Three white shrimp farms established in Visayas


The Philippines Department of Agriculture has established three accredited hatcheries in the Visayas to breed and produce the Peneaus vannamei or Pacific white shrimp as part of the agency's to revive the country's once-robust shrimp industry.
DA said the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources the two hatcheries are located in Iloilo, Cebu and Bohol and owned by Malou Jamandre, Dodo Allegre and Mar Uy, respectively.
In Pangasinan, the BFAR facility is being used as the central hatchery of white shrimp. The DA has been successful so far in experimenting in the culture of vannamei in freshwater.
BFAR Director Malcolm Sarmiento said as part of the strict measures allowing only pathogen-free broodstocks of vannamei to enter the country, they have limited breeders only from Honolulu and Florida in the United States.
Sarmiento said that to broaden the country's aquaculture base, they have introduced P. vannamei in the market after subjecting it to a rigid impact risk analysis.
Pacific white shrimp or P. vannamei are bred in captivity better than Peneaus monodon or black tiger shrimp, with a hatchery survival rate of 50 percent to 60 percent. P. vannamei also grows as fast as or even faster than P. monodon at up to 20 grams in size and has a lower dietary protein requirement, making it cheaper to culture.