46 September 2009 The evolution of a worldwide shrimp industry Hans Ackefors1 The increase in capture and culture production of shrimp during the last decade is conspicuous. Since 1994, world production has increased 25 percent. During the same time, the trade of this commodity has increased by more than 60 percent. There are several reasons for that, including the great market demand and not least, the possibility for developing countries to decrease their trade deficits. Shrimp are the most valuable commercial crustaceans in the world. They are farmed or caught by various types of fishing vessels. The total production in 2004 was more than six million t, which corresponded to 5-6 percent of the total yield in the sea, produced in fisheries and aquaculture together. The total value of that production was US$21 billion2. Of this value, 54.4 percent were from capture and 45.6 percent from aquaculture production. The world export of shrimp (both marine and freshwater) was 2.1 million t with a value of US$11.8 billion. The catches of all shrimp species from temperate and tropical areas amounted to nearly 3.6 million t in 2004. This was estimated to be about 4.4 percent of all catches of marine fish and shellfish. In addition to that amount, nearly 2.5 million t were cultivated. This means that about 43 percent of all shrimp produced were cultivated and 57 percent were captured. In farming activities, nearly all production came from tropical large species in the family Penaeidae, while catches consisted of both large tropical shrimp and medium-sized temperate species. Of the 3.6 million t of captured large shrimp, 22 percent consisted of tropical shrimp and 78 percent of others, which mainly came from temperate and subtropical areas. Commercial Species Shrimp belong to the group Decapoda, which have five pairs of legs (periopods). They are closely related to such other commercial crustaceans as lobsters and crabs. Taxonomically, the well-known tropical species are placed in the order, Dendrobranchiata. They are distinguished from the “real” shrimp, Caridea, by having claws on the first three pairs of periopods. More than 500 species are known. They are pelagic in the upper waters or live in very deep water. Among these shrimp, we find most of the tropical Penaeid species, while most of the temperate species belong to the order Caridea. Within this systematic order we find nearly 3,000 species. Very few species of both orders are of commercial value and, thus, are not fished or farmed commercially. To be complete, there is also an order of shrimp, Stenopodiaea, which is a small group of no commercial importance (Holthuis 1980). From the FAO statistics, the capture quantity comprises about 60 species, but few of them are of great importance (FAO 2006a). On the aquaculture side, about 20 species appear in the statistics and only a few are commercially important (FAO 2006b). Large tropical shrimp species in the family Penaeidae2 are now on the world market in most countries. They are caught in tropical or subtropical areas and, in addition, are cultivated in large quantities mainly in SE Asia and Latin America. Nearly 100 countries reported cultured shrimp production to FAO, while about 20 nations fish for those species. Whiteleg shrimp (western white shrimp [Penaeus vannamei]), giant tiger prawn (P. monodon) and fleshy prawn ( P. chinensis) are the dominant farmed species. In commercial fisheries, giant tiger prawn, banana prawn (P. merguensis) and northern brown shrimp (P. aztecus) are the most common species.3 The family, Palaemonidae, includes both tropical and temperate species. Only the large tropical freshwater shrimp, Macrobrachium rosenbergii, is of importance in farming. The species is cultivated in large quantities in China and Thailand (FAO 2006b). Giant Tiger prawn ( Penaeus mondon) was formerly the most important species in Asian shrimp culture. It has been replaced by the introduced whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) from Ecuador and other South American countries. (Photo: S. Chaitiamvong)
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