Pilot production gets govt's nod

The government has allowed for trial production of vannamei shrimp fry to meet the demand for quality post-larvae of the fish for cultivators.
The Department of Fisheries (DoF) on Thursday gave the green light, attaching some conditions.
"Based on the acceptable result of piloting vannamei shrimp, the commercial production has been started," according to a DOF circular.
"Now it's needed to quality production and supply of post larvae. In this perspective, it has been permitted to vannamei fry production on conditions in existing shrimp hatcheries."
It said the trial cultivation would be done by Desh Bangla SPF Hatchery Ltd, Khulna under a bio-security management.
Specific pathogen-free (SPF) vannamei shrimp brood will have to be imported for the production of post-larvae after winning permission from the DoF.
Entrepreneurs will bear all costs for the production of post larvae, and respective district fisheries officers will monitor the pilot project, according to the DoF.
The government has given permission for commercial production of white-leg shrimp in the country this March following a demand from frozen shrimp exporters.
More than 60 countries are producing vannamei, which meets an estimated 80 per cent of the total shrimp demand across the world.
But Bangladesh cannot stay in competition with other countries in the international market following a scarcity of exportable shrimp here.
For this very good reason, Bangladesh has allowed to cultivate vannamei shrimp on a commercial basis.

arafataradhaka@gmail.com