DESIGN AND OPERATION OF INDOOR, SUPER-INTENSIVE, BIOFLOC-DOMINATED SYSTEMS FOR THE PRODUCTION OF PACIFIC WHITE SHRIMP: THE TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE
The Texas A&M AgriLife Research Mariculture Laboratory (Corpus Christi, Texas) has been developing innovative shrimp culture techniques for the last three decades. Research over the last ten years has focused on sustainable, cost-effective super-intensive systems for production of marketable shrimp with no water exchange. This has resulted in regular yields of marketable Litopenaeus vannamei of up to 10 kg/m3 with high survival, low FCR, and significantly improved economic viability.
The design and management of indoor biofloc shrimp systems currently is not well documented in the literature. It thus was timely to produce a practical manual that describes these systems in a way that is accessible to shrimp producers, entrepreneurs, technicians, and researchers. Funding from NOAA through the National Sea Grant program enabled preparation of such a manual that summarizes research activities on biofloc-dominated (BFD) systems carried out at the Texas A&M facility.
The manual has been composed in a more narrative style than found in scientific journals to make it accessible to a wider audience of stakeholders. It contains procedures for many routine operations, but its core describes the experiences over more than a decade of what works and - importantly - what did not work, with emphasis on the most recent production trials. It should help guide entrepreneurs in building and operating a scale version of the Texas A&M BFD system from which they will gain hands-on experience under the conditions of their production site. This will inform their decision of how - or whether - to incorporate BFD systems in their business plans.
The manual also touches on more general aspects of closed systems, such as equipment and procedure options that may be unfamiliar to those without experience in this type of aquaculture. A special chapter provides detailed information on the economic viability of these systems. Appendices collect related information on operating high-density, no-water-exchange systems.
It is hoped that this manual - scheduled for publication by WAS in 2017 - will improve the basic knowledge of operating biofloc systems and stimulate adoption of this innovative sustainable shrimp production practices in the US and globally.