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.