Aquaculture of Fresh Water Prawns/Macrobrachium Species
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0804 quaculture of Fresh Water Prawns/Macrobrachium Species THE OCEANIC INSTITUTE/Waima.. nrB.lo, Hawaii DISCLAIMER This report was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither the United States Government nor any agency Thereof, nor any of their employees, makes any warranty, express or implied, or assumes any legal liability or responsibility for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed, or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any agency thereof. The views and opinions of authors expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. DISCLAIMER Portions of this document may be illegible in electronic image products. Images are produced from the best available original document. ,o~ Goodwin & Goodwin photo Dr. Shao-wen Ling, first scientist to control the life cycle of Macrobrachium rosenbergii, is also an artist. He painted "Malaysian Prawns",. used as the cover of this publication with his permission, to commemorate the first prawn culture workshop at St. Petersburg, Florida, in November, 1974. Dr. Ling holds a fine example of Macrobrachium rosenbergii brood stock selected from a King Caribe Shrimp brood pond near Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. The photo was taken during the 4th Food and Drugs from the Sea Conference, held at Mayaguez, in November, 1974. THE AQUACULTURE OF FRESHWATER PRAWNS (Macrobrachium species) by Harold L. Goodwin and Joe A. Hanson on behalfof·those members of the Macrobrachium culture community who participated in the first U. S. prawn culture workshop, and who provided the information contained in this publication The Oceanic Institute Waimanalo, Hawaii 96795 This publication is a summary of proceedings, augmented by material from other sources, of the Workshop on the Culture of Freshwater Prawns held November 25 and 26, 1974, at the Marine Research Laboratory of the Florida Department of Natural Resources, St. Petersburg, Florida. The work was supported by the National Sea Grant Program, NOAA, Department of Commerce under grant #04-5-158-13 and by the Oceanic Institute, Waimanalo, Hawaii. The U. S. Government is authorized to produce and distribute reprints for governmental purposes notwithstanding any copywrite no tation that may appear hereon. I TABLE OF CONTENTS Page: INTRODUCTION 1 I. ABOUT FRESHWATER PRAWNS 5 II. FRESHWATER PRAWN SPECIES AND CHARACTERISTICS 7 III. BREEDING THE MALAYSIAN PRAWN 15 IV. FROM EGG TO POST-LARVA 18 V. JUVENILE PRAWNS 22 VI. FEEDING CULTURED PRAWNS 24 VII. DISEASES OF FRESHWATER PRAWNS 28 VIII. PRAWN CULTURE SYSTEMS 31 IX. PROCESSING AND MARKETING OF PRAWNS 38 x. THE ECONOMICS OF PRAWN CULTURE 41 XI. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 46 APPENDIX 1 - PRESENT STATUS OF CRUSTACEAN CULTURE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM 49 APPENDlX 2 - ATTENDEES AT THE ST. PETERSBURG WORKSHOP 53 APPENDlX 3 - THE WORKSHOP AGENDA 61 APPENDIX 4 - ORGANIZATIONS ACTIVE IN FRESHWATER PRAWN CULTURE AND RESEARCH 65 APPENDIX 5 - WHERE TO GO FOR HELP WITH PRAWN DISEASE PROBLEMS 91 APPENDIX 6 - BIBLIOGRAPHY 93 iii INTRODUCTION This pUblication has two main purposes: To summarize the state of development, in the United States, of aquacul~ ture of the freshwater prawn, with particular emphasis on the long-legged giant. Malaysian prawn, Macrobrachium rosenbergii (de Man). To begin compilation of institutions, companies, and persons engaged in some aspect of prawn research and culture so that communication among per- - sons and organizations with comparable interests may be accelerated. The improvement of communication among aquaculturists is an objective. of the National Sea Grant Program, shared by the Oceanic Institute of Waimanalo, Hawaii. Through a Federal Sea Grant, matched by private Oceanic - Institute funds, with Vice President William W. Sellew as Project Manager, the Oceanic Institute has undertaken a: series of aquaculture workshops and pUblica-:: tions as a service to the entire aquaculture community. A major workshop under this program was convened by the Oceanic Institute at St. Petersburg, Florida, in November, 1974, to bring together organizations and individuals concerned with the aquaculture of freshwater prawns. Co-sponsors of the workshop, in addition to the Oceanic Institute and i National Sea Grant Program, were the Florida Department of Natural Resources and the Southeast Regional Office of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Th.e Workshop was conducted at and hosted by the Marine Research Laboratory of the Florida Department of Natural Resources. The workshop format designed by Chairman Harold L. Goodwin for the Oceanic Institute was to begin each subject-matter session with a discussion leader and two or three discussants outlining the subject background, after which general discussion followed. The discussion sessions were provocative and surprisingly candid, and elicited a great deal of information. The entire workshop was recorded, and the tapes served as the primary source of infor mation for this publication. The Workshop Agenda is in Appendix 3. The authors filled some gaps in basic information by reference to selected papers from the literature, and by personal consultation with several', of the principal research groups.' As is always the case when discussions are' recorded, extraneous noise and failure of discussants to identify themselves ' make it impossible to state with accuracy the source of all comments. Where 1 it was possible to do so, the St. Petersburg Workshop source is identified in the text either by name in the narrative, or by notation of the name in paren theses, e. g. (Jones). Where the literature was cited, the customary notation of author's name and date of the pUblication are used, e. g. (Jones, 1974), and the reference will be found in the bibliography. Information without source citation either came from an unidentified person on the proceedings tapes, or represents the authors' understanding of a concensus or majority opinion. In such a rapidly developing field, a summary of this kind is soon out dated. We believe important elements of prawn culture as stated herein are reasonably up to date as of the first quarter of the year 1975. Nevertheless, interested persons are urged to follow current developments through the litera ture or personal communication with culturists. Lists of attendees at the St. Petersburg Workshop and both research and commercial prawn groups and persons are given in the Appendix. Some discrepancies in information supplied by different sources will be noted. We have not tried to resolve them because the numbers or information were given by experienced culturists and may reflect only environmental differ ences. The discrepancies certainly do reflect the fact that growing a living organism cannot be reduced to the high precision of an engineering enterprise. In some cases, the information is not based on research of adequate depth or sufficient replication, and should therefore be considered as preliminary. As the state of the art advances, some discrepancies will be resolved; others will not. But, that's aquaculture. We must emphasize that our purpose is to summarize, not to provide a definitive, exhaustive treatment; to go into great depth for many elements of prawn culture would be to duplicate the literature. Best use of this summary is as an overview and checklist. Many persons, particularly those who were at the Workshop, have given generously of their time in reviewing this publication, and in providing infor mation.. The authors have tried to be accurate in reporting the sometimes. diverse views, but the possibility of error of omission or commission always exists, and if errors are found, we would appreciate correct information for future addenda or supplements. The thanks of the entire prawn culture community are due to the Workshop sponsors, .and particularly to Dale Beaumariage, Laboratory Supervisor of the Marine Research Laboratory, Florida Department of Natural Resources, and his staff.. Their cooperation in providing Workshop meeting facilities and sup port was exceeded only by the warm hospitality extended to the Workshop 2 attendees, a hospitality emphasized by the welcome given the group by Edwin Joyce, Jr., Chief of the Bureau of Marine Science and Technology of the Florida Department of Natural Resources. Harold L. Goodwin Joe A. Hanson 3 'J .~ ," 1. ABOUT FRESHWATER PRAWNS 1. 1 From the viewpoint of the aquaculturist, the most important fact about freshwater prawns is that they are already an item of commerce, produced from both the natural fishery and from commercial aquaculture. In the United States, commercial culture is limited at present in scope and geography, with most operations essentially at pilot scale; but the potential is promising. 1. 2 Freshwater prawn fisheries have existed for centuries. In the countries,' of South and Southeast Asia, some .fisheries are large enough to support prawn, exports. For example, "freshwater shrimp tails" have been marketed through', American supermarket chains from fisheries and some culture in India and Bangladesh. Accurate numbers are lacking because no statistical distinction has been made between marine and freshwater shrimp,