Experimental shrimp farming in sea cages. (Photo: Instituto Nacional de Pesca)
ECUADORFriday, May 15, 2015, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
The experimental shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) farming project in sea cages installed in the province of Manabi is taking its first results obtained with the first harvest after two months’ culture.
The project, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Aquaculture and Fisheries (MAGAP), through the National Fisheries Institute (INP), is funded by the National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation (SENESCYT) and INP.
In this first stocking trial about 10,000 juvenile shrimp were placed in a 22 cubic metre cage, equivalent to the number stocked in 1,000 square metres of traditionally farmed on land, said the INP.
Shrimp specimens weighing 3.5 grams were used, which reached 12 grams and a survival rate of 20 per cent at 60 days.
This project is aligned to the work carried out by the national government to diversify the productive matrix and favour the artisanal and industrial fisheries.
As part of this initiative, INP technicians perform trials to evaluate parameters such as food, population density, and adaptability of juvenile shrimp to the environment and farming system.
In the ceremony during which the results of the first harvest of the project were presented, INP director, Edwin Moncayo Calderero, said the Institute is working so that the mariculture project is the first one in the world to operate sustainably.
"This farming process is in experimental stage and with the results procedures manuals will be created so that they are helpful to the artisanal sector, as guidelines for farming this resource," he pointed out.
For his part, the President of the Autonomous Decentralized Government of Cojimíes, Luis Gallardo Zambrano, highlighted the importance of this initiative, since the initial benefit for fishermen in the regional Fisheries Cooperative.