DA lifts ban on Pacific white shrimp

The Department of Agriculture is all set to amend Fisheries Administrative Order 207, which prohibits the importation and culture of live shrimps and prawns at all stages, effectively lifting the ban on the importation of the Pacific white shrimp or Peneaus vannamei broodstocks and the culture of this exotic shrimp in the country.

The decision for the lifting of the ban came about after encouraging reports and field verification of the successful conduct of breeding and grow-out experiments on the exotic shrimp by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR).

The breeding of the white shrimp was initiated at the BFAR research facility in Bonuan, Dagupan City while the experimental propagations or grow out are being implemented by government accredited commercial shrimp farmers nationwide.

BFAR Director Malcolm I. Sarmiento Jr., said the lifting of the ban on P. vannamei may yet prove to be the elusive solution to boost the ailing shrimp industry and bring it back to its glory when shrimp production reached 94,000 metric tons in 1994.

"P. vannamei is our hope to revive the shrimp industry and make shrimps available to ordinary people," the fisheries director said, noting that while great progress has been made in the farming of bangus, seaweeds and tilapia, the growth of the shrimp industry has remained stagnant. 

He added that the positive results gained from almost two years of intensive studies on P. vannamei had been affirmed by both the experts and the industry stakeholders. "The experimental trials for the safe introduction of the P. vannamei are very positive with no expected negative impacts to disease introduction and biodiversity issues," Sarmiento said.

Disease-free shrimp

The DA- BFAR issued in 2001 FAO 207 which prohibits the entry of P. vannamei in the country, among others, to protect the local sugpo or black tiger prawn from the dreaded Taura virus that devastated many shrimp farms in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand.

However, because of the insistence of some shrimp farmers and also to revive the ailing Philippine shrimp industry, as well as the report of a scientific breakthrough in the production of specific pathogen free (SPF) P. vannamei, the BFAR decided to conduct an experimental trial on the breeding and culture of the exotic shrimp.

The Pacific white shrimp broodstocks used in the experiment were imported from Florida, USA in 2005. These were certified as SPF strain, which means it does not carry any dreaded diseases, to assure local growers and environmentalists that the exotic shrimp will not introduce any pathogens to our local sugpo.

BFAR subsequently gave the broodstocks a clean bill of health after no less than the University of Arizona, which runs the recognized reference diagnostic laboratory of the US shrimp consortium, certified the breeders disease-free.

The imported P. vannamei broodstocks were successfully bred at the BFAR Dagupan Center and its offspring (post-larvae) were distributed to accredited shrimp farmers nationwide for experimental grow out and field testing.

Results of the private sector experiments showed that all the SPF offspring were disease-free. They also found out that vannamei grows twice faster and its production costs twice lower than the local sugpo.

Shrimp experts and industry stakeholders have conferred the completion of the experimental trials for the safe introduction of P. vannamei to Philippine aquaculture with no expected negative impact to disease introduction and biodiversity issues.

Back to its heyday

Once the commercial introduction of the P. vannamei starts, Phillip Cruz, a renowned Filipino aquaculturist and shrimp farmer, sees an immediate and remarkable increase in shrimp production.

Just on the first year, Cruz sees a 300-percent increase to 15,000MT from an estimated production of 5,000MT this year. He estimated a yearly increase of production of approximately 20,000MT will be realized. In five years, the country will be producing 100,000MT of P. vannamei, he said.

This projection only covers the existing total hectares of brackishwater and marine fishponds, either utilizing intensive, semi-intensive and extensive culture systems. A fraction of the production will also come from freshwater ponds.

On top of this, overall cultured shrimp production including our black tiger prawn is expected to steadily grow. Shrimp production in the Philippines reached a peak of 94,000MT in 1994.