Shrimp Farming Methods and Basic Knowledge

Shrimp farming has been known for centuries mostly in South East Asia and typically develops under traditional technique. Even until now, you can found low tech shrimp farming method which characterized by low financial inputs and yields, however such system still provide commercial profit thanks to the high market demand and low cost in land acquisition. Shrimp breed in ponds can be improved with more modern technologies and there are many things can be done such as pond size regularization, formulated feed, increase stocking density, and many more. However, most of small shrimp farmers in developing countries may not be able to afford.

All you need to know about shrimp farming

Shrimp farming growing mostly in Asian countries being India as the top shrimp exporters followed by Thailand, Indonesia, and Malaysia. They can produce tons of shrimp annually and then distributed to various countries with top costumers ranging from United State, Japan, China, and other shrimp lover countries. China produces a lot of shrimp stock but most of their products are distributed domestically.

Shrimp can be found or raised in both salt and fresh water. They are available in numerous sizes and forms. The shrimp can go really small to bigger size and can weighing as much as 15 pounds. Shrimp contain healthy minerals and proteins and they are low in calories and an excellent source of unsaturated fats. This is why shrimp is loved by many seafood lovers and shrimp is the most valuable seafood commodity in the market around the world. Shrimp have future bright and thus the shrimp farming and production is increased rapidly from year to year.

The basic thing of shrimp farming

Shrimp farming can be conducted in swimming pools, brackish water, and other containers which suitable to raise the shrimp. Significant depth is required to breed shrimp, however if the farmers wanted to produce large quantities of healthy shrimp then ponds are the most suitable place to have. Female shrimp can lay thousand to million eggs in once and they will hatch for few weeks even a day. The hatched shrimp often called as nauplii and they will grow into young shrimp after twelve days. The nauplii can be kept in the tanks before moving into ponds after they are matured enough. After three to six months, they will be harvested by net or the farmers simply drained off the water in the ponds.

3 Shrimp farming methods mostly use
There are three different shrimp farming methods which usually being used from traditional one to more modern technologies such as:
1.      Traditional method
This is the simplest aquaculture method to breed shrimp because there is little intervention when raise the shrimp. The farm locates mostly in mangrove or coastal areas. However, the result is seasonal because the seeds are acquired from the wild thus it produces lower yield than semi-intensive method or intensive method which high tech is already used. The ponds size can reach from 3 to 20 hectares with irregular shape and the use of pump is not employed while the water exchange is depends on tidal activities.
2.      Semi-intensive method
There is a small improvement in semi-intensive method compared with traditional one because systematic pond configuration has been introduced. The ponds are generally size from 3 to 20 hectares with rectangular shape. To facilitate water exchange, separate inlet and outlet gates are installed on the each of the pond. These gates are also useful during harvesting and pond preparation process. The shrimp get supplementary feed each day and this operation already using water pump to facilitate water exchange.

3.      Intensive method
This method promises more yields and more return in the investment. The goal to build shrimp farming with intensive method is to increase the yields as well as to hasten shrimp production. This method often used in industrial scale and they use big tanks to breed the shrimp and they can even hold up to 30 tons. Farming conditions are highly controlled and the yields are not depends on seasonal situation unlike traditional one. Due to the high technologies being used, the cost to breed shrimp with this method is so high.
Those are some information regarding shrimp farming systems and basic knowledge which hopefully help you to understand more about how to farm the shrimp.