🦐 Shrimp Culture

• Shrimp culture is an aquaculture business that exists in either a marine or freshwater environment, producing shrimp or prawns.

Shrimp species and their suitability

• Many factors must be considered when a farmer is deciding which species of shrimp he should culture. Due to its large size and high price, Penaeus monodon and P. indicus are generally considered for farming. It has also been seen that both these species are suitable for farming in Kerala’s environment.
• Apart from these candidate species other commercially important species such as Metapenaeus ensis, M. monoceros, M. brevicornis, Penaeus semisulcatus and P. merguiensis are also potential species that can be grown in India.
• Another potential candidate species that is flooding international market is the White leg shrimp, Penaeus vannamei.

Parameters required

Water quality

• Site should have good pollution free water supply of both freshwater and brackish water.
• Water quality parameters required for maximum feed efficiency and maximum growth of Penaeus monodon are given below:

  

Soil Conditions

• The type of soil is the most critical in site selection, since the shrimp will spend most of their time on the pond bottom during the culture period.
• Usually, clay or loam-based soil containing more than 90% clay and pH between 6.5-8.5 is preferable.

Stocking

• The most suitable species for culture in India are the Indian white prawn Penaeus indicus and Tiger prawn P. monodon.
• As per the directives of Supreme Court
  • Only traditional and improved traditional shrimp farming can be undertaken within the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) with a production range of 1 to 1.5 t/ha/crop with stocking density of 40,000 to 60,000/ha/crop.
  • Outside CRZ extensive shrimp farming with - production range of 2.5 to 3 t/ha/crop with stocking density of 1,00,000/ha/crop may be allowed.

Methods of Harvesting

• Two methods of harvesting are generally practiced on farms.
• These are either by draining the pond and catching the shrimp in a bag net or by netting the shrimp within the pond.
• The proportion of soft shell shrimp should not be more than 5% at the time of harvest.

White Leg Shrimps

• White leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei formely Penaeus vannamei)
• The white leg shrimp is a variety of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean.
• It is also known as King Prawn and Pacific White Shrimp, and it is commonly caught or farmed for food.
• It attain marketable size of 20 gm after 100-120 days.