Indian River Aquaculture growing black tiger shrimp in Florida

Two months ago, 100,000 larvae, each one the size of a pinhead, arrived from Sri Lanka at the Port of Miami.

From there, they were trucked in 70 foam boxes to Vero Beach, where, if all goes well, they will form the basis of the first successful venture of its kind in the United States.

The larvae were that of the Penaeus monodon, or giant black tiger shrimp, so-called for its banded tail and huge size. Commonly raised on farms in Asia, the shrimp grow to as much as 14 1/2 inches (though they usually are harvested at 9 to 11 inches).

"They grow larger faster," said Donovan Schumann, president of Indian River Aquaculture in Vero Beach, which wants to be the first inland shrimp producer in the country to grow them.

Donovan, whose family was in the citrus business for four generations, founded the shrimp farm in 1998 on 120 acres in a former citrus grove.

And when it comes to shrimp, the bigger the better.

As of late July, they weren't all that big. They looked like inch-long hairs as they moved around in their tank, watched over by veteran shrimp scientist and hatchery director Joe Mountain.

"They've grown 2,000 percent," said John Harvin, the farm's general manager. "In seven months, they will be big enough to reproduce."

The black tiger project is the newest venture for a company that in December 2001 harvested the first 1,000 pounds of its Sable Bay Fresh Shrimp brand, a sweet premium type of Pacific white shrimp sold in high-end restaurants.

Since then, the company has expanded, doubling the number of its 150-foot greenhouses to 10. Pacific white production has increased as well, climbing to 2,000 pounds a week, 52 weeks a year, Schumann said.

As a product sold fresh, never frozen, Indian River's shrimp is not competing directly with bulk shrimp that is frozen and shipped into the U.S. from countries such as Thailand and Ecuador.

The U.S. Commerce Department plans to impose tariffs on foreign shrimp after ruling in July that the imports were being sold at artificially low prices.

Rolland Laramore, a specialist in shrimp diseases who runs consulting firm Bonney, Laramore and Hopkins in Vero Beach and volunteers as director of the aquatic animal health lab at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution in Fort Pierce, said U.S. producers cannot compete with the cheap shrimp imports from foreign countries.

But it's possible to succeed with a different type of shrimp, such as the one Indian River is raising.

"Don's marketing strategy is to hit the high-priced restaurants," Laramore said. "He can produce year-round due to the greenhouses. He started small and went slowly, developing markets as he goes."

Laramore said not much is known about raising black tiger shrimp in the U.S., but they are considered less hardy than the Pacific whites. It will take about a year before Indian River's black tigers are ready for market, he said.

"With the (Pacific white) you could drop it on the floor and kick it around, and it will survive. With the (black tiger), you do that and it will die," Laramore said. "How well they will do in this Florida groundwater, I don't think anybody knows."

Laramore said Indian River Aquaculture has survived so far because of competent employees and the capital and backing to keep the operation going, but that the company would have to become larger to be successful long-term.

Schumann declined to disclose sales figures but said, "We pay our bills."

Although Ralston Purina did shrimp-farming research in Florida in the 1970s and opened a farm in Panama, the industry here is relatively young.

It wasn't until the early 1990s that researchers discovered saltwater shrimp can be acclimated to grow in fresh water.

In 2003, Florida had 10 shrimp farms and 21 certified shrimp producers, which include educational institutions such as Nova Southeastern University, the University of Miami and Vero Beach High School, state Agriculture Department figures show.

Seven of the shrimp farms reported a total of $5.1 million in sales, according to the Florida Agricultural Statistics Service in Orlando.

Bob Rosenberry, editor and publisher of San Diego-based Shrimp News International, which publishes an annual report on the industry, said Pacific whites are the leading farm-raised species in the Western Hemisphere, representing 95 percent of production.

Rosenberry said as far as he knows, Indian River Aquaculture is the only shrimp-farming company in the U.S. with plans to raise the large tiger shrimp for the consumer market.

"It is an excellent idea. They are growing shrimp for the specialty market," Rosenberry said. "It is important to have big shrimp in that market."

The shrimp are raised in enclosed greenhouses, where they swim in man-made ponds called "raceways" with flowing brackish water. They also spend time in the breeding room, which is set up so no light hits the shrimp.

"They like it hot and dark. That gets them in the mood to mate," Harvin said.

Schumann says he wants to sell 1 million pounds of shrimp a year out of 20 greenhouses (the company's shrimp is available direct for $8 a pound). Ultimately, it comes down to whether the shrimp are large enough to satisfy the American palate.

"When you sell shrimp, you can have the best tasting, best quality and everything," Harvin said. "It seems no matter what you do, they ask: 'How big are they?' "

Susan Salisbury
Monday, August 16, 2004

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