| Shrimp farming is one of the largest aquaculture businesses throughout the world. There are thousands of shrimp farms world-wide that produced almost 700,000 tonnes of shrimp in 1996 making it the most widely traded seafood. The local spot prawn (Pandalus platyceros) is presently being investigated as a potential subject for net pen mariculture in British Columbia. A review of the biology, markets and culture operations of P. platyceros was performed as well as an economic analysis of the proposed farming method. Biologically P. platyceros has been successfully reared in confinement but factors such as poor feed conversion and relatively slow growth significantly increase costs, making the likelihood of large scale operations tenuous. The economic feasibility of commercial spot prawn culture is marginal. Attempts to grow these shrimp for profit would require large scales of economy and any failure would result in considerable financial setback. Unless these factors are overcome, it is unlikely that commercial success of spot prawn culture will be achieved. It is therefore recommended that a pilot project should be established to research the dynamics of a large scale culture operation of P. platyceros. |
