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Attaining sustainability in shrimp culture
By Mahmudul Karim
The technique of raising two Galda crops may spread on a large scale only if the hatchery operators produce late season post-larvae in September.
At the present time, hatchery post-larvae are normally not available before the first week of May, while wild fries do not appear in good numbers in the coastal brackish river water before mid-April. In the current culture system, post-larvae produced after July have little or no demand, since only limited time remains before the onset of the cold winter season from December to January.
During the cold winter period shrimp and fish grow very little, if at all. Progressive fish farmers maintain the late season carp fingerlings in high densities in well-managed nursery ponds, over-winter them and stock the advanced juveniles growing out in ponds in February, the very beginning of the next culture season. In this method farmers get an early fish crop by the middle of the year and then a usual second crop of fish by end of the year. But in the shrimp sector, holding the late season fry or juveniles and using them for raising an early crop is not in practice. Consequently, Galda hatchery operators do not feel encouraged to operate their hatcheries beyond July. The hatchery operation period is, therefore, very short and economics of Galda hatchery operation is not very lucrative. In this connection, one may ask certain questions: Is it possible to keep late season Galda fry or juveniles alive with good survival rates through the cold winter months? Will the over-wintered juveniles demonstrate sufficiently fast compensatory growth when exposed to the next growth season in February? Will shrimp farming with over-wintered juveniles be economically attractive?
The technique of raising two Galda crops may spread on a large scale only if the hatchery operators produce late season post-larvae in September - November. The hatchery operators will possibly do so if they are sure of a stable demand of the fry and its sale at a good price. Besides, availability of late season fry or juveniles, establishment of water supply networks in carefully selected potential farming areas will encourage many farmers to go for two crops of Galda. Research may be needed to tender advice as to a maximum level of culture intensity and management aspects to ensure that the culture system is socially and environmentally acceptable and sustainable. Besides, the shrimp produced must fulfil the international buyers' requirements for food safety. Long-term sustainability is an essential quality of a good technology. The country could plan and take intensive efforts for bringing in about 10,000 - 12,000 hectares of suitable land under double crop Galda farming producing an additional 30,000 metric tons of the shrimp by 2007.
Recent Sensation at Phulpur: On June 16, 2004, some national newspapers published news on Galda culture success at a farm called the Subolia Para Galda Shrimp Farm, Kashiganj Bazar, Phulpur Upazila, Mymensingh district. The TV Channel - I and later NTV also made news on the success of the same farm. Since then, many potential Galda farmers have been expressing keen interest in the farming technologies being used at Subolia Farm. This is a wonderful example of how the team work of even a small group of appropriate people can produce exciting results. The author inspired Md. Ainul Hoda, a very responsive and sincere farmer of Phulpur and Mohammad Aktar Hossain Panna, another very enthusiastic and enlightened shrimp trader-cum-farmer-financier from Khulna to work together in the field of shrimp farming. They made a partnership deal to undertake farming at Phulpur in a farm which he named 'Subolia Para Galda Shrimp Farm' consisting of seven ponds covering a water area of three acres. They decided to apply the early farming technique using over-wintered juveniles which Ainul had already raised. At this stage, Akhtar Hossain, also a feed dealer, induced CP Group to provide culture technology. The CP Group agreed. Akhtar Hossain financed the costs of pond preparation, juveniles, feed, pump, etc. He also took the responsibility of icing and marketing of the shrimp. Ainul Hoda provided his own ponds, labour, time and overall management. Lemuel Sanico, CP Aquaculture Pvt. Ltd and in-charge of Bangladesh for shrimp aquaculture and M. Farhad Ali, local technician of CP Group provided pond preparation, feeding and management techniques and rigorous supervision of the culture operation. Interestingly, Phulpur became very famous also in the year 2000 when a Ministry of Agriculture and the USAID collaborative project ATDP- I first introduced commercial Galda farming in the same area. The success of the project created a lot of sensation in the country and great expectations among the local farmers about many new developments in their area.
At the Subolia Para Shrimp Farm, three types of farming are being conducted: 1. All male farming, 2. All female farming and 3. Male and female Galda mixed. The anticipated production from the all - male culture operation is 1,000 kg per acre. Mixed farming may produce 650 kg per acre. Because of much faster growth rates exhibited by male Galda, culling of females when the shrimps are about three months old and culturing the fast growing males alone is a usual practice in Thailand. This culture technique, although this scribe already described it in 2000 in local literature, found commercial application for the first time in Bangladesh only this year.
It is for the first time in Bangladesh that over-wintered Galda juveniles are used in a commercial farm successfully raising an early and full crop of Galda. Considering its simplicity and its enormous prospects in our country, the technology of over-wintering shrimp juveniles and using the advanced juveniles for raising an early crop of high production at this farm can be considered a historical event. Many more examples of such success stories can be created if appropriate people team up like the present one and work in this direction with good understanding.
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