I have set a goal for my company to grow Sun Shrimp with zero impact on the oceans in the next three years.
The way I see it, more and more pressure on the oceans, will cause more and more concerns and we as shrimp aquaculturists can offer a much better solution to humanity.
We already know that we can grow shrimp away from the oceans. Ras and biofloc systems significantly reduce the need for water, which can be recycled. Our number one challenge is to find new and better ways to produce feed that is simply not dependent on the oceans. We need to find a way to recycle all our wastes and turn them into fishmeal for other aqua-culture crops. Kind of like using shrimp heads and shells to help make fish feed and using salmon or tilapia waste as meal for shrimp feed.
We need to find a way to harness new protein sources, insects, algea, and many others. We need to make sure that whatever we produce is going to be clean, wholesome and taste like real shrimp.
It will likely be much harder to become ocean independent for maturation, but that amount of feed represents only a very small amount compared to the feeds used for grow out.
In short, I am challenging all our suppliers to come up with solutions that can help us reach this goal in the next three years. Having a genetics company onsite will help us select the best performing shrimp for these "new" ocean less diets.
We as an industry have an enormous opportunity to differentiate aqua-cultured shrimp as THE sustainable and THE goto seafood protein for the future. Lets not waste this opportunity. Instead of competing on low prices,.let's make shrimp the most preferred and wanted seafood and market our shrimp accordingly. There is huge potential and all.of us can prosper.