BY CHUCK MARTIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Although Stephen Price and others in Kentucky are excited about the potential of farm-raised freshwater shrimp, there are industry experts like Bob Rosenberry who remain pessimistic.
"I think the market for freshwater prawn is very small," says Mr. Rosenberry, editor of Shrimp News International in San Diego. Although many people call the freshwater species "shrimp," Mr. Rosenberry says the prawn is a distinctly different animal from salt water "marine shrimp."
"Freshwater prawn don't compare to marine shrimp in flavor and texture," he says, "and the meat yield is not as good."
Mr. Rosenberry admits he is biased toward marine shrimp, but says he has watched other states, such as South Carolina and Hawaii, sponsor similar aquaculture ventures as those in Kentucky over the last two decades. All have failed, he says.
"The marketing (of freshwater prawn) is very difficult," Mr. Rosenberry says. "If I had to guess, none of the farms in Kentucky will make a profit."
But while acknowledging past failures, Louis D'abramo, a professor of aquaculture and biology at Mississippi State University, says the demand for freshwater prawn will grow.
"Unlike marine shrimp, freshwater shrimp (he makes no distinction between prawn and shrimp) have no fishy odor or taste," he says. "They are lower in cholesterol and contain no iodine. That's important because some people are allergic to iodine."
Mr. D'abramo, who works with shrimp farmers in Mississippi, says freshwater shrimp haven't been marketed effectively in this country. Freshwater shrimp yield less tail meat than marine shrimp, he says.
"So we need to get people interested in the entire product (head and tail)," he says.
Stephen Price has scored an important agreement with a Toronto grocery chain that wants to buy his shrimp whole and live. The grocery sells the shrimp to a predominantly Asian-Canadian clientele. Mr. D'abramo says freshwater shrimp imported from Bangladesh and India in the 1970s earned a bad reputation because they were not cleaned and stored properly.
"That's a lot to overcome," he says. "But this is a different product."
"Soon, I think you will see freshwater shrimp available in U.S. groceries."
Layer farming raises yield
A key to success in shrimp farming, experts say, is to increase the harvest yield. And one way to accomplish that is to encourage the shrimp to grow at different levels in the ponds.
Shrimp usually live on the bottom of the pond, leaving the rest of the five-foot depth unused. But Stephen Price is working with Kentucky State researchers to create efficient "shrimp condos" in his ponds.
He stretches plastic or rubber sheets at different levels of the pond and then dumps in the shrimp. According to the theory, some will drop to the bottom, while other shrimp "move in" to the second or third levels.
"Each shrimp only needs two to three square feet of room to grow," says James Tidwell, professor of aquaculture at Kentucky State University. "So we just throw them in and let the shrimp work it out on where they want to live."
So far, it appears to be working.
Kentucky commits $600,000
The Kentucky legislature has dedicated more than $600,000 over the next two years to marketing, promotion and research of aquaculture, says Jim Mansfield, aquaculture coordinator for the commonwealth's agriculture department. The legislature has also appointed a task force to develop a plan for developing aquaculture ventures.
In addition to shrimp, Kentucky farmers are raising catfish, bass, trout and paddlefish.
Mr. Mansfield said he believes aquaculture is viable because the world demand for seafood continues to outgrow ocean harvests. "There's also a lot of interest in food safety," he says. "And if someone knows the fish or shrimp were raised by an aquaculture farmer, that's one way to know they were raised in a healthy environment." Another reason for the aquaculture push, says Mr. Mansfield, is the need to diversify crops in Kentucky.
"If you show a farmer he can net $2,000 to $3,000 an acre raising shrimp he'll get interested," he says.
By comparison, farmers can net about $200 an acre raising corn and $1,500 to $2,000 an acre growing tobacco," Mr. Mansfield says. Tobacco is still Kentucky's main cash crop, but many agriculture officials foresee the end of the federal tobacco price support program.
For aquaculture ventures to succeed, it will be important for Kentucky farmers to increase their production per acre, which will help make their products more price competitive, Mr. Mansfield says.
"I think we have the resources and research to make this (aquaculture) work," he says.
