THE first Animal Fish Health Laboratory in Northern Luzon opened in Dagupan on Thursday, in anticipation of an expected boom in shrimp raising throughout the country.

Equipped with imported sophisticated gadgets, the laboratory can now easily detect diseases that infect locally-grown shrimps, including imported fingerlings.

National Fisheries Research and Development Institute (NFRDI) Executive Director Westly Rosario said the modern laboratory is only the second of its kind in the country with the first located at the South East Asia Fisheries Development Center (SEAFDEC) in Iloilo.

At the 24-hectare National Integrated Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) in barangay Bonuan Binloc, fish farmers can bring samples of shrimps they intend to purchase for detection of possible diseases.

Rosario said the facility will check if the shrimps being raised by farmers are infected with viruses that can spread to other fish farms and gravely affect the industry as a whole.

Rosario named the Taura Syndrome as the most destructive of shrimp diseases, which was first detected in the Amazon River in South America some years back.

“If we do not have such facility, we cannot check if the shrimps we are importing from abroad or those being raised by farmers carry diseases that may harm and stunt the growth of the industry,” he said.

The inauguration of the building coincided with the opening of the two-day Hipon Summit 2008 at Leisure Coast Resort in Dagupan, attended by some 2,000 entrepreneurs throughout the country who are raising the Penaeus Vannamei white shrimp,

He recalled that the Philippines used to be the number one producer of shrimps in the world but diseases that managed to enter the country through imported shrimps brought the industry to near collapse.

Rosario expressed hope that with the laboratory and the raising of disease-free white shrimp, the Philippine will be able to reclaim its status as the prime producer in the world.

He cited the raising of the infected Tiger prawns that led to the collapse of the industry.

Once banned, the Penaeus Vannamei was re-introduced in the Philippines in 2004 through the initial importation of a few breeder shrimps from Hawaii by the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources funded by Rep. Jose de Venecia Jr.

The breeders were raised in Dagupan’s NIFTDC and their fry were soon disseminated to accredited hatcheries and raisers throughout the country.

Rosario said P. Vannamei white shrimp is now almost everywhere especially after the government lifted its ban on the shrimp species.

The two-day summit, led by NFRDI and the Samahan at Ugnayan sa Alagang Hipon (SUAHI) headed by Teofilo Rivera, former provincial board member of Bulacan, focuses on the experiences of local farmers on the culture of P. Vannamei.

“This summit is the first in the country aimed at assessing the present and future of raising white shrimps,” Rosario said.—LM

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