Mr.Fadel Muhammad said

Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Mr.Fadel Muhammad said, the government will close the taps of shrimp imports.
"Policy tap shrimp imports hurt enough entrepreneurs, because it was imported shrimp will be closed, "he said at the first harvest "Benur Nusantara I" in the Village
Kampung Baru Sub-district Punduh Pidada, Pesawaran, Lampung Province .

SHRIM COUNTRY REPORTS

China
FDA Opens Three Offices
The Associated Press reports: Beijing...The USA Food and Drug Administration opened
three offices in China during the third week of November 2008. The new offices—the first
FDA offices outside of the United States—will increase effectiveness in protecting
American and Chinese consumers from food safety issues, according to the office of USA
Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt. Leavitt and the agency’s Food and
Drug Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach opened the first office in Beijing on
November 19, 2008, followed by one in Guangzhou and another in Shanghai. Leavitt has
said 13 employees will be assigned to work in the FDA offices in China, but has not said
what their roles will be.
Leavitt’s next priority? Opening FDA offices in India and Central America!
Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). FDA
opening three offices in China this week. Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441, email
kencoons@seafood.com). Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-1441,
email jsackton@seafood.com).

India
Orissa—Importers Not Buying Shrimp Because of Global Economic Crisis
Gorachand Mohanty, president of the Orissa chapter of the Seafood Exporters’
Association of India, says: “The economic crisis along with liquidation of many foreign
banks has hit the seafood industry hard as Indian bankers are not trusting foreign banks
for the transaction of money. We used to export shrimp and other seafood to USA, Japan
and European countries. But the shrimp importers of these countries are not purchasing
seafood from us due to the economic crisis,” Mohanty said.
Source: ExpressBuzz.com. Global meltdown hits seafood industry.

Indonesia
2008 Shrimp Production Will Not Reach Projections
Shidid Moeslim, chairman of the Indonesian Shrimp Commission, said shrimp production
is expected to reach only 350,000 metric tons in 2008, far below the earlier projection of
470,000 tons. In 2007, production was 377,000 tons.
Free News, December 5, 2008 12/7/08 2:49 PM
http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeNews.html Page 7 of 14
Source: Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service).
Indonesia’s shrimp production below target for this year. Ken Coons (phone 781-861-
1441, email kencoons@seafood.com). Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-
861-1441, email jsackton@seafood.com).

Malaysia
Perak—New Policy on Shrimp Farming
The state of Perak is formulating a new policy on shrimp farming that will be introduced
early in 2009. The goal: to register all the shrimp farms in the state, which has
approximately 5,000 shrimp farms that have no legal status; that is, they are operating on
land deeded for other purposes or they are operating illegally in the mangroves. The
state will locate the farms and determine how they can be brought within the system—for
their own protection and for the protection of the mangroves.
Source: The Star Online. Perak to legalise prawn-farming industry. Chan Li Leen.

Mexico
Itamar Rocha
At “World Aquaculture 2009” (a World Aquaculture Society Meeting, scheduled for
Veracruz, Mexico, in May 2009), Itamar Rocha, president of the Brazilian aquaculture
association, will report on the status of shrimp farming in Latin America. It will be an
update of a report that he recently gave at a conference in China. [Editor: I’ve seen the
slides from Rocha’s China presentation, and they are loaded with new statistics on world
shrimp farming.

Philippines
Freshwater Prawns
The first national summit on “Ulang” farming (freshwater prawns, Macrobrachium
rosenbergii) will be held from December 11 to 13, 2008, at the National Integrated
Fisheries Technology Development Center (NIFTDC) in Dagupan City. Dr. Westly
Rosario, executive director of the National Fisheries Research Institute (NFRI), who is
Free News, December 5, 2008 12/7/08 2:49 PM
http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeNews.html Page 10 of 14
Rosario, executive director of the National Fisheries Research Institute (NFRI), who is
spearheading the summit, said that experts on freshwater prawn farming would discuss
ways to improve the production of freshwater prawns in the Philippines.
“Ulang” was given the name “Hipon ni Gloria”, during the visit of President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo at NIFTDC two years ago.
A prawn hatchery was built at NIFTDC, but it appears to have a strain of slow-growing
prawns. Rosario said the industry needed to find out what’s going on and figure out a way
to make prawn farming profitable. He said freshwater prawn farming was promising and
that it was very profitable in Thailand and Indonesia. Both countries have already
collaborated with the Philippines on ways to boost prawn production. Rosario said that in
Thailand, fish farmers were now raising freshwater prawns in hundreds of hectares of
former fish ponds.
Source: Balita-Dot-Ph. National summit on fresh water prawns slated in Dagupan on
December 11-13. November 18, 2008.

Thailand
Airport Incident Disrupts Shrimp Shipments
Beginning in late November 2008, thousands of antigovernment protesters overwhelmed
Bangkok’s two international airports, stopping almost all air traffic until December 2, 2008,
when the protest ended.
Free News, December 5, 2008 12/7/08 2:49 PM
http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeNews.html Page 11 of 14
when the protest ended.
Every night, Korea Air carries about ten tons of chilled shrimp from a small group of Thai
farmers to food markets in Busan and Seoul, Korea. The deal was concluded six years
ago between Korean traders and shrimp farmers in Suphan Buri, Chachoengsao,
Ratchaburi and Pathum Thani to deliver fresh product directly from the pond.
But not a single shrimp left Bangkok during the week-long protests, and the farmers said
they were losing about $56,000 a day, or about $391,000 since the siege began.
The loss may appear small when compared with those of some other sectors, but the
shrimp farmers could lose their Korean customers to suppliers from Vietnam and
Indonesia, said Vanich Sowanapreecha, the owner of Kaset Somboon Farm Co, a lead
company for the group of about 50 farmers. “No airplane from Korea Air or Thai Airways
International has been able to provide any service for frozen products,” he said.
Vanich asked, “What should we do with the shrimp?” The farmers had considered
dumping their surplus shrimp at Suvarnabhumi Airport, but later decided to give the
seafood away to nearby residents.
Sources: 1. The Bangkok Post. Shrimp shipments going nowhere. December 2, 2008.
2. Seafood.com (an online, subscription-based, fisheries news service). Cargo flights
resume as court ruling brings down Thai government. Ken Coons (phone 781-861-1441,
email kencoons@seafood.com). Editor and Publisher, John Sackton (phone 781-861-
1441, email jsackton@seafood.com). December 2, 2008.

United States
Georgia—Sulfites Not Listed on Label for Chinese Shrimp
Tommy Irvin, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner, has alerted consumers about a problem
with a frozen shrimp product from China. The problem is with Sea Best’s “10 Raw Shrimp
Skewers.” The product contains sulfites without listing them on the label. People who
have severe sensitivity to sulfites run the risk of serious or life-threatening reactions if
they consume this product. Scientists at the Georgia Department of Agriculture
discovered the problem during routine sampling.
The product weighs 1.5 pounds (681 grams) and contains 10 skewers of seven shrimp
each. It is a product of China, distributed by Beaver Street Fisheries, Inc., of Jacksonville,
Florida.
“We have notified the Food and Drug Administration of our laboratory findings, and we are
warning the public about the problem,” said Commissioner Irvin. “Our sanitarians will be
checking grocery stores and food warehouses to make sure this product is removed from
sale.”
Free News, December 5, 2008 12/7/08 2:49 PM
http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeNews.html Page 12 of 14
Carlos Sanchez, director of import operations at Beaver Street Fisheries, said the
company launched a voluntary recall of the product, but it plans on testing the skewers to
verify the Georgia Department of Agriculture’s findings. He said the label did not include
a sulfite warning because sulfites are not added to the product. “We don’t have
verification that sulfites are in the product,” said Sanchez, who said his packer assured
him no sulfites were used in the production of the skewers.
Sources: 1. WCTV TV News. Georgia Ag Department Finds Problem with Frozen
Shrimp Product. November 10, 2008. 2. The Wave (an online, subscription-based news
service published by IntraFish Media, Norway). Editorial Director, John Fiorillo (phone
206-282-3474, extension 25, cell 206-963-5732, fax 206-282-3470, email
john.fiorillo@intrafish.com). Beaver Street recalls shrimp skewers. John Fiorillo.
November 11, 2008.

United States
Texas—Harlingen Shrimp Farms, Whole Foods Market and “Shrimpsgiving”
During the month of November 2008, Whole Foods Market, a grocery chain that
specializes in natural and organic foods, sponsored “Shrimpsgiving” to encourage the
consumption of shrimp over the Thanksgiving holiday. Some of the stores had shrimp
from Harlingen Shrimp Farms in Texas. “Both our fully-cooked and raw shrimp are great
grab-and-go value items, and they make quick and tasty additions to special meals, and
easy yet elegant appetizers for Thanksgiving or for any occasion during the holiday
season,” said David Pilat, global seafood coordinator for Whole Foods Market.
Customers chose from wild and premium farmed shrimp, including cooked, tail-on farmed
shrimp from Thailand at $8.99 per pound and raw, shell-on, American-raised white shrimp
(price varied by region).
Pilat said, “Best of all, our farmed shrimp meets the highest quality standards in the
industry so you can feel confident feeding it to your family.” The Company’s strict
aquaculture standards require that its seafood contains no antibiotics, growth hormones,
or preservatives (like sulfites). To learn more about Whole Foods Market’s enhanced
aquaculture standards, visit http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/products/aquaculture.php.
Information: Ashley Hawkins (phone 512-542-0381, email
ashley.hawkins@wholefoods.com, webpage http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com).
Source: MarketWatch.com (part of The Wall Street Journal digital network). Whole
Foods Market Celebrates ‘Shrimpsgiving’ in Stores Nationwide. November 11, 2008.

USING MICRO-ORGANISM TO IMPROVE WATER QUALITY IN SHRIMP CULTURE

Many groups of micro-organism have been used in aquaculture as biological treatmen.
Bacillius blend products are the most common used.
The primary objectiveis for organic waste removal, to prevent it accumulated and caused water quality deterioration. Nitrifying bacteria as well as hydrogen sulfida oxidizing bacteria has also used for ammonia, nitrite and hydrogen sulfida control respectively.
Among these groups, some showed relatively good result whereas many has not shown asignificantly improvement. To obtain better result, selecting the right group of the micro-organism for specific application is needed. Moreover, strain selection for the specivic environment played a major role on the efficiansy of the shrimp culture product.

Plankton Abundance and Diversity in Mangrove Pond (Rhizophoria mucronata)

From research conducted by the Aquaculture Research Center in Jakarta Indonesia mangrove pond Blanakan village Subang district of West Java with a method of research conducted at four stations are:
1. Open Pond
2. Pond Intercropping
3. Pond Soil Incurred
4. Perhutani Pond.
The observed parameters are: composition, abundance, diversity index, uniformity index and dominance index, obtained results that the abundance of plankton in the ponds reaches Blanakan village mangrove 2161.5 to 2391.46 ind / L which is dominated by Chrysophyceae class while the plankton community in ponds mangrove village Blanakan quite stable with the diversity index of 1.83 to 0.36, the uniformity index of 0.78 - 0:09 and the dominance index of 0.24 to 0.07.

Pumpin Iron... Again

A long long time ago, in a very far off land, I wrote a blog about lifting weights with very nice, yet condescending Indian men (click here).

Things have changed. I'm no longer in the same life circumstance, but I find myself frequenting gyms... still... you would have thought I would be cured by now.

No such luck.

So, now I'm going to American gyms. The place I currently have a membership at is called the Kroc center. It's a mega building. Inside this modest behemoth of a shelter lies two swimming pools (a competition pool and a “fun” pool), an indoor track, a climbing wall, a weight room, an aerobic room, various fitness studios, a giant auditorium, a church and three basketball courts (I'm sure I'm missing things... oh yes there is a coffee shop too).

Currently, I would like to focus on the basketball courts. They are great. I played basketball in high school and following graduation was pretty sure I would never partake in the game again. I was tired of it. I moved on to other, better things. Like Bike Riding, swimming, needle work etc.

But, like an ill advised love affair with a rich golfer, I just couldn't give up basketball. So, after two months of longingly glancing at the Kroc's basketball courts I took the plunge. I went to shoot hoops.

It was a steep 'remembering' curve. I was rusty, but luckily it comes back pretty quickly. Unfortunately, I was never that skilled to begin with, so there just wasn't a whole lot to come back.

But I did remember how much I loved the sport. And something else changed. I wasn't competitive about it anymore. Sure, I love to win. And I work hard to beat whatever team I'm playing against. But I don't care. I don't have anything invested. My team wins... great. We lose... great.

This is new. In high school I cared. Deeply. I was intense. I was competitive. I once got in a fight during a game.

Now, when people talk shit to me I don't really care. I'll do my best, and we will see how it works out.

And there is a lot of shit talking.

In sharp contrast to my experience in the Indian gym, most men at the Kroc aren't interested in talking to you, or helping you. This doesn't mean they are unfriendly. I've met some great guys there. But something happens when us males begin lifting weights, or playing basketball. Some switch is turned. We take one step closer to being just pure animals, fighting over a slab of mammoth or something.

Of course, it's all nicely contained. It's all based around this game called “basketball”. People don't completely lose it and rip each others throats out. It's still civilized. But you can see the darker side of it. The pure aggression and ferocity.

And you know what? That is part of the reason I love going. It's a chance to just run all of that out of myself. To get all that latent aggression out in a safe, socially acceptable manner. As opposed to a dangerous, socially acceptable manner, like free climbing, or the running of the bulls.

And so far, I haven't let it get personal. I get aggressive, I dive for the ball, I push people, but it's not personal. None of it. And I don't let it effect my feelings (so far). I don't associate the intensity of the situation with a person.

So many of the men there do. It's personal to them. Either they are blaming another player or they are blaming themselves. You can see it. And it gets heated. Fights have almost started. Elbows have been thrown (it's when you hit someone with your elbow, not actually throwing elbows at each other... that would be sick).

And I guess that is all part of it. So far I haven't gotten sucked in. I don't think I will. I'm going to keep it all in it's proper perspective.

Seeing this reality in American gyms and contrasting it with Indian gyms makes me wonder what causes this huge difference. The best explanation I can come up with is that as a culture we are more aggressive and driven to succeed. So, when us American men (I'm just focusing on men, because as of yet, I haven't been cussed out by a woman) go work out, we carry over this aggressive, success driven mentality.

Meanwhile, our Indian counterparts are saving dumb white kids from falling metal bars...

Washington, DC—Food Safety

A new poll conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center reveals that
Americans expect more from the government when it comes to monitoring the country’s
food supply.
While a majority of people polled about food safety and labeling regard the overall food
supply as safe, almost half said their confidence in the safety of the nation’s food supply
had decreased. Respondents are concerned with bacteria or chemicals in food and the
safety of imported food, and they expect the Food and Drug Administration to conduct
reviews of domestic and foreign food processing plants at least once a month.
“The Consumer Reports poll shows that Americans overwhelmingly expect the
government to do much more to protect the public from contaminated food,” said Urvashi
Rangan, Ph.D., senior scientist and policy analyst at Consumers Union. “Consumers
want to know that the food they buy meets the standards they expect. Our poll shows that
right now, that is not the case.”
More than eight in ten consumers said that when food safety problems arise, the
government should disclose to the public the location of the retailers that sold the
potentially harmful food, including fish, produce and processed foods. More than 80
percent of consumers polled also said they want the government to be able to require a
recall and should be able to quickly and accurately trace food from production to sale.
Ninety-four percent of Americans want all specialty meat and fish stores to label their
products by country of origin. Ninety-five percent of consumers polled believe that
processed or packaged food should require country of origin labeling and that country of
origin information for products should always be available at point of purchase.
Regulations require that large supermarkets, but not independent markets, label produce,
meat and seafood products with their country of origin.
Respondents also said they want a more meaningful label for organic fish. Ninety-three
percent polled said that fish labeled as organic should be produced by 100 percent
organic feed. Ninety percent said that organic fish farms should be required to recover
waste and not pollute the environment and 57 percent are concerned about ocean
pollution caused by fish farms. More than four in ten respondents are concerned about
health problems associated with consuming wild fish.
Source: SeafoodSource.com. Consumer Poll: Americans Want the FDA to Do More
About Food Safety. November 13, 2008.

Shrimp Farming in China

Shrimp Farming in China
Shrimp News Interviews Leland Lai
On November 13, 2008, I interviewed Leland Lai, co-director with Bud Insalata of
Aquafauna Bio-Marine, which, for the past 32 years, has been marketing enrichment,
rotifer culture, maturation and larval diets to shrimp hatcheries worldwide. Based in
Southern California (USA), Aquafauna also designs and equips aquatic hatcheries with
everything they need from water intakes and well screens to heating, filtration, pumping
and aeration systems.
Lai just returned from a two-week stay in China,
where he attended two international conferences:
the China Seafood and Fisheries/Aquaculture
Expo, the largest expo for nutrition and seafood
in China; and Goal 2008, sponsored by the
Global Aquaculture Alliance. The statistics and
production figures that you will see below are
Lai’s best estimates, based on information from
the conferences and other contacts in China.
Shrimp News: How much of your business is
with the world’s shrimp farming industry?
Leland Lai: Probably, about 75%. The balance
is with finfish and design work for hatchery
systems.Shrimp News: Why have you spent so much
time in China over the last couple of years?
Leland Lai: China produces two-thirds of the
world’s aquaculture tonnage. It has tens of
thousands of aquatic hatcheries. That’s our
market. You go where the action is, and right
now, for us, it’s in China. We have offices in
Qingdao, a city in northeast China that’s surrounded by six or seven major universities
and aquatic research institutions. Fifty to sixty percent of China’s noted aquaculture
scientists are in the city of Qingdao, and Qingdao Province is probably the country’s most
prolific aquaculture province. We draw heavily on all these resources during the
development of our products. Most of China’s production is from freshwater aquaculture,
but there are plenty of developments on the marine side, too. Wherever you go in the
north, you see fish, mollusk and coolwater shrimp farming (Penaeus chinensis).
Shrimp News: Do you have a partner in China?
Leland Lai: Yes, Qingdao Samuels Industrial and Commercial Company, Ltd. We have a
joint partnership with them to do distribution and to develop products for the Chinese
market.
Shrimp News: What do you think your biggest products for shrimp hatcheries will be?
Leland Lai: We can’t compete with the run-of-the-mill shrimp hatchery diets in China.
They’re based on inexpensive labor and local ingredients. What they lack in quality, they
make up for in volume and low prices.
We are targeting the enrichment diets used for rotifers and Artemia in finfish culture. To
support the growth of aquaculture in China, we are also looking at the market for fish
meal and fish oil replacements used in the production of aquafeeds. Such replacement
diets will be for finfish and shrimp with the inclusion of the essential fatty acids that enable
wider use of sustainable terrestrial plant and animal substitutes for the fish meals and
oils. Fishmeal is currently used to provide proteins while the fish oils provide the energy
source and essential fatty acids needed for growth, survival and certain taste/texture
qualities. The essential fatty acids we use are sustainably produced using biofermentation
technology and grown without light. This source of fatty acids also reduces
the amount of contaminants found in wild sourced meals and oils. Solve some of these
fishmeal and fish oil supply issues in China (the low cost producer) and you make a big
dent in solving the same supply problems in the rest of the world.
Shrimp News: How do shrimp hatcheries in China differ from those in the Western
Hemisphere and the rest of the world?
Leland Lai: There’s a wide spectrum of hatcheries, from small mom-and-pops to large
integrated operations, but, like Vietnam, the nature of small-scale hatcheriesIt’s probably happening even more quickly in China than in Vietnam. It’s a
good thing because the large hatcheries improve production efficiencies. They use the
latest technology, science-based feeds and specific pathogen free broodstock. Since it’s
too expensive for the Chinese to import ingredients from the West, they generally make
their hatchery feeds from domestic ingredients—and the quality is all over the place.
Shrimp News: Did you see anything new in shrimp growout technology?
Leland Lai: We’re seeing more and more lined ponds. Most of them are small, intensive
and use aeration equipment. They look a lot like the ponds that developed in Taiwan in
the late 1980s. In fact, much of the shrimp farming technology in southern China was
transplanted from Taiwan.
Shrimp News: While you were in China, did you hear any production figures on farmed
shrimp?
Leland Lai: Yes, “officially”
China is producing about
700,000 metric tons of
farmed shrimp a year, but
people I spoke with in the
north, in the south and in
academia and government
said production was
probably much higher than
that, probably over a million
metric tons a year. Not as much Penaeus monodon is being grown in China, but large
quantities of P. chinensis are still being grown in northern China. Generally, farmers in
northern China produce one crop of large shrimp a year. In southern China, it’s mostly P.
vannamei, and two or more crops a year.
Shrimp News: How many aquatic feed mills are there in China?
Leland Lai: Probably 1,500, or so, some big, some small. Up north, they’re mostly for
fish; down south, they’re mostly for shrimp. Some are national, some just work within one
province, but they’re all in the private sector. The government doesn’t own the feed mills
in China. Most of the feeds are based on monodon formulations, even though they are
used to feed vannamei. This means lots of fat and protein, so it’s not uncommon to see
feeds with 40% protein and three, or more, percent fat. In the West, vannamei farmers
drop protein levels down to 25% to 35% and fat levels closer to 1%.
Shrimp News: What are the key diseases and what methods are being implemented tocombat them?
Leland Lai: Key diseases include whitespot, Taura and hepatopancreatic parvovirus
disease. Farmers and hatcheries fight diseases by selecting high-quality seed and feed,
cutting off the disease at its source, keeping water quality high and sterilizing everything
that can be sterilized. Limiting pond water exchange is also a recently implemented
technique.
Shrimp News: Of total farmed production, what percent stays in China for domestic
consumption and what percent is exported?
Leland Lai: About 20% of total production is exported; 80% is consumed domestically!
Shrimp News: Are there standards that prohibit the use of antibiotics on shrimp farms?
Who tests the finished product?
Leland Lai: Yes, there are standards that prohibit the use of antibiotics on shrimp farms.
They are enforced by national and local fishery authorities. The best enforcement,
however, is the rejection of shipments that test positive for antibiotics by foreign
importers. This immediately affects the Chinese exporter/processor and the “word” quite
rapidly trickles down to the farm level that shrimp with detectable levels of antibiotics may
be rejected by the local processor.
Shrimp News: Are greenhouses being used for shrimp farming in China?
Leland Lai: Not in the south because it’s warm most of the year. Up north, some
hatcheries get a jump on the season by head-starting postlarvae in greenhouses.
Shrimp News: How about aeration.
Leland Lai: It’s mostly paddlewheels in intensive ponds, basically the same intensive
technology that evolved in Taiwan. Up north, it’s not nearly as intensive—no aeration,
large ponds and daily water exchange.
In the south, for the most part, farmers use small, lined ponds (less than a hectare). The
large integrated farms produce mostly what the export market wants right now. They set
future delivery prices and take orders in advance. They look at their order books to
determine when to stock and harvest. They know their cost of production before they
start. How else could they reliably establish “contract” growing?
Shrimp News: What do they do with the heads from processed shrimp in China?
Leland Lai: Sometimes they’re processed into fish, shrimp, or other animal feeds. It
would seem to be a large breach in biosecurity to use shrimp heads in the manufacturing
of shrimp feed, however, they’re commonly incorporated in many formulations.Shrimp News: Did you pick up any information on freshwater prawn farming?
Leland Lai: Yes, there’s lots of prawn farming occurring in China, but it’s difficult to
determine the amount because the statistics on vannamei farming in freshwater and
freshwater prawn farming (Macrobrachium species) often get mixed together.
Shrimp News: Did you see or hear anything about lobster or crab farming in China?
Leland Lai: Not much about lobster farming, but the crab farming industry is quite large.
It’s mostly in freshwater with the hairy crab, named for the hairs on its appendages. A lot
of blue crab is grown in marine and brackish water ponds, mostly as a byproduct to some
other cultured species.
Shrimp News: Earlier you mentioned that you would be offering fish meal and fish oil
replacements to feed companies in China. Tell me a little about that.
Leland Lai: China consumes almost half the world’s supply of fish meal and fish oil. We
are testing essential fatty acids that enable wider use of terrestrial plant and animal
protein/oils as replacements for fishmeal and fish oils. Government, academia and the
private sector have been very responsive to what we’re doing, not only for cost and supply
reasons, but also for long-term sustainability reasons. If China produces a million metric
tons of farmed shrimp a year, it’s probably producing at least two million tons of shrimp
feed. We want to replace some of the fish meal and fish oil in those feeds with
sustainable proteins and oils. The key here is the essential fatty acids that terrestrial
proteins and oils are lacking.
Shrimp News: What’s the consumer shrimp market like in China?
Leland Lai: The size of the middle class is about a quarter of a billion people. Seafood
has been a popular menu item in China for centuries. Now that shrimp is readily available
at relatively moderate prices, China has become one of the major shrimp consuming
nations in the world, right up there with Japan, Europe and the United States!
Information: Leland Lai, Director, Aquafauna
Bio-Marine, Inc., P.O. Box 5, Hawthorne,
California 90250 USA (phone 310-973-5275, fax
310-676-9387, email lelandlai@aquafauna.com,
webpage http://www.aquafauna.com).
Source: Leland Lai. Telephone interview by
Bob Rosenberry, Shrimp News International.
November 13, 2008.

Catch Up

So, it's been a while since I've written. I'll just do a quick recap of everything that has gone on.

The Sentinel

Issue 3 of The Sentinel came out on Nov. 16. It was a crazy issue. At 11:00 pm on Saturday night the server that all of the work is held on disappeared. We could no longer access the pages we had designed, the articles we had written etc.

I did what I could but it quickly became apparent there was nothing I could do. I called our emergency tech support guy and he told us that the server was down for routine maintenance. We weren't notified. He said that it may or may not be up and running by Sunday afternoon.

It sucked. So, after running around the NIC campus trying to find the guy who was (supposedly) doing all the work, I decided to send all the editors home and just come in early to see what could be worked out.

I left NIC at 1:30 am. I slept until 5:00 and then drove on back. The Server wasn't up, so I went to sleep for 30 minutes. Woke up, checked the Server. Still not there. Went back to sleep. This cycle continued for about 3 hours.

Finally, that little gray globe of hope popped up.

Almost immediately my tech support friend called telling me we had an hour to get everything we needed off the server.

Well, to make a long story short, the paper got done. It involved a lot of flash drives and a lot of waiting around for things to transfer.

Possibly the most frustrating thing about this all was that the server stayed up the whole time we were using the flash drives. Yet, I didn't dare use the server, for fear that it would disappear.

But the important thing was the the paper got out on time, with no major mistakes. There were some minor ones, unfortunately. It certainly won't win any design awards but at least it's respectable.

Arizona

So on Nov. 16 (Monday) I got on a plane headed for Prescott, Arizona. The trip was a combination Yoga adventure/friend visit. I did a Yoga workshop there and also got to spend some quality time with some good friends of mine. It was a great trip, full of sun and natural beauty.

I was planning on bringing my camera to document the trip, however, at the last minute I decided to forget. I have this thing about cameras. I love taking photos, I love looking at photos. Yet I hate taking photos and looking at them.

Yeah, confusing.

I think what it comes down to is that I find it hard to really concentrate on what is going on if I'm always trying to take a cool looking photo.

I know that really good photographers don't have this problem. They actually focus more and experience more. Me, I just get frustrated. I want to convey the beauty or whatever it is in a photo, yet I always find my photography lacking. So, often I simply won't take photos. Which, isn't the way that you get better at taking photos. It's a dilemma.

So, that is why there are no photos of my trip.

So, yup that basically recaps the last week or two. Right now it's thanksgiving. My grandma is here from LA.

Starting tomorrow I will begin working on the upcoming issue of The Sentinel. It's the last one of the semester and it's going to be a big one (and good). So I'm getting a jump on that.

Well, that about sums it up.

Have a great thanksgiving.

Approaching Arizona

Well, I've been very busy with The Sentinel and other commitments. I don't really have much to say in this post, except a new issue of The Sentinel is out (more on that later) and I'm going to Arizona for a week.

I'm going to visit some friends that live there and just generally have a nice time. It won't be significantly warmer there, however, I'm sure it will be milder than it has been around here lately (try 30 degrees, in the day).

So, I'm excited for that. I love traveling and seeing new places and people. I'm looking forward to it.

I will bring my camera, so hopefully I have some photos to share when I return. We will see.

Waste to green or ruin

Over 3000 years ago peoples in Asia began to practice poly culture, a process development in which they successfully learned how to recycle agriculture wastes to improve the yield obtained by farming a secondary source of protein( yet eventually equally or more important than the initial crop), that protein source was fish.

Now let us go further back in an effort to explore the role of fish as

Ikan Jaket (Sukang fish or Cencaru fish)

IKAN JAKET (Ikan Sukang)

Nutrition Facts
Leather Jacket Fillet Fish


Serving Size: 3 oz
Amount per Serving

* Calories 71 Calories from Fat 16

% Daily Value *

* Total Fat 1.79g 3%
* Saturated Fat 0.6g 3%
* Monounsaturated Fat 0g
* Polyunsaturated Fat 0g
* Trans Fat 0g
* Cholesterol 0mg 0%
* Sodium 38.79mg 2%
* Potassium 0mg 0%
* Total Carbohydrate 0g 0%
* Dietary Fiber 0g 0%
* Sugars 0g
* Protein 13.8g 28%

* Vitamin A1%
* Calcium2%
* Iron2%

Est. Percent of Calories from:
Fat 22.7% Carbs 0.0%
Protein 77.7%

ACP Best of Show

Well, I just found out today that the most recent edition of The Sentinel won Best of Show at the national Associated Collegiate Press convention in Austin, Texas (ACP).

It was pretty awesome to learn that we won that award. We've won it the last couple of years in a row, so I was glad to continue that tradition.

As happy as I am with that, I'm even happier knowing that we have so much to improve on. This last issue was by far the best issue we've produced this year, however, there is plenty to get better at. Jake Donahue (basically a media genius) critiqued our paper, right before it went to the convention, and I'm confident that our next issue will be even better than the last, due in large part to his merciless and brutally accurate observations (to put it nicely).

So, yahoo. We won. But we can do a lot better and I'm confident we will. We have the staff, the adviser and, most importantly, the desire.

Speaking of desire, as much as I love winning awards myself, the real reason that I feel driven to succeed at this job of journalism at NIC is because of the tradition of success. Recently The Sentinel featured an article entitled "Decades of Dominance" (it was about the wrestling team). Well, the same could be said for the newspaper. The Sentinel has been known to be one of the best college newspapers in the country for years. This is because of the incredible knowledge and dedication of Nils Rosdahl (the adviser).

As the managing editor I feel responsible for keeping this tradition alive. Like I said, personally I love winning shit (who doesn't?) but the main motivator is continuing the tradition.
And the truth is, I couldn't do it without the tradition. I'm good at what I do, but I'm not a maverick genius... I rely on the knowledge of those that have come before me... quite heavily in fact.

So, here is to continued success.

HACCP

In September 2009 I was informed by the FDA that either our South Korean suppliers of seed abalone or of future wholesaler to market or ourselves require someone to have a HACCP plan. I decided to keep full control and I’m doing this myself.

I’m working through Cornell University Seafood HACCP program which I hope to have all 12 modules completed by Christmas 2009 and then onto the North Carolina State University 2 day program to finish the certification requirements for FDA. In the mean time the quarantine / processing building and plant / equipment which is at 65% completed is on hold until this last regulation is complete.

We have been in contact with out South Korean suppliers and working for a March 2010 delivery of abalone to North Carolina. A staff member in December 2009 will make a visit to the abalone farms in South Korea to confirm our requirements.

The FDA along with the Fish/Wildlife will finally completed the long and sometimes difficult task of getting full approval to operate an abalone farm either here in North Carolina or anywhere else in the U.S.A.

The next people wanting to do this will not have any of the issues I have had but that’s life.

Like abalone good thing take time.

Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) for abalone or aquaculture industry

The following is a list of Standard Operational Procedure (SOP) for abalone and aquaculture industry. The SOP come in book form only and if you are interested in any of theses please let me know.

Working on abalone farm.
Abalone biology.
Abalone hatchery.
*MEARS for aquaculture
***Waste system for MEARS in aquaculture.
Live shipment for abalone.
***HACCP.
**Best environmental practices for aquaculture.
**Operational systems for aquaculture
Abalone diseases
Management of abalone farm
**Training of staff in all areas.

NB: No marks mean the SOP is for abalone farming only
* is for the MEARS only and can be either abalone or any other aquaculture farming
** is for general aquaculture industry
*** Still in development

Bourgeois (or Bushwa?) Suffering

This post is about suffering, and all the forms that it manifests in my daily life...
For instance, yesterday, I was biking to a coffee shop. I was going to meet my brother and just hang out and enjoy a nice cup of coffee.

I had this nice white long-sleeved tee-shirt on. It was really nice, really comfortable and really good looking. I felt happy to be wearing this shirt.

So, like I said I was biking. Going along, riding next to this beautiful lake, just enjoying it all.

And then, you know what happened?

These freaking bugs came out of now where. Literally thousand upon thousands of these dumb obnoxious worthless gnats.

And you know what they did?

They didn't get out of my way. They plastered themselves against my face, my hair, my nice white shirt, my pants, my eyes.

I could barely see, I could barely continue forward.

And that isn't even the worst part.

The worst part, was that when I finally reached my destination, I tried to brush them off, and they splattered all over my beautiful, pure white shirt. Leaving all these ugly yellow blood marks.

The nerve.

This is just one instance of the daily suffering that I'm forced to endure.
Another great example.

About a month ago I go a new computer. With the new computer came a new I-pod, which was part of the whole deal. Well, I decided to engrave something on the back of my I-pod. After thinking about it long and hard, I decided I wanted to write Bourgeois Suffering. Bourgeois is a french word that means middle-class. I figured that putting this on the back of my I-pod would be a good reminder to me and others about the daily hardships I'm forced to face living in North Idaho. See above.

Well, not being French, and not understanding how to spell French words, I decided to Google and determine the most appropriate way to spell 'Bourgeois' (as you can see, I learned how to spell it correctly, alas too little too late).

Being hopelessly American I spelled it Bushwa (it makes sense, if you think about it).
So, I Googled it, just to double check.

That didn't help at all, all the dictionaries told me 'Bushwa' means nonsense or bullshit. Well, I decided that the online dictionaries didn't know what they were talking about. So I went ahead and got Bushwa Suffering engraved on my I-pod.
Now, you might say this is my fault.

It's not.

Let me explain how this is just another example of my daily suffering.

I live in North Idaho. Because I live here I know next to nothing about French. I took Spanish in school. Spanish isn't French. French words are different than Spanish words, and Spanish words are different than English words.

I'm a victim of ignorance.

Henry B. Adams said, “Nothing in education is so astonishing as the amount of ignorance it accumulates in the form of inert facts.”
I couldn't have said it better myself.

See, clearly I have been the victim of a faulty education.

So, don't be pointing your fingers at me saying that I'm full of Bushwa. It's just not the case. I am suffering. Deeply suffering, from a lack of knowledge, brought on by “inert facts.”

And yes, there are still bugs in my nose.

Note: Pema Chodron, a Tibetan Buddhist nun, coined the phrase Bourgeois Suffering. Obviously she doesn't have anything on me in the suffering department.

Institutionalized Blindness

I live in Northern Idaho. I love it here, it's beautiful and peaceful.
For me at least.
A few weeks ago, Rachel Dolezlal, an art teacher at the local college (North Idaho Community College) found a noose on here porch. Dolezal is mixed race and a human rights advocate. She is strong and not quite about her work here.
And she has become a target for hate groups. The community response here was typical, people were outraged. Angry that that kind of thing still happens in this area.
And its terrible. And people should be outraged.

But we are missing something. I couldn't put my finger on it for a long time. Everyone is supportive. Everyone is committed to driving hate and racism out of this area. But something felt wrong.

And then I went to the Action Against Hate benefit dinner (through Gonzaga University). It was a great event, and, don't get me wrong, the organization behind it is doing good stuff.

But, it epitomized the problem, in my mind.

Every speaker, every person honored (minus one) was white. There were few colored people in the audience. There were none up on the stage. It was a bunch of well meaning white men(mostly men) talking about all the great work they had done.

And, yes admitting there was a lot more work to be done.

But, the irony was irresistible. And no one talked about it. No one brought it up. Not a single speaker recognized their innate inability to truly feel what someone of color feels.

I'm white. I don't know what it's like to be discriminated against (I'm also a man, so I've got a lot going for me). So, how can I, a white male, really 'get' what it's like to be black? Or native American? Or Asian? Or any of the other of a multitude of marginalized groups?

In my mind that is the problem currently. People are doing wonderful work. People are strongly against racism. Against hate. Discrimination. All of that. But, the institutions, the processes that surround the good work being done, are fundamentally flawed. They are fundamentally discriminatory. And people don't want to, or simply can't reflect on the institutions they are caught up in.

And, like I said, I'm white. So everything I observe, everything I think is colored (bad pun) by this. And quite possibly everything I've said isn't true, possibly I'm full of it and don't know what I'm talking about. Hopefully, however, I have the humility to recognize this and defer to the knowledge and life experience of someone who has actually been discriminated against, who has actually been hated for something as ridiculous as the color of their skin.

A few things

Well I don't really have any one coherent theme for this post. So here are just some random topics (well not just random, how about just unrelated to one another).

Weather

The weather is changing. I love summer and each year I look toward the changing of the seasons with a something bordering on dread. I don't want to be cold, locked up inside etc.

And then the weather changes... and well it's great. Today was the first 'real' fall day in Couer d'Alene and I loved it. I biked a lot (to get to various places) and it was wonderful to be outside in the cold and just feel the crispness of the air.

I think my deep rooted dislike of colder weather goes back to my high school days. I liked high school, actually I think it would be fair to say I loved it (well parts of it). However, it prevented me from doing quite a lot of things. Instead of being out side I was forced to be inside, sitting at a desk. So, I never really got to enjoy the nuances of the colder seasons.

Now that I'm emancipated things are changing. Yes, technically I'm in school, but college is a different beast (well at least for me). I have more free time. I can actually go outside and enjoy the cold weather. So, I'm all ready for the Northwest Winter. It's going to be a good one.

Biking

The last week or so has been an excellent bike week. Unlike today the weather has been warm (actually hot) and the sun has been shining. I've been putting in a lot of miles, going on 40 mile rides every other day or so.

There is something about road biking that is so amazing for me. It's so peaceful, so quite. I'm able to go places and see the natural beauty of this area in way that I never would be able to, if it weren't for my bike.

Plus it is such a clean way of moving. I don't mean environmentally clean (although it is), I mean just clean feeling. It's just you, the bike and the road. If you have a bike that is efficient and tuned up... oh boy, what a great feeling.

When all the fish are gone?

Here is a great picture and memory:

After a good night’s sleep, you awake to a great sunny morning and reflect upon the wonderful relaxing experience that you enjoyed last night. The memories of that great meal you shared with your special someone rests in your mind. The feeling of comfort and closeness you discovered, over the candle light casting shadows at your secluded table while soft music

Abalone Farming

This Blog site by Robert J. Bishop is to help people better understand abalone farming or other types of marine/fresh water farming from time to time.

The Marine Environmental Aquaculture Recirculation Systems (MEARS) is one of the ways I believe is the future for aquaculture farming.

On land MEARS will help to minimize the use of natural resource and improve productive and profit.

In brief a MEARS works like this.

1. The building is made of freezer panel to keep the temperature the same all year which has better R value than normal building material. With aluminum wall coverage this makes the farm easy to wash down keeping the farm cleaner and faster to put up.

2. Since the farm uses seawater we can use fresh water to clean all equipment without using harsh chemicals.

3. Using a Geothermal system for temperature control help greatly cut down on the electrical cost by using the ground temperature to main our requirements temperature all year round.

4. By using new technology we can monitor, control and maintained all our parameters to achieve a better product while making less need for import materials to the farm.

5. We use rain water from the roof of the building to help make up the loss in the normal farming environment and cleaning. This even in a 50% less rain fall than normal for North Carolina will still save us 68% in water cost pumping and taking of ground water.

I’m working to help people make a difference for the future so we can feed ourselves and not keep going to the ocean which is not an open and endless seafood basket.

Stealing. An effective way of making change.

Well, I've done it. For a long time I've lusted after this program. It's the premier photo editing program. It gives you the power to do anything, more or less. But it also comes at a hefty price. 1,000 dollars a pop is kind of a lot of money.

And then I discovered the student edition. It's the same program. As far as I know. And it only cost 200 dollars. Quite a deal, if you ask me.

I'm not a hundred percent sure why Adobe would offer their software at an 80 percent discount. I was thinking about it and I decided that it probably had to do with stealing. I imagine that students are the primary 'stealers' of programs (like Photoshop). So, I guess it would make sense for Adobe to try and incite us students to go through the proper channels.

Basically, I think that the rampant downloading of programs from sites like BitTorrent, encouraged Adobe to lower their prices, for some. So, stealing can be a form of protest, yes? I think these kind of programs are worth a lot of money, but asking a college kid to spend 1,000 dollars is kind of ridiculous. So, keep stealing, maybe the price will go down even farther. Or listen to your conscience and let others do the stealing for you.

Aquaculture sees surge in worldwide production

A new report by an international team of researchers, published September 07 in the online edition of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), states that Aquaculture now accounts for 50 percent of the fish consumed globally.

Once considered to be a fledgling industry not so long ago, "Aquaculture is set to reach a landmark in 2009, supplying half of the total fish and

Some good old color replacement.

I know color replacement is kind of old hat if you will, however, I still think it's one of the coolest things you can do. So, I took this photo of two 'bucket drummers' that I took while in Chicago, and messed with its color...

... so here is the original...

... and here it is with a B&W mask on it...

... and here is the good old replaced color.

Hundredth Post

Well, I'm home from my Chicago adventures. It's good to be back. I've been incredibly busy with my new job as the managing editor of NIC's newspaper, The Sentinel. Basically the impetus for creating this post is that I just want to be able to join the hundred post club. I don't know if there is such a thing, but if there is, you can count me in. Because this is my hundredth post!

When I first started blogging. I kind of felt like it had no purpose. Sometimes I still feel like that (like right now, for instance). But generally speaking I feel like blogging is a great way to express what you are seeing and thinking. Everyone has a different perspective, on everything. So, being able to easily publish that on the web is wonderful. Gone are the days of newspapers having hegemonic control over our media consumption.

It also helps to know that you have readers. When I first started blogging I installed a program called Google Analytics. It lets me know when people are looking at my blog, where they are looking at it from (just a general region, no specific addresses), how long they are looking at it and a slew of other things that I don't really understand. It keeps me motivated, so thanks to everyone who has followed this blog.

Speaking of blogging (because that is of what we are speaking) you all should check out my good friend Heidi Groover's blog. She is spending the semester/year in Ghana. She is an amazing writer and is obviously seeing some amazing stuff. So check it out here.

Anyways, I'm going to sign off now. Again, thank you all, your readership means a lot to me. I will post again soon, hopefully it will deal with biking our journalism. We will see!

a humble start...

Soon after being introduced to AQUAPONICS! I began to scheme...it was less than an hour after I was introduced to the concept that I began to develop my first aquaponics "system".

I had this goldfish bowl sitting around idle...with some ramshorn snails and freshwater aquatic moss. It was not doing a whole lot for me, the snails or the moss...



The snails were producing prodigious amounts of poop- eating algae and the odd bits of food I threw in for them. I decided these snails and their poo would provide the engine of fertility for my first aquaponics system.



I happened to have a Philodendron as a houseplant and it was gimping along...neglected as much as the snails and moss. I repotted the Philodendron in some aquarium gravel contained within a hydroponics growing pot.

No, I didn't happen to have a hydroponics growing pot lying about...but I live in Seattle...there seems to be a hydroponics growing store on every street corner...indoor "gardeners" abound...though I doubt their intended crop is snails and philodendron...

A quick bus ride to the 'ponics shop and I had the material I needed for my first aquaponics set-up.

The idea is that the snails will continue to poop and pollute the water and the philodendron will send its roots into the water and feed and grow from the nutrient soup in the goldfish bowl below...cleansing the water in the process.

WHAT IS AQUAPONICS???

Background info:

Fish excrete waste that is rich in nitrogen through their poop, their urine and through their gills. This waste is toxic to the fish even in low concentrations. Plants thrive on nitrogen and nitrogen is a primary nutrient that fuels plant growth.

Here's the scoop:

In an aquaponics system, a tank of fish is plumbed to a growing system of plants in a recirculating system where the water goes from the fish to the roots of the plants and pumped back again in a continuous cycle.

In the process, the plants suck up the toxic nitrogen waste from the fish tank water and grow exuberantly. The water is then cleansed and purified and provides ideal water quality for the fish.

In an aquaponics system, two complimentary "crops" are produced for the same amount of effort- fish and veggies.

Aquaponics mimics a simplified symbiotic feedback loop found within most ponds, lakes and rivers where fish and plants coexist.

Aquaponics is the essence of a balanced aquatic ecology.

In the beginning...

A friend of mine asked me "HEY, HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF AQUAPONICS???"

I thought to myself...

"aqua...ponics?"

After being involved in the aquarium hobby since I was six and working professionally in the aquaculture field my entire career...I had heard of everything "aqua" except...

Aquaponics!

"Aquaponics" sounded weird enough to pique my eccentric sense of curiosity.

I googled it and discovered enough about aquaponics to realize...

it would soon be an obsession of mine.