LET’S grab the opportunity.

This is what the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) aims to do as it launches its re-engineered thrust towards intensive culture of Penaeus vannamei for the international market.

The BFAR’s re-engineered program will start in Dagupan where a hatchery for vannamei was set up years ago and was instrumental in initiating the culture of vannamei and legalizing its importation to the country, according to Dr. Westly Rosario, chief of the BFAR center in the city.

Rosario said the current disease problem of Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) affecting shrimps in some countries, particularly Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and China poses an opportunity for the Philippines to revive its shrimp industry and fill the void in the market.

BFAR Director Asis Perez, in a recent national meeting, ordered the re-engineered thrust saying the Philippines must grab “the window of opportunity to attain that status by creating contacts or markets for vannamei internationally while affected countries (of shrimp diseases) are yet to rebound for the next two years”.

“The Philippines is EMS-free so we can really promote culture of shrimps because… we can be an exporter,” Rosario said.

It was then House Speaker Jose de Venecia Jr. who interceded in allowing vannamei’s culture in Dagupan after it was banned years ago.

After that, the first shipment of vannamei from Hawaii passed the test on shrimp diseases made by the University of Arizona, followed by the accreditation of nine hatcheries from Zambales to Mindanao until focus was diverted.

LAB CHECK

Last year, BFAR Dagupan started a demo farm related to semi-intensive and intensive culture of vannamei in fishponds.

The BFAR in Dagupan has a laboratory that checks post larvae of shrimps on possible contamination of the dreaded White Shrimp Syndrome Virus to prevent huge financial losses among shrimp producers.

Its Polymerase Chain Reaction laboratory functions to detect whether the post larvae that shrimp producers would buy are free of various diseases.

Fishponds for vannamei culture can harvest one kilo of shrimp per square meter if the mechanized system of shrimp culture is adopted.

Vannamei weighing seven to 12 grams each can be partially harvested within less than two months at P200 per kilo in the local market.

Those left to grow from 22 to 25 grams can be sold at P300 to P350 per kilo.—Eva Visperas

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