{"id":6938,"date":"2026-06-11T19:01:32","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T15:31:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/new\/wordpress\/the-future-of-super-intensive-shrimp-farming\/"},"modified":"2026-06-15T15:50:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T12:20:13","slug":"the-future-of-super-intensive-shrimp-farming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/the-future-of-super-intensive-shrimp-farming\/","title":{"rendered":"The future of super-intensive shrimp farming"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Researchers Humberto Villarreal, from the Northwest Biological Research Center, and Lorenzo Juarez from Sea Products Development, published an editorial in the World Aquaculture Society magazine where they analyze the challenges that super-intensive shrimp farming will face.<\/p>\n

World shrimp production<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to the researchers, Asian (83.4%) and Latin American (16.3%) countries share shrimp production, based on two species: the Pacific white shrimp (\u00a0Litopenaeus vannamei<\/em>\u00a0) with 83% of production, and the tiger shrimp (\u00a0Penaeus vannamei).\u00a0monodon<\/em>\u00a0).<\/p>\n

India and Ecuador have significantly increased their shrimp production, with a 100% growth in a decade, reaching more than 1 million tons in 2021, without a significant increase in the farming area.<\/p>\n

Semi-intensive production in Ecuador reaches average yields of around 1,250 kg\/ha\/cycle, but now shrimp farmers can reach 3 cycles per year and are working to implement best practices in the industry.<\/p>\n

Super intensive systems<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cWe define the super-intensive system for white shrimp,\u00a0L. vannamei<\/em>\u00a0, as one that uses lined ponds, raceways or tanks for population densities of more than 150 shrimp per m2 during growth and applies a significant level of technology\u201d, describe the researchers. .<\/p>\n

In addition, the researchers point out, super-intensive systems are an efficient system that maximizes the productivity of the energy spent without damaging the environment and minimizes the use of water, normally less than 250 L\/kg of production, which is only possible without replacement of water and should produce more than 1200 kilo of shrimp\/kW of energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOpen ponds must produce 2 or 3 crops per year of > 30 t\/ha (1.2 kg\/m3), while raceways must produce at least 3 crops per year with densities greater than 2.5 kg\/m3, and greenhouses must generate more than 3 harvests a year, with a density of around 4.5 kg\/m3\u201d, they report.<\/p>\n

They indicate that in order to consistently achieve these objectives, it is essential to understand the interactions between production system design, biosecurity strategies, nutrition and seed quality, as well as the impact of technological development, climate change and social compliance on shrimp farming intensification, because the capital investment is 5 to 10 times higher than the typical semi-intensive system.<\/p>\n

Biofloc to intensify shrimp farming<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Researchers report that\u00a0biofloc<\/a>\u00a0is now the most widely used technology for intensive shrimp farming.<\/p>\n

However, they point out that the scientific information available for these systems is limited, particularly in relation to the understanding of their dynamics and the interactions between the ecosystem and the cultivated organism.<\/p>\n

Villarreal and Juarez mention that\u00a0intensive commercial shrimp systems<\/a>\u00a0in Asia have shown good results, the commercial economic viability of super-intensive systems has not yet been proven.\u00a0“The challenges are both technological and in the value chain.”<\/p>\n

\u201cRecognized challenges in intensive shrimp systems include disease, feed, energy use, and genetic selection in terms of organisms and environmental, social, and welfare issues for farmers,\u201d Villarreal and Juarez report.<\/p>\n

Feeding in super-intensive systems<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In super intensive systems, information is still needed for new SPF lines, genetically selected to thrive in these systems.<\/p>\n

“Particularly in relation to nutrient requirements, a better understanding of protein and amino acid use, the impact of alternative protein and lipid sources, and interaction with microbes and biofloc-based systems,” they report.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough the feed industry has made remarkable progress in delivering a high-quality product to the farm, these diets are still based on available macro-ingredients, such as fish, soy and wheat meals, fish and vegetable oils, supplemented with a combination of of vitamins and minerals.<\/p>\n

According to the researchers, the challenge is to develop alternative protein sources in volumes and production costs that represent a feasible alternative.\u00a0“Current substitutes still represent a limited source of high carbon footprint, while new alternatives are expensive and lack sufficient volumes.”<\/p>\n

Conclusions<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIt is evident that replication of current models for semi-intensive shrimp production will be limited.\u00a0Certainly, countries like Ecuador and China should not expect to be able to double the volume of production using the same farming systems\u201d, the researchers conclude.<\/p>\n

They also highlight that the intensification of shrimp farming requires that farmed animals have an adequate health, physiological, metabolic and genetic status to thrive in these environments.<\/p>\n

“From an environmental sustainability perspective, current super-intensive systems use less water per kilogram of shrimp produced, reuse water and have a lower feed conversion rate, and optimize the use of culture ponds and water resources,” they conclude.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers Humberto Villarreal, from the Northwest Biological Research Center, and Lorenzo Juarez from Sea Products Development, published an editorial in … <\/i>Read more<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6669,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[352,403,425,395,350,358],"tags":[360,363],"class_list":["post-6938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aquatic-economy","category-economic-analyses","category-economic-articles","category-economic-production","category-news-and-articles","category-shrimp","tag-shrimp","tag-363"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6938"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6939,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6938\/revisions\/6939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btagro.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}