Venezuela, and Colombia, Panama, and Chile assessing and learning about aquaculture operations, as well as wild capture fishery industries in the region. 

All told I have had adventures in over 50 countries.

And it appears I am gearing up to set out again.

We have sent the past two months finalizing the engineering drawings for the aquaculture system that we are now building here in Texas. The site is now cleared and the new road built and this week we we should put out the bids to bulldoze and level the area, move 600,000 plus cubic yards of dirt for the first 40 acres and compact the area and sculpt and lay the pipe for the first eight ponds that go under the first module. 

Once the first module is completed we will start immediately on the second module and by early 2014 all infrastructure and supporting facilities will be in place for an annualized production of over 1 million pounds of jumbo shrimp.

And that footprint of 2 modules with supporting facilities will be the blueprint for all future production expansion as we go forward in Texas and "anywhere in the world". 

Our system has many of the elements countries are seeking as they try and bring new technology to their parts of the world. 

It produces copious amounts of marine protein in a sustainable and environmentally friendly matter. It produces an enormous number of sustainable jobs both skilled and unskilled. It offers a product that can be exported to wealthier nations for "FOR EX" ( read "cash").  

We are currently looking at three distinct countries where the investment and the political mindset appear to want us to set up operations. 

I believe many more will follow.

And to think, it all started with Tarzan. 

Yellow fin tuna Micronesia (above) 

Tuna boats Micronesia (below) 

A Few Thoughts to Share

For whatever reasons a bunch of random and not necessarily connected thoughts are going through my head today.

I have read several articles recently on the various viruses that are decimating shrimp aquaculture operations globally. I wrote recently about the disasters from white spot in Saudi Arabia.

There is a new disease called EMS (Early Mortality Syndrome) that is wreaking havoc in South East Asia, particularly China, Vietnam , Malaysia and Thailand. 

There is no proof that a virus is the culprit in EMS though it is one very probable explanation as to cause, along with bacteria and all the usual possible culprits.

Virus fascinate me. 

I believe our strategy to kill or prevent viruses is ill-conceived.

If you think about the etiology of viruses you quickly come to the realization that the proliferation of vaccines and pharmaceuticals designed to "kill" a virus will ultimately result only in creating a stronger or worse, a "new" strain of the original virus. This is in fact the nature of viruses and why they (virus) along with bacteria are so successful as life forms on the earth.

I think we should focus more of our efforts on eliminating viral pathways and reducing all forms of stress on the organisms we are trying to protect from a particular virus through diet, environmental conditions, etc. 

In any event more on viruses and their prevention at a later time. This week I have had occasion numerous times to be reminded how truly cruel and insensitive many human beings truly are in their dealings and attitudes toward animals. 

No one is a purist. It is hard to go through life without causing the death of other life on this planet. 

That said, killing a sentient creature for sport, getting joy from that killing to me underlies a serious sickness in the human race.

I was reminded of this this week when two local residents chortled with glee as they bragged of killing over 2o0 wild boar in this area from helicopters last year alone.

I recognize that wild boar in Texas are a serious problem. I also realize that wild boar are only out of control here because they were brought in by people who wanted more living targets to shoot for fun.

It saddens me when I see a wild boar on our property take off running in panic when they see my truck appear. What kind of existence is that that the sight of a human vehicle fills you with panic knowing your life is at risk.

It sickens me that people can enjoy killing and slaughtering wild creatures in this day and age.

I feel a loss and sadness when I see a dead possum or raccoon on the highway. Life is precious and as human beings we of all creation should know that.

There are many wonderful books that make the case for respecting and protecting wild and domestic animals. On Amazon alone if you enter "Animal Rights" or "Animal Liberation" 40-50 pages with 16 plus titles a page will appear.

Three books that made a real impression on me have been "Animal Liberation" by Peter Singer, "The Case for Animal Rights" by Tom Regan, and "Animals, Nature, and Albert Schweitzer" by Anne Cottrell Free. 

Wild animals always bolster my faith in God. 

I read this week that scientists are finally "discovering" that animals grieve. (Duh, Sherlock). Recent cases involving elephants, chimps, dolphins and dogs are providing undeniable scientific evidence of what most of us normal people have known forever, animals are pretty much just like us. 

They live they die, they suffer and they cry. They know happiness and joy and they know fear and feel pain.

Killing any sentient creature is never morally justifiable. Enjoying that act of killing is reprehensible. This is my view.

We have an abundance of wild life on the Copano Bay site. In addition to Scales, the alligator, we have multitudes of birds, including ducks, egrets, gulls and hawks. We have wild boar, deer, jackrabbits and even a few species of turtles.

Below is a "red eared slider". First one I have ever seen but evidently a common resident around ponds here in Texas.

Very cool. 

DINOSAURS

The picture above is a bird’s eye view of a generic open water shrimp farm operation in South East Asia.

In 2007 I visited Saudi Arabia (near Jeddah) at the invitation of Al Fulk, an aquaculture company in Saudi Arabia.

While there I met with the principal owners and directors of Al Fulk Shrimp Farms. 

I also met some of the foreign advisors consulting with the Saudi investors, each of them being a “shrimp and aquaculture expert."

I spent hours with both groups and traveled to the farm site and north in Saudi to an agricultural feed production facility as well as looking at other phases of the farm’s infrastructure. (Water intake, drainage etc.)

They had just started construction on a 100 million USD expansion of their open-air ponds south of the desalination plant, which was just south of Jeddah.

I explained to them in detail all of the pitfalls with that undertaking.

The wrong species, (p.indicus), the bio-security risks, the problems with their brood stock and the inferior hatchery protocols, the water quality issues, etc.

I went through in agonizing fashion the known and “sure to occur” problems they would encounter if they proceeded as planned.

I also showed them the reasons our technology and system avoided those “guaranteed to arise” problems.

I was clearly unconvincing. Their American, German and Filipino advisers assured them the project would work, and that I was in their words, "passionate but inexperienced". 

You have to wonder how much money those advisors "took" from the Saudi investors. In any event, this is just one more testimony that underscores our assertion, "open air aquaculture is a dinosaur and our technology and system is the future, not just for shrimp but for all aquaculture."

          (Below is a recent article from "Shrimp News").

Saudi Arabia

Has Whitespot Ended Shrimp Farming in the Kingdom?

Job

In the March 2013 issue of World Aquaculture, the quarterly magazine of the World Aquaculture Society, M.R. Kitto, an assistant professor on the Faculty of Marine Science at King Abdulaziz University in Saudi Arabia, says:

“We are witnessing the rise and apparent fall of the blue revolution with shrimp in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”  

“Presently Indian shrimp (Fenneropenaeus indicus) farming is negotiating a crucial uncertainty in the Kingdom.  Low stocking density and stricter biomass thresholds could not prevent viral diseases from wiping out shrimp crops.  The storm cloud of cryptic infections in shrimp won the game.  Three decades of global investigation into the immunity of penaeid shrimps provided no help to keep culture going?”

“Most disease cases in the Kingdom have always followed a heavy downpour of winter rain—the ultimate environmental stressor.”

“Low temperatures weaken shrimp immune system defense responses and allow White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) replication....”

The article continues with a discussion of possible disease carriers and geographical factors that have contributed to the disease problem. 

Job: Apparently, not everyone in Saudi Arabia has give up on shrimp farming, as this job announcement indicates: 

A 77-hectare farm in Saudi Arabia has a position open for a shrimp hatchery manager.  The hatchery currently works with the Indian white shrimp (Fenneropenaeus indicus).  When the hatchery is not operating, the manager will need to assume other roles.  Computer literacy essential.  The whitespot virus is present in the region and has affected every shrimp farm in the region over the last two or three years.

An Easter Prayer Answered

On this 1st day of April, traditionally known as Aprils Fool's Day, I want to truly and with all my heart,"thank God" for answering to our Easter prayers. 

Lori got her MRI results back this morning and for the first time since October 2012 there was absolutely no progression (no growth) in her brain lesions. There are no new lesions and the cancer has not appeared anywhere else in her body. 

They are still there, both of them, but they have stopped growing for a period of time at least. 

While this is not remission, it does show that the very aggressive cancer that has plagued her since February 2011, can be stopped, albeit we do not know how long this reprieve will last. Regardless, it bodes well for the vaccine trial in which we are working to get her admitted, hopefully in late May.

If progression can be halted via chemo it stands to reason that the MUC1 vaccine has a high probability of being effective against her disease and that could buy her a longer time period of actual "remission" which is the miracle we are praying and fighting for, for her. 

So, again, "Thank you Lord", you answered a lot of Easter prayers.

On a much more lighthearted note, I just finished Carl Hiaasen's book, "CHOMP". 

If you have not read previous Hiaasen books, like, "Skin Tight", "Skinny Dip", "Star Island", "Native Tongue", "Double Whammy", Basket Case" and StripTease, just to name a few you really are missing on on one of the most hilarious and entertaining writers of fiction in our age.  

The only other writer today that can even come close to the craziness in a Hiaasen story, in his own peculiar way is Christopher Moore, (Practical Demon Keeping, Lamb, Coyote Blue, Blood Sucking Fiends', etc.) 

Hiaasen, (like Moore), writes fantastical stories with even more crazy and bumbling characters whose screw ups and idiosyncrasies keep you in stitches as each story unfolds.

Reading "Chomp" I laughed out loud so many times passengers on the airplane started to look at me with some irritation. I was so lost in the story and enjoying the humorous escape I barely noticed until when I finally finished the book and the stewardess came over with a small smile on her face and said" Good book, yes?" 

So, do yourself a favor. If you want a respite from the sometimes overbearing burden that comes during stages of one's daily existence, buy a Carl Hiaasen book immediately. 

It is a "fun balm" that soothes the mood and brings back tears of pure unadulterated laughter. 

I even learned while reading "Chomp" that the Latin name for Scales, our on site alligator is "Alligator mississippiensi." 

Who knew ???