RESOURCE USE AND EFFICIENCY IN WHITELEG SHRIMP Litopenaeus vannamei PRODUCTION IN INDIA

Robert P. Davis*, Claude E. Boyd, Aaron A. McNevin, Ravibubu Godumala, and Avanigadda B.Ch. Mohan
 
World Wildlife Fund
1250 24 St NW
Washington DC, 20037
Robert.davis@wwfus.org
 

Many of the impacts of aquaculture are related to resources embedded in feed and in the production process at the farm.  Conservations stand to be made through improved efficiency, however current resource use is not well understood on shrimp farms.   Here, resource metric use surveys were administered at 89 Litopenaeus vannamei farms in India.  Data collected included farm characteristics, resource use, and amendment usage.  The average feed conversion ratio for production in India was 1.48.   Wild fish use averaged 1606.30 kg/mt of shrimp.  Mean total land use was 0.70 ha/mt, mean total energy was 78.47 GJ/mt, and embedded freshwater use was 2183.15 m3/mt of shrimp.  Production intensity averaged 7.86 mt/ha/year in India.  Embedded resource use decreased with greater production intensity.  A great amount of variation in resource use demonstrates that increased production can be achieved in shrimp aquaculture without an increase in resource use through greater efficiency. These results are compared with previous results of similar surveys conducted in Vietnam and Thailand.