Diversify economy through aquaculture
Lucrative: The shrimps are grown to a weight of approximately 40 grammes before being sold, creating a new source of economic driver to emerge.Picture: BT/Melvin Jong
Friday, November 7, 2008
BRUNEI can be a prospective and ideal training ground for future aquaculture industries due to its bilingual population and strategic location in Southeast Asia, a foreign expert said yesterday.
Brunei can also make an impact in the aquaculture industry through competition in special products such as the upcoming project of developing high quality SPF Black Tiger Shrimps, despite its small land area to become one of the largest shrimp producers in the world, said George Chamberlain, renowned technical director of America's Integrated Aquaculture International.
During a tour of Brunei aquaculture facilities with delegates of the International Workshop on Shrimp Nutrition, Chamberlain told The Brunei Times that the Broodstock Development Centre in Serasa offers "some of the most impressive facilities in the world".
These facilities include primary and secondary quarantine facilities, nuclear breeding centres, hatcheries, grow out ponds and nutrition facilities.
The centre started operating in April 2006 for the breeding of the Specific Pathogen Free/Viral Free Rostris or more popularly known as the Mexican Blue Shrimp Broodstock. A broodstock is a group of that are sexually mature individuals that are kept separate from the rest of the brood for breeding purposes.
The tour then headed over to the Seiwa Hatchery. According to Chamberlain, the hatchery has a maximum productivity rate of up to 12 million shrimps a month, however, currently they are only averaging approximately six million for low scale productions.
These shrimp spawns are then either sold to farmers once they reach one centimetre in length (in about 21 days) or exported to other countries.
The final stop of the day was the tour of the Aquatic Animal Health Research and Services Centre. The centre offers services such as the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and histological analysis to scan for nine different viruses in the shrimps. These services are free for local farmers every month (five shrimps a pond, one pond a month limit) but foreign institutions can purchase this service for approximately $370.
Brazilian Francisco Olbrich, research and developer director of Guabi, a world-renowned company for making animal feed, said that he liked what he saw.
"The people are really doing a super job (and) with the help of the local guys, Brunei will be able to produce better (feed) and more efficiently for exportation to provide revenue."
Hjh Rosinah Hj Yussof, a senior officer of aquaculture in Brunei who has been working in the field for more than 20 years, said that shrimp nutrition workshop was a great way to improve Brunei's knowledge of aquaculture but was also as an opportunity to boost for tourism.
This is because a large number of the 60 delegates that took part in the workshop were from a total of 15 foreign countries, including the USA, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and Canada.
The tour was co-organised by the Integrated Aquaculture International and Brunei's Department of Fisheries rounded up the final day of the three-day workshop held from November 4-6.
The Brunei Times
Brunei can also make an impact in the aquaculture industry through competition in special products such as the upcoming project of developing high quality SPF Black Tiger Shrimps, despite its small land area to become one of the largest shrimp producers in the world, said George Chamberlain, renowned technical director of America's Integrated Aquaculture International.
During a tour of Brunei aquaculture facilities with delegates of the International Workshop on Shrimp Nutrition, Chamberlain told The Brunei Times that the Broodstock Development Centre in Serasa offers "some of the most impressive facilities in the world".
These facilities include primary and secondary quarantine facilities, nuclear breeding centres, hatcheries, grow out ponds and nutrition facilities.
The centre started operating in April 2006 for the breeding of the Specific Pathogen Free/Viral Free Rostris or more popularly known as the Mexican Blue Shrimp Broodstock. A broodstock is a group of that are sexually mature individuals that are kept separate from the rest of the brood for breeding purposes.
The tour then headed over to the Seiwa Hatchery. According to Chamberlain, the hatchery has a maximum productivity rate of up to 12 million shrimps a month, however, currently they are only averaging approximately six million for low scale productions.
These shrimp spawns are then either sold to farmers once they reach one centimetre in length (in about 21 days) or exported to other countries.
The final stop of the day was the tour of the Aquatic Animal Health Research and Services Centre. The centre offers services such as the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and histological analysis to scan for nine different viruses in the shrimps. These services are free for local farmers every month (five shrimps a pond, one pond a month limit) but foreign institutions can purchase this service for approximately $370.
Brazilian Francisco Olbrich, research and developer director of Guabi, a world-renowned company for making animal feed, said that he liked what he saw.
"The people are really doing a super job (and) with the help of the local guys, Brunei will be able to produce better (feed) and more efficiently for exportation to provide revenue."
Hjh Rosinah Hj Yussof, a senior officer of aquaculture in Brunei who has been working in the field for more than 20 years, said that shrimp nutrition workshop was a great way to improve Brunei's knowledge of aquaculture but was also as an opportunity to boost for tourism.
This is because a large number of the 60 delegates that took part in the workshop were from a total of 15 foreign countries, including the USA, Mexico, Peru, Brazil and Canada.
The tour was co-organised by the Integrated Aquaculture International and Brunei's Department of Fisheries rounded up the final day of the three-day workshop held from November 4-6.
The Brunei Times
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