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Seychelles, the island nation, has huge resources in terms of fishing. Most of the fish found are tuna varieties. Of late, the Indian Ocean country is trying to diversify its resources by undertaking white prawn cultivation
Seychelles, the island nation, has huge resources in terms of fishing. Most of the fish found are tuna varieties. Of late, the Indian Ocean country is trying to diversify its resources by undertaking white prawn cultivation. The prawn farm project on Seychelles’ Coetivy island is an example. Undertaken by the state-owned Islands Development Company (IDC), the project is progressing well. The first prawn harvest is expected in early April. Prawn larvae seem to have grown well in a short time giving hope for a rich harvest. Incidentally, the first batch of prawns was brought to the island late last year.
A normal white shrimp’s larvae take 120 days to grow to a body weight of 33 grams. But the larvae grown on Coetivy island took only 30 days to grow to that size and they are still growing, giving hope that the harvest would be plentiful. Seychellois, so far, did not have the opportunity to taste white prawns. But now they will be added to the culinary basket. Later, the government has plans to promote its exports, since shrimps are in great demand globally and are a premium item.
Prawns for the hatchery were brought from Singapore. A second shipment of white shrimps also arrived on the island, which was placed in smaller tanks. That is a process of acclimatization to the conditions of the pond. After a specified time, they will be transferred to the pond, where they will grow till harvest time. Encouraged by the growth of the first batch of prawns, authorities have doubled the import of larvae. While the first batch of larvae was only 150,000, the second shipment contained 330,000. The success of these trials would lead to the import of a higher number of larvae, which ultimately will lead to large-scale farming. Later, IDC will set up a hatchery of its own so that the farms can source larvae from within the country.
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Currently, Coetivy island has six ponds that can be used for the project. But, now only one is used. Of the six ponds, three will be used for growing white shrimps. The other three will be used for growing black tiger prawns.
