Description
About The Book
This book brings together information often difficult to find, joining the worlds of aquaculture science and industry production, through the leveraging of their synergies and dependencies.
It contains a wealth of scientific knowledge which can only be traced in a fragmented manner in specialised journals. It also includes the description of farming practices and the actual implementation of new technologies, information which is often presented in industry conferences, but rarely reaches publication.
Zuridah Merican – Aquaculture Asia Pacific –
We might expect a book on shrimp farming to deal only with production systems but any shrimp professional will agree that the starting point is understanding the shrimp itself. This and other essential knowledge are given in the 33 chapters written by 67 authors.
In her introduction, Alday-Sanz said that her initial task was to develop a book on health
and disease in commercial shrimp farming but discovered that this would require not only information on shrimp biology but also culture
and management and thus the list of topics increases. Furthermore, similar to what any shrimp professional will attest to, information on all these areas of shrimp farming is usually fragmented in specialised academic journals and trade magazines.
The book is a mélange of topics on what constitutes shrimp farming. It starts with the first chapter on the history of farming, a treatise on ‘how did we get here’, by George Chamberlain. Then it is divided into several sections; the shrimp, production systems, feeds and feeding, biosecurity and health management, and post harvest and trade issues. The four chapters in the shrimp section which gives us essential information on functional anatomy, integument of shrimp,
shrimp immune system and genetics are compilations of research and scientific information. The shrimp immune chapter is particularly useful as the subject is usually detailed in scientific journals.
The more practical information in production systems deals with semi-intensive and intensive culture and nursery systems, including bio-floc technology; maturation and selective breeding of the white shrimp; certification and the White Spot and Taura syndrome viruses.
The feeds and feeding section which covers chapters on practical feed management, raw materials to basic information on nutrient
requirements provides readers with current knowledge on nutrition. The chapter on nutrient requirements and current status of shrimp nutrition research lends credence to the purpose of the book when the authors said that ‘current knowledge is satisfactory for shrimp growth but little is known of the beneficial effects of nutrition on immune
responses in the face of spreading epizootics such as TSV, WSSV and IMV etc.’
The chapter on biosecurity and health management comprises a third of the book and rightly so, considering this has been
a challenge since the 1990s. In two chapters, the principal diseases in shrimp farming are discussed; one chapter gave the general information on diseases whilst the other by Timothy W Flegel, looked at host viral interactions to derive at future research directions. In two chapters, a more practical approach to disease management is given. Alday-Sanz gave her personal review on biosecurity design and Su Chen and colleagues from Taiwan focused on using the PCR for disease diagnosis.
On opening the book, we may be in awe at the extent of information required for a successful shrimp business but gradually we see that the information in this book is not rocket science. We will also notice that the coverage veers towards the white shrimp, Penaeus vannamei and does not cover in such intensity, work on P. monodon or other
farmed species. However, this can be related to the work of the authors or that it reflects what we know on the white shrimp as opposed to the monodon shrimp. One will also notice the divergent styles by the authors and the repetition of some information. The editor explained that this was a deliberate editorial policy in view of the different nationalities of authors and their personal experiences.
Nevertheless, with this one book, we now have a comprehensive coverage on shrimp farming to move the industry from an art to a science. The book is recommended as an essential reference, from the student learning more on shrimp aquaculture, to shrimp professionals, policy makers and researchers.
David Scarratt – The Hatchery International –
Shrimp farming has developed in the past half century from the almost incidental harvesting of shrimp from estuarine lagoons and ponds in Asia, to a multi-billion industry that now produces 3.5 million tonnes annually, and which accounts for rather more than half of all the shrimp consumed globally.
But the growth of this industry has not come about by chance, nor without much hard work and many setbacks, and while much has been learned, there is undoubtedly much more to learn. The Shrimp Book represents a synthesis of the current knowledge and understanding of some 67 internationally respected authors in all of the disciplines that you can possibly imagine related to shrimp and shrimp culture. Yet even then it is incomplete. Not all species of shrimp nor all the issues are dealt with in detail since to do so would be a prohibitive undertaking. But more than enough is done to give a comprehensive overview, and identify points of departure for further enquiry.
The book is divided into 6 parts, and clearly there is often overlap among many of the chapters; information presented early on will be amplified and further explained later. Each of the 33 chapters is well illustrated with photos, graphs, tables, and diagrams, and has an extensive bibliography, and there is a comprehensive index at the end. Much of the information presented is only otherwise available by direct reference to original, peer-reviewed papers, and could only otherwise be made available through a volume such as this.
First is a general section dealing with the history of shrimp faming, and the trends and prospects for small, artisanal- as opposed to industrial-scale farming. Second comes a thorough description of shrimp: anatomy, integument and molt-cycle, immune systems, genetics, and development morphology and ontogeny. The third section deals with production systems: semi-intensive, intensive, intensive and super-intensive, nursery systems, the effects of pond-soil quality on water-quality management, brood stock maturation and larval rearing in white shrimp, management certification, selective breeding, and finally a chapter on disease as a driver in the industry. Disease outbreaks have led to serious losses by the industry, but have invariably stimulated the sort of research that has allowed the industry to re-group, rebound and prosper anew.
The fourth section comprises six chapters dealing with shrimp nutrition: practical feed management, raw material evaluation, shrimp nutrient requirements and nutrition research, and there are separate chapters on mineral- and vitamin requirements, and one on nutrition and shrimp health. Throughout the book are constant references to the complexity of the health/disease status of shrimp and the need to consider things holistically rather than in isolation. Pathogens alone may not cause a disease outbreak, unless the animals are stressed by other factors such as poor nutrition, water quality, rough handling, temperature, etc.
Section 5, Bio-security and shrimp health management comprises rather more than a third of the book and given the history of the industry and the diseases it has had to contend with, this is hardly surprising. More than a hundred pages are devoted to infectious diseases and their diagnosis and management, and these issues are further amplified in succeeding chapters on host-viral interactions, designing bio-security plans, the role of evolutionary principles in disease control, the use of pro-biotics and other alternatives to antibiotics and chemotherapeutants, shrimp epidemiology, the benefits and problems associated with the use of PCR and other advanced diagnostic technologies, the economic considerations for using (or not using) antibiotic agents, and finally an interesting case study from Mexico on the development of state agencies for aquaculture health.
The final section deals with post-harvest issues, with chapters on shrimp production and trade, the microbiological safety of farmed shrimp, and maintaining shrimp quality to meet market requirements.
All told, this is an impressive compendium of essential information for people directly engaged in the farming of shrimp; the people they rely on for information, advice and guidance; people engaged in shrimp research and industry management; people concerned with consumer safety… the list goes on. Given the international nature of this industry, many of these people will speak English as a second language, if at all, so I can see a strong likelihood that parts of the book may be excerpted and translated for the benefit of those who really need to know. Fortunately the editing is taut leaving little room for ambiguity or misunderstanding.
Quoted prices range around £180 Sterling or $US 300, depending on the seller, which at first blush may seem a bit steep. But compared to the cost of attending an international shrimp conference (air fares, hotels, registration?) where one would only hear a fraction of the papers presented, or meet only a few of the authors, this represents a considerable bargain. Owning The Shrimp Book will be a bit like having the latest model computer, it’s bound to be outdated as technology develops, but is absolutely essential in the meantime.