Case Studies

Fajar Prawn Hatchery is a 20‐tank fry hatchery, which is located in the middle of Manjung District, Perak State, Malaysia. Since 2000, they hatch only White Shrimp fry. The hatchery operator Mr. Tan Kim Bak said he buys the Nauplius (see figure 2) from another company and hatches to post larvae stage and then sells to shrimp farmers.

Fajar Prawn Hatchery is a 20‐tank fry hatchery, which is located in the middle of Manjung District, Perak State, Malaysia. Since 2000, they hatch only White Shrimp fry. The hatchery operator Mr. Tan Kim Bak said he buys the Nauplius (see figure 2) from another company and hatches to post larvae stage and then sells to shrimp farmers.

High density commercial aquaculture farming of Tiger Prawn, pacific white prawn (Vannamei), Tilapia or Basa Shrimp and/or fish fecal matter, as well as leftover feed, pollutes the water in Aquaculture ponds, contributing to high nitrate and organic waste. The polluted water results in hypereutrophication with large quantities of decaying dead algae and organic waste from fish and/or shrimp excretion creating a thick layer of organic waste known as bottom sludge. The pond’s ecological balance will be significantly disturbed when the sludge builds up reducing the water volume. This is very critical for shrimp culture, as bottom sludge can shorten the effective grow-out period, resulting in very small size shrimp at harvest. The formation of sludge can also end up in disease for the shrimps thus losing the entire harvest at times. Many shrimp ponds are experiencing extremely high mortality beyond 4 months due to the accumulation of bottom sludge. As an example, Tiger prawns only grow to about 12 to 15 grams in size when harvested at 4 months, but can increase to 30 to 35 grams when harvested at 6 months, which then commands a premium price which can be even more than two times the market price.