58 MARCH 2013 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG place, commercial shrimp farming could expand in an environmentally responsible manner, increasing production and profitability for the shrimp farmer. Commercial shrimp farming sectors elsewhere around the globe have been transformed by the widespread use of SPF stocks of domesticated and genetically improved Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei. By 2050, it is believed that the world premium shrimp industry will be exclusively dominated by indoor cultivation of domesticated lines of shrimp that are free of most if not all of the major shrimp diseases. For sustainability of newer species or technology enterprises, consideration should be given to the continuity of supply of high-quality inputs, the socio-environmental and socio-economic costs of input provisions, the long term sustainability of production, commercial viability, societal impact, environmental impact and the bioconversion efficiencies. Species diversification could be either an alternative to shrimp or as part of an alternating cropping cycle, including shrimp as part of polyculture systems. These approaches should curb the impact and severity of disease outbreaks and water quality problems. Research polyculture of tiger shrimp with rabbitfish or mullet has been successful in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (Bukhari 2002). Creating space for sustainable co-culture species with shrimp is vital. Novel systems of bio-cleaning of shrimp ponds during production are needed. Commercial-scale, covered, entirely recirculating water systems have not yet proven to be effective for the grow-out of commodity shrimp. Wellwater is generally more biosecure than open seawater (Lotz et al. 1995). Using seawater abstracted from sub-sand beneath a beach, the research farming of Indian prawn at low stocking densities in shrimp ponds at the Fish Farming Center (Ministry of Agriculture and Water, North Obhur, Saudi Arabia) have had no trace of shrimp disease since 1982. Another example is the King Abdulaziz University Fish farm at Obhur. The Fish Farming Center demonstrated that biofloc technology has no negative effects with Indian prawn. Concerning the three spheres—the host, the environment, and pathogens—it is the task of the shrimp farmer to keep the three adjacent spheres from intersecting (Snieszko 1974) by controlling environmental variables, securing all pathways of pathogen introduction, or simply keeping populations low. Farming without understanding and managing the host-environment-pathogen intersection always loses. Shrimp production will certainly increase in the future as the use of post-larvae originating from domesticated SPF shrimp stocks in more biosecure settings expands (Flegel 2012). Using plastic-lined ponds is another biosecurity feature of biofloc technology (Moss et al. 2012). New approaches are also urgently required to enhance yield by improving broodstock and larval sourcing, promoting best management practices by farmers, outreach and support of cutting-edge research that aims to harness the natural abilities of invertebrates to mitigate assault from pathogens, including the use of RNA interference therapeutics. The linking together of global experts in the culture, capture and trading of crustaceans with pathologists, epidemiologists, ecologists, therapeutics specialists and policy makers in the field of food security will allow these issues to be better identified and addressed (Stentiford et al. 2012). How to green the blue revolution is not too far beyond! Notes 1 Assistant Professor, Faculty of Marine Science, King Abdulaziz University, P.O. Box : 80207, Jeddah 21589, Saudi Arabia. Email: drkitto@yahoo.com (Corresponding author) 2 Personal witness to the post-flooding impact on altered physiological behavior of shrimp populations in commercial ponds of Gizan coastline. References Behairy, A.K.A, M.K. El-Sayed and N.V.N. Durgaprasada Rao. 1985. Eolian dust in the coastal area north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Arid Environment 8:89-98. Boyd, C.E. 1990. Water Quality in Ponds for Aquaculture. Alabama Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama. Bukhari, F.A., 2002. Cultured tiger prawn Penaeus monodon through polyculture with rabbitfish Siganus rivulatus or mullet Liza sp. in Red Sea water. Egyptian Science 17(9):31-38. Falconer, D.S. 1989. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics. 3rd ed. Longman, New York, NY USA. Falconer, D.S. and T.F.C. Mackay. 1996. Introduction to Quantitative Genetics, 4th ed. Longman Group Essex, England. Forstner, U and G.T.W Wittmann. 1979. Metal Pollution in the Aquatic Environment. Springer-Verlag, New York, NY USA. Flegel, T.W. 2001. The shrimp response to viral pathogens. Pages 190–214 In: C.L. Browdy and D.E. Jory, editors. The New Wave. Proceedings of the Special Session on Sustainable Shrimp Aquaculture. World Aquaculture Society, Baton Rouge, Louisiana USA. Flegel, T.W. 2012. Historic emergence, impact and current status of shrimp pathogens in Asia, Journal of Invertebrate Pathology 110:166-173. Flegel, T.W., L. Nielsen, V. Thamavit, S. Kongtim and T. Pasharawipas. 2004. Presence of multiple viruses in nondiseased, cultivated shrimp at harvest. Aquaculture 240:55-68. For sustainability of newer species or technology enterprises, consideration should be given to the continuity of supply of highquality inputs, the socio-environmental and socio-economic costs of input provisions, the long term sustainability of production, commercial viability, societal impact, environmental impact and the bioconversion efficiencies. Species diversification could be either an alternative to shrimp or as part of an alternating cropping cycle, including shrimp as part of polyculture systems. These approaches should curb the impact and severity of disease outbreaks and water quality problems.
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