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White spot blamed for Iran
shrimp losses
Iran
will suffer a 50-percent loss in shrimp
production in the
year to March 2006 compared to the figure
for last year due to a killer virus that
has wiped out stocks in recent months.
Announcing
this, Head of the Aquatic Breeders' Cooperatives
Union, Arsalan Qasemi told Fars News Agency
that total shrimp production
will be halved this year.
"Last year Iran produced
7,500 tons of shrimp which will decline to
3,500 tons this year
due to the spread of a virus, known as 'white
spot,' inflicting the species that kills
shrimps as they are maturing," Qasemi said.
He
said although all shrimp farmers in Bushehr
are covered by insurance, the Agriculture
Products Insurance Fund has announced it
will compensate only 18 billion rials out
of 120 billion rials in damages suffered
by shrimp farmers.
The official complained
about lack of cooperation from Iran's Fisheries
Organization and State
Veterinary Organization in adopting preventive
measures at shrimp farms. In aquaculture,
white spot outbreaks are often characterized
by
high and rapid mortality
of infected populations.
The State Veterinary
Organization announced recently that the
White Spot Syndrome Virus
(WSSV) has wiped out shrimp business in Bushehr's
Helleh Shrimp Farm in southern Iran.
It is
expected that over 70 percent of national
shrimp production would be destroyed in the
year to March 2006. Southern farms will be
wiped out within three years.
The same thing
happened in Abadan, Khuzestan province, some
four years ago. However, organization
officials say the problem this time is not
as serious as it was in Abadan. But most
farmers believe that the southern farms have
little chance of surviving the disease, which
has caused heavy damage to the international
shrimp industry in the past few decades.
There
are thousands of hectares of ponds in southern
parts of the country, which can
be used for shrimp farming. Bushehr handles
some 55 percent of shrimp production and
the destruction of the province's shrimp
industry
would jeopardize
local economies in the southern regions of
the country. With the collapse of the industry,
the army of jobless people in southern Iran
is expected to increase by much.
The government
says the fourth development plan (2005-2010)
has envisaged annual production
of 45,000 tons of shrimp by 2010.
Source:
IranMania.com
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