Improving hatchery biosecurity for a sustainable shrimp industry in Bangladesh

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Aquaculture (the farming of aquatic animals and plants) is a US$143billion international industry and the fastest growing food production sector globally. It is thought to be the most sustainable source of animal protein and its sustainable development is key for meeting the nutritional needs of the expanding human population. Shrimp has been one of the most valuable internationally traded food commodities for many years, and accounted for a major part (16%) of the global aquaculture export industry in 2016 (US$22.9billion). In Bangladesh, the shrimp industry provides food security, income and employment for an estimated 15 million people (11% of the population) and is the country's second biggest export product, accounting for 3.61% of its GDP. Growth of the industry is largely through intensification of farming methods, but this is not being managed in a sustainable way, resulting in increased levels of disease and substantial environmental impact. The resources, infrastructure, and knowledge required to facilitate the rapid intensification of the industry are lacking, and as a result disease has become a huge economic and social problem. Our team has been working with in-country partners to help gain a better understanding of the diseases affecting the industry and ways in which it can mitigate for future outbreaks. We have identified shrimp hatcheries as a key target for strategies to improve the economic, social and environmental sustainability of shrimp farming. The 59 hatcheries in the Cox's Bazar region of Bangladesh are the foundation of the industry: they collect adult shrimp from the local Bay of Bengal and acquire their eggs, which they rear to a juvenile "seed" stage before onward supply to the 150,000 shrimp farmers across the country. Thus, they play a key role in sustaining the entire industry. Even so, currently they do not produce enough seed to meet demand and are estimated to be operating at less than 50% of capacity, mainly due to disease. Our research has shown that very few Bangladesh hatcheries adhere to the standard operating procedures that have been shown to reduce the incidence and spread of disease, with management practices varying significantly across the industry.In this project, we will work directly with 25% of the industry (15 hatcheries) in Bangladesh and carry out chemical and biological testing (i.e. testing for disease-causing microbes) of the water and animals at all the different stages of the hatchery process. We will also collect information on the hatchery management practices and finance records. This will allow us to identify ways in which each hatchery can better prevent and manage disease outbreaks whilst minimising their environmental impact. We will visit each hatchery to train all staff on biosecurity and present the data collected, before working with them to produce a bespoke management plan, which we will then support them to implement. We will also follow the seed produced by these "improved" hatcheries, to see whether they perform better than standard seed when introduced to farms, in terms of growth and health. Part of our work will involve working with the recipient farmers, to train them in the best way to introduce seed into their ponds, as our work has shown that this is the point in the farming process which incurs the greatest financial and animal losses. Finally, we will communicate the outcomes of the project through a wide range of media, to promote the uptake of these practices across Bangladesh. This will include institutional blogs and websites, a short online video aimed at a general audience, social media, project reports and peer-reviewed articles, and we will hold a stakeholder workshop at the end of the project to which all hatchery owners and other industry stakeholders will be invited. Overall our work should significantly improve the sustainability of the shrimp industry, by reducing levels of disease and improving the environmental impact.