Biosecurity and Major Diseases in Shrimp Culture

Biosecurity and Major Diseases in Shrimp Culture

Turkmen, Gurel
Toksen, Erol

The global shrimp aquaculture has passed its 30th year as a significant and rapidly growing and now represents a multi-billion dollar a year industry. More than half of the global shrimp supply now comes from farms. Recent statistics show that in 2008, 3,399,105 metric tons (MT) of the total world supply of 6,519,671 MT of shrimp (or 52%) were produced from aquaculture. However, shrimp farmers have suffered significant economic losses over the last decade, largely from viral diseases that have plagued the industry. In Asia, mortalities of cultured shrimp due to White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) and Yellow Head Virus (YHV) have resulted in significant economic losses, and Taura syndrome virus (TSV) is now spreading throughout this region. Similarly, in the Western Hemisphere, both WSSV and TSV have caused catastrophic losses on shrimp farms. In Ecuador alone, WSSV was responsible for an estimated 53% decline in shrimp production from 1998 to 2000, resulting in a loss of export revenue in excess of $516 million. It is believed that these diseases are transferred between regions through the importation of hatchery broodstock, postlarvae and shrimp products. Once new pathogens are imported to an area, infection of wild stock appears to be inevitable, eliminating future possibilities of using uncontaminated wild stock to culture. Good biosecurity measures are vital to maintaining healthy animals, to reducing the risk of acquiring diseases in aquaculture facilities and to harvest high quality good yield. Thus, biosecurity measurements for a shrimp farming facility includes; disease prevention, disease monitoring, effectively managing disease outbreaks, cleaning and disinfection between production cycles and general security precautions.

Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed

2010-06

608