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Shrimp production in the eastern hemisphere |
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With most producing countries located in Southeast Asia, the eastern hemisphere produced an estimated 72% of the world's farmed shrimp in 1998 (Rosenberry, 1998). The big differences between shrimp farming in the western and eastern hemispheres are pond size, hatchery size, and the number of farms. Thousands of tiny shrimp hatcheries and ponds dot the waterways of Asia. Indonesia and Thailand also report thousands of new farms. Vietnam and Bangladesh harbor thousands of uncounted shrimp farms. How many shrimp farms are there in southern China, where the demand for shrimp outstrips the supply? In 2003, there might be a million shrimp farmers in Indonesia (Rosenberry, 1997). Penaeus monodon is the most popular species. Farmers usually stock large postlarvae (larger than PL-13) purchased from independent hatcheries. Chronic shortages of wild monodon broodstock exist in Asia. In Australia, Thailand and the Philippines, work has begun on the development of captive broodstock, but, overall, the eastern hemisphere trails far behind the western hemisphere in genetics and breeding (Rosenberry, 1998). Japan is the big market for Asian farmed shrimp. Asian shrimp farmers also ship processed and frozen raw product to the United States, Europe and other Asian countries, like South Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and China. Untold amounts of farmed shrimp are consumed within the producing countries (Rosenberry, 1998). Europe is also a big market for Asian farmed shrimp. In southern Europe-Spain, France and Italy- consumers prefer whole, farmed shrimp, which are then cooked shell-on/head-on. Coldwater, wild-caught species have always been the preferred species in northern Europe-United Kingdom, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden. Of the four big markets for farmed shrimp, Europe is the most discriminating, but when prices for head-on tigers from Asia and head-on white shrimp from Latin America dropped in 1989, farmed shrimp established a permanent foothold everywhere in the European market. Still the best chefs insist on fresh, whole, coldwater shrimp because they can judge the quality of the product when it is fresh (Rosenberry, 1998). | |