Freshwater shrimp pilot project shows promise

By DMG 23 Aug 2022

DMG Newsroom
23 August 2022, Sittwe

Shrimp indigenous to Arakan State will be sold in markets in other parts of Myanmar after the test breeding of a local species was successful.

The Arakan State Fisheries Department bred a critically endangered freshwater shrimp species indigenous to Arakan State on a trial basis last year, and the project proved to be successful, director U Thet Oo of the state fisheries department told DMG.

“In other regions and states, there are no more pure breeds of freshwater shrimps due to overfishing and also because they mate with other species. Indigenous species have become rare.
However, there are still pure indigenous species in Kyauktaw and Mrauk-U in Arakan State. So, we are farming more and plan to sell in markets outside Arakan State if there is sufficient supply in Arakan State,” he said.

The freshwater shrimp produced from hatcheries last year are also being bred in grow-out ponds, and the surplus was sold to markets in other parts of the country on a trial basis, said U Thet Oo.

Saltwater shrimp hatcheries have also been instructed to farm freshwater shrimp fries during the break from saltwater shrimp farming, he said.

“During the first year of the trial project, we could only hatch 120,000 fries, but next year, we could hatch nearly 2 million fries, but only 1 million survived due to wastage. And we supplied 300,000 of them to other parts of the country. We plan to produce at least 2 million fries next year,” said U Thet Oo.

People have less interest in livestock farming in Arakan State, and the industry only started to attract interest from young people in 2020, but there are still only a few livestock breeders, said businessman U Khin Maung Gyi.

“It is good news that freshwater shrimp can be farmed in Arakan State. If local businessmen do this business properly, there will be huge profits for them,” he said.

Potential breeders can contact the Arakan State Fisheries Department to buy shrimp fries. Saltwater shrimps are farmed in Arakan State’s Kyauktaw, Pauktaw and Sittwe townships.