FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY
FISH FARMING TECHNOLOGY #2 Engineering shrimp aquaculture by Didier Leclercq, General Manager, Acui-T SAS Thomas Raynaud, Marketing and Technical Aquaculture Director, NEOVIA, Vietnam Ricardo Melloo, Global Aquaculture Marketing Manager, NEOVIA, Talhouet-France
Taking advantage of its knowledge on aquaculture pond dynamics, shrimp biology and engineering, Acui-T is able to propose and engineer the most adapted and innovative solutions for water quality management
Below: NEOVIA’s “Biosipec” facilities in Nha Bé. South Vietnam.
According to World Bank, aquaculture output in 2015 was around 106 million tons of several fish species, crustaceans, mollusks and aquatic plants. Among them, shrimp is one of the most valuable groups of species. Consolidated data from FAO show that in 2015 shrimp farming produced almost five million tons. Looking at the data recently released at GOAL 2017, growth rate from 2006 to 2012 was of 4.8 percent and 4.2 percent from 2015 over 2014. Global figures may lead to the conclusion that the industry is flourishing everywhere, but that is not completely true. The scenario is quite heterogeneous. Steady growth rate in the last five years is only observed in few countries like India and Ecuador. In some other countries we have seen erratic growth curves or stable production volumes like in Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Mexico or even declining production volumes like in China, Thailand, Bangladesh, Myanmar and Brazil. One of the main reasons for this unstable performance on the shrimp industry in many countries is related to diseases, which have been causing strong outbreaks and devastating several ponds and, extremely, affecting the economy of entire regions or nations. Taking into account the diversity of causative agents and the way diseases can be spread, there is no another way for farmers than learning how to live with the pathogens as close neighbors and being able to avoid the diseases to express. Several measures have been taken by farmers in order to mitigate the risk of diseases. Traditional farms (large ponds, with no aeration, high water exchange and direct PL seeding) have been adapted to more intensive farms provided with water treatment systems, with low water exchange, in order to enable better control of water quality parameters, pond management and to ensure the quality of inlet water. Additionally, using nursery facilities to stock bigger and more resistant shrimps in grow out ponds, seeding SPF larvae and utilisation of probiotics to ensure a good environment are becoming more and more usual. Understanding the full picture of a shrimp pond and how the main factors interact is key to master aquaculture systems in order to optimise shrimp output. Therefore, the French based NEOVIA group, a global leading player in animal nutrition and health, stakes its aquaculture strategy on a comprehensive view of the value chain. As so, Neovia solutions are as wide as hatchery, nursery and grow-out nutritional products, probiotics, laboratory analysis and technical services for farmers. To complete its offer, NEOVIA acquired Acui-T, a 20 years experienced Company on water quality management for aquaculture systems. “Mastering water quality management in intensive systems was a missing skill on our holistic approach and that is why the acquisition of Acui-T completely fits with our strategy”, stated Ricardo Mello, Global Aquaculture Marketing Manager of NEOVIA. Taking advantage of its knowledge on aquaculture pond dynamics, shrimp biology and engineering, Acui-T is able to propose and engineer the most adapted and innovative solutions for water quality management that will help farmers to keep a high level of bio-security, rationalise the usage of water and electricity and maximise zoo technical and economical yields. In order to promote the efficiency of intensive shrimp farming and to show how its combined solutions can help farmers to optimise yields, NEOVIA’s subsidiary in Vietnam, with the full support of NEOVIA Group, decided to build a showroom named Biosipec (Biosecurity Intensive Production Environment Control) in NEOVIA’s R&D farm in Southern Vietnam. Biosipec was inaugurated last September. Biosipec is a three stage (nursery 1, nursery 2 and grow-out) module RAS shrimp system with pumping station, water treatment systems,
38 | December 2017 - International Aquafeed