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.