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A SUCCESS STORY: ECUADORIAN SHRIMP FARMING

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FEATURE

A success story

L
Ecuadorian shrimp farming
by Hervé Lucien-Brun, Aquaculture & Qualite, France

ocated between Colombia and Peru on changes through the implementation of pumping stations
the Pacific cost of the South American and feeding shrimp with compound feed produced by local
continent, Ecuador is a small Latin enterprises. During that period, Ecuadorean growers relied almost
American country, with only 277,000 entirely on post larvae (PL’s), collected in the wild by artisanal
square kilometers of land and 2,200 fishermen, to stock their ponds. Estimates vary, but apparently
km of coastline. Nevertheless, Ecuador more than 90,000 people were involved in this fishery.
is one of the world’s major players in In 1984, the year following the very strong Niño phenomena,
farmed shrimp production (Fig. 1), the lack of wild PL’s pushed farm owners to build hatcheries. As
especially if we look at the shrimp a result, throughout the late 80s, more than 65 large hatcheries
production ratios relative to the land surface (Fig. 2) or to the and a lot of smaller ones were built, mostly along the Peninsula
length of coastline of the considered countries (Fig. 3). de Santa Helena, which takes the famous name of the hatchery
Shrimp farming in Ecuador started in 1969 with the extensive raw. The biologists who built these hatcheries were of various
method, which consisted of capturing the seeds from the estuaries nationalities - Ecuadorian, American, Mexican, English, French
and then transporting them into the earth ponds where they and Filipinos. A large majority of these hatcheries were built
were maintained during four to eight months in order to reach a following the Aquacop design or the Galveston one. In 2014,
marketable size. The size of the ponds was from 10 to over 50 a total of 110 hatcheries were registered by the Ecuadorian
hectares. Today, almost 185,000 thousand hectares of ponds are National Institute of Fisheries, which are able to produce a total
dedicated to shrimp production mostly located in the Guayaquil of more than five billion PL’s per month.
area (look Fig. 4). The individual size of a shrimp farm ranges Apart from very few foreign-owned companies (between 2-4),
from less than 10 hectares to more than 2,000, but a large
majority (almost 35 percent), in terms of surface are between 100 Table 1: Number of ecuadorian shrimp farms per size and per provinces
to 250Ha (Fig. 5). This repartition is different when talking about
Provinces Guayas Manabi El Oro Esmeralda Total
the number of farms (Tab. 1). &
Unit size of N
̊ %
The density of shrimp farms in the Guayas is really impressive farms
Santa
Helenta
with a lot of ecological connections between all farms. So it is
0-10 Ha 148 203 166 88 605 20%
almost impossible that one shrimp can be isolated from others
(Fig. 6). It is also important to insist on the fact that the water 10-20 Ha 107 146 215 82 550 18%

quality is variable in a lot of farms according to their position in 20-30 Ha 118 94 153 38 403 13%
the delta. During the winter and rainy season, the temperature 30-40 Ha 79 43 93 29 244 8%
is elevated but the salinity is very low to almost 0ppt in many 40-50 Ha 112 50 87 17 266 9%
farms; during the summer and dry season, the temperature is 50-100 Ha 229 38 127 21 415 14%
lower and the salinity higher (from 10ppt to 36ppt according the 100-250 Ha 330 28 71 14 443 15%
farm situation). Despite these not being the optimal theoretical 250-500 60 3 6 11 80 3%
condition for sustainable shrimp farming, Ecuador has pioneered
500-1,000 Ha 24 - 4 2 30 1%
and led shrimp farming production in Latin America.
1,000-2,000 8 - - 1 9 0%
Ha
What happened from 1970-2000? UP 2,000 Ha 1 - - - 1 0%
During the late 70s and early 80s, the farming method moved
TOTAL 1 216 605 992 303 3 046 100%
towards semi-intensive techniques such as increasing water

32 | May 2017 - International Aquafeed

 FEATURE
the development of shrimp aquaculture in Ecuador was carried
out by Ecuadorian investors. Indeed, the production of farmed
shrimp in Ecuador has gradually risen despite incidents such as
Seagull syndrome in 1989 and the Taura Syndrome in 1993. But
it is especially the WSSV outbreak of 1999-2000, which had
marked a real turning point in the history of shrimp farming in
Ecuador (Fig.7).
Before 1999, it was always a big issue about whether to farm
wild or hatchery PL’s. For until this period, all the hatcheries
used to work exclusively with wild caught brood stock to load
the maturation tanks and even with ready-to-spawn females that
fishermen brought every day in hatcheries.
Most of the farmers preferred wild PL’s, although not so much
because of a real difference in quality, but rather because most
of the time the negotiations after counting the number of PL’s
Figure 1: 2015 national farmed shrimp production
was easier for them with fishermen than with hatchery biologists.
It is important to say that the bonus of the biologists was not
calculated according to the survival in on-growing ponds not
based on the number of really stocked PL’s but on the number of
the purchased PL’s. Nevertheless, when they were buying seed in
a hatchery, they were always very concerned by the PL’s quality
and they used to revise carefully the breeding forms and the
results of the stress test.
Special attention has always been placed upon the PL’s
acclimatisation to the water quality of ponds and not just on the
salinity or the temperature. For that, farms were equipped with
fixed or mobile acclimatisation stations. Acclimatisation is to
gradually change the water transport with the pool water. This
can last for 48 hours depending on the water quality of the rearing
tank.
There were no plans for domestication and genetic selection
Figure 2: 2015 ratio national farmed shrimp production vs country
even fewer. Some companies had tried to import animals SPF land area

International Aquafeed - May 2017 | 33

FEATURE
from Hawaii, but it had always ended in the failures.
After the TSV outbreak, some of the big farms started to
consider things with a fresh perspective and change began. But
the failures were neither strong nor long enough to really call the
attention of the farm owners. During the end of 1999 to 2000, the
failures become really serious due to a WSSV outbreak and the
question of the survival of the shrimp aquaculture industry was
seriously threatened.
Most of the free land to implement new shrimp farms was
already occupied and it was almost impossible to develop new
shrimp farms to compensate for the mortality, as this was done
in some other countries. So to be efficient and to revive shrimp
production in Ecuador, all aspects had to be considered.
As an immediate response, in order to limit the impact of the
drop of incomes consequent to the collapse of production, most
of the major groups reduced their costs by sharing their fixed
costs facilities as hatcheries and packing plants, and closing
the non-used ones. They started to improve the technology by
working on several levels of the production chain.
One of the first measures was to prohibit the importation of
livestock, frozen elements and especially the use of wild brood
stock and/or wild larvae that could potentially carry diseased
vectors.
For better control on the health of the animal as well as more
efficient biosecurity, the production flow was divided into four
phases:
1. Hatchery: 15-18 days Nauplii to PL9 (≈ 500 PL’s/gr)
2. Nursery: 15 days, PL9 to PL24 (≈ 15 PL’s/gr)
3. Pregrowing during 15 to 25 days up to 0,6 to one grammes:
Mostly in intensive in covered raceways.
ture t
q u acul ntinen
l d A n c o
Wor Africa time.
t h e
f i r s t 2017, June 27 - 30
s programs from the first animals selected from particular ponds
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The Annual International Conference & Exposition of World Aquaculture Society
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34 | May 2017 - International Aquafeed
But also in semi-intensive in small earthen ponds
4. Grow out in large earthen pond during 90 to120 days to reach
harvest size18 to 22 grammes
More specifically, the main measures taken by the most
important companies that have had a direct impact on the revival
and growth of the Ecuadorian production of farmed shrimp can
be summarised in the following points.
Brood stock and genetics
Considering that most of the pathogens are present in the
environment of the farms, the purpose of the Ecuadorian shrimp
breeders was to select strains of shrimp with high survival in
shrimp farms that were themselves respectful to biodiversity.
The first real criterion of selection was the survival. The second
involved the breeders selecting the fastest growers, including
using reproduction indicators in the hatchery.
Based on this concept, the breeders have implemented family
according to their survival performances, strict health analysis,
and external physical condition.
Two schemes were used to create the families: double cousins
and some groups are also using the molecular markers technology
after a mass selection of the original lines. This second technique
allows for the growth of the whole family together, enabling a
reduction in facility investment.
The resistance or the tolerance of the families to the main
diseases today, WSSV, TSV and EMS, are routinely checked by
challenge test. Crossing these families, according to the situation
of the farm or specific purposes of the breeders, produces the
lines used as brood stock in maturation.
After a first conditioning, for at least 15 days following their
reception in the hatchery, the animals are bleached using feed
supplemented with OTC. Then the brood stock are selected,
tagged, and transferred to maturation tanks. During all these
steps, probiotics and stress reducers are used as high quality
fresh and composed feed such as bloodworms, artemia biomass,
mollusks meat and special pellets.
Each female is closely controlled and all the production
indicators, for example speed of gonadal and number of spawns,
are registered.
To be transferred in larval rearing tanks, the nauplii are selected
twice at stages N2 and N5 by phototropism, to only keep the most
active and most robust larvae. Before transfer to larvae room,
the nauplii are extensively rinsed, at least during 20mn, with a
 FEATURE

1µ (micro) filtered and UV sterilised water flows, and are then

disinfected in an iodine bath (3mn, 50ppm).

Hatchery system
As mentioned earlier, most of the Ecuadorian hatcheries are
designed following the Aquacop method: long deep tanks with V
or U bottom with a single line of aeration and a system to control
the water temperature. The tanks are filled with 1µ filtered and
UV sterilised seawater.
The N5 are stocked in the larvae tank at low level with high
density, almost 250 to 300 N5/liter. Then the level is increased
daily step by step with 1µ filtered and UV sterilised seawater.
Figure 3: 2015 National farmed Shrimp production VS length
The larvae are fed with microalgae, microparticles and nauplii of coastline
of artemia. Today the progress made with the larval rearing
techniques have allowed for probiotics to be widely used and
have replaced the prophylactic treatments done with antibiotics.
At PL9-10, the post-larvae are transferred in large nursery tanks
with lower density where they receive microparticles and nauplii
of artemia.
Every day, the larvae are observed and aspects such as
the quality index, swimming activity, necrosis percentage,
deformities, cells of the hepatopancreas, and digestive tract
content are registered. All parameters, water quality, and algae
density are controlled twice daily.
Prior to nay transfer, the weight (PL/gr) is controlled as the
other quality parameters: grade dispersion, tract content, muscular
mass index, swimming activity, internal and external morphology,
ectoparasites, total bacterial and Vibrio spp. counts. Figure 4: In yellow: Shrimp farming area in Ecuador
A stress test (salinity) is also applied. All unsatisfactory batches
of PL’s are destroyed. Thanks to these strict controls, farms
receive only robust and suitable quality PL’s.

Pregrowing in covered raceways

At the reception at the grow-out farm, the PL’s are acclimated to
the local water condition and then transferred in pre-growing ponds.
Most of the farms have installed raceway used for pre-growing
covered by greenhouses. These raceways are using filtered and
UV water from the farm pumping station and are managed in
recirculation systems with semi-biofloc technology with a very
strong aeration. This stage is really key to today's success of
Ecuadorian shrimp farmers.
The objectives of this pre-growing step, today widely used in
Latin America, especially in Mexico, were to: Figure 5: Distribution of Shrimp farm per unit size in the
Reduce replacement of water needed, to reduce temperature Ecuadorian provinces

International Aquafeed - May 2017 | 35

FEATURE

variations and the risk of pathogen carrier introduction.

Control toxic nitrogen components levels.
Maintain the amount of Vibrio spp. and Pseudomonas spp. as
low as possible.
Decrease accumulation of organic matter and avoid settlement
of biofloc that could create toxic zones due to generation of
hydrogen sulphur and/or methane.
Decrease stress in juvenile larvae due to high number of water
replacements.
When they reach an average body weight of 0.6 to one gramme,
after 20-30 days, the quality of the juveniles are checked for their
quality: activity, external morphology, parasites, total bacterial
and Vibrio spp. counts. All the satisfactory animals are transferred Figure 6: Illustration of the farm density in the Delta of
in earth on growing ponds. Guayas. Source: Estaditica S.A. (info@estadistic.com)

Thanks to this breeding phase, the grow-out ponds are stocked

with healthy juveniles, much more robust than the PL’s, which
provides good results.

On growing: pond maintenance and feeding strategy

For the on-growing phase, Ecuadorian farmers have not sought
to intensify farming as many other countries have. They have
continued to raise shrimp using a semi-intensive technique with
initial densities ranging from eight to 25 juveniles per square
meter depending on the qualities of farms, particularly their
position relative to the ocean and the size of the ponds.
Two aspects of farming management were particularly focused
upon since the WSSV outbreak: management of the pond bottom
and the feeding strategy.
The earth ponds in Ecuador are built on sandy clay soil. Most of
the time, pond sediment consists of a mixture of settled organic
matter, as dead animals or plants fragments and fecal matter,
live benthic organisms as algae, protozoa, nematodes, worms,
gastropods or larvae of insect, and inorganic minerals.
The soil of the pond bottom, and in particular the mud layer,
is considered to be a “chemical laboratory” and the “primary
nutrient store” of the pond ecosystem, and as such plays a
vital role in the maintenance of pond productivity. Pond mud
is constantly analysed to determine its quality and chemical
composition for shrimp development.
After each harvest, the organic matter is not mechanically
removed but its biodegradation is sought. Ponds are sun dried and
plowed to let the sediment break in order to optimise the aerobic
condition of the sediment to permit the bacteria to mineralise the
organic matter. Probiotics are added to accelerate this process
and to contribute to reduce the presence of Vibrio spp. and
Pseudomonas spp.
The pH of the soil and its alkalinity is increased by lime
addition prior to soil turnover. However, the success of pond
fertilisation and feeding strategy, in many instances, depends
upon the initial drying and/or chemical treatment of the pond
bottom with lime. The reservoir and canal of the farm are also
concerned by this treatment, at least once a year.
Traditionally, in Ecuador, the feed distribution was performed
by using canoe to sprinkle the pellet as homogeneous as
possible on the entire surface of the pond, in one or two
servings per day. The daily ration was determined empirically
according to the experience of the farm manager and its
estimation of the shrimp biomass present in the pond. With
this technique the FCR was really high, between 1.7 to 2.4:1,
which means that a lot of feed was not consumed with two very
negative impacts: high pond pollution and excessive non useful
expenses. This strategy could be improved by using feed tray
samplers to adapt the daily ratio.
Nevertheless, the weak point of this technique is the little
Figure 7: Exportation of Ecuadorian farmed Shrimp
number of feed distributions per day but also the difficulty to
estimate properly the real population in the pond. The population
estimating is crucial to properly feed the whole crop: the amount
of feed given is considered for the total population in the pond.
This feeding strategy had changed by the use of feeding trays
to distribute all feed in ponds. This method developed in Peru
(M.Viacaca, 1995) allows obtaining a more accurate estimation
of the effective feed consumption and more efficient adjustments
of the daily ration. This method had permitted to reduce the FCR
to a lower range than 1.3:1.
Some farms are using blower feeder, aiming to feed at least three
times a day, and better automatic feeders, broadcasting feed of
smaller quantity but more often, at least 150 times a day, to limit the
loss of extra feed. All ponds are checked with feed tray samplers.
More recently, a new Australian technology (AQ1) has become
widely used in Ecuadorian shrimp ponds. This system calculates
the feeding ration and automatically distributes the feed according
to the calculated frequency based on the demand associated with
sound records from the population in the pond while feeding.
This system allowed to observe the possibility of achieving
efficiency gains in production that could transform the industry
by limiting the production cost and the pond pollution by limiting
the quantity of non consumed distributed feed.
With the use of sound feeding systems in local ponds, it has
been possible to observe a decrease in feed conversion by a range
of 30 percent the survival could be improved by 50 percent and
growth rates have increased by 15 percent with a greater number of
surviving animals, reducing the need for partial harvests.
Conclusion
To conclude this article, one can say that only a handing-over
in complete question made it possible to the Ecuadorian shrimp
farmers to rebound after the epidemic of WSSV, which could

36 | May 2017 - International Aquafeed


have been fatal for them.
Thus after having a long time preferred to work with wild shrimp
as brood stock, gravid females, or post larvae, the Ecuadorian
shrimp farmers realised that only domestication could enable them
to have a sufficient level of biosecurity to be able to limit the risks
of appearance of pathologies. In the same way, this domestication
made it possible to develop a certain tolerance, to not talk about
resistance with these diseases and also to improve the performances
of the farms. The weak point of the Ecuadorian shrimp industry is
the fact that the broodstock if grown on the farm harbour risk of
taking back new unknown diseases to the hatchery.
One of the main measures that have allowed Ecuadorian
shrimp farms to continue producing successfully was the genetic
selection of breeding lines that enable good survival rate despite
the presence of pathogens.
But before all that, the basis of this success is the selection of
rigor throughout the hatchery production cycle providing farmers
with robust and healthy PL4s with a high growth and survivals
potentials in on-growing farms. The farmers are also very exigent
on the PL’s quality and would not accept doubtful PL’s.
The production cycle is often divided into four phases from the
hatchery to grow-out in order to exercise control for every stage
of the development of shrimp, which allowed continuing to select
only the best animals at each step.
Finally, the optimisation of on-growing ponds management,
especially to maintain the best soil quality and the feeding
strategy, allowed significant improvements of the results of the
farms by preserving the best environmental conditions.
Ecuador has been successfully producing farmed shrimp and
also significantly increasing its production after the dramatic
outbreak of WSVV thanks to all these measures and to the
Progress Pellet Mill
A Triott Company
Specialist in Pelleting Equipment
info@ptn.nl - www.ptn.nl
International Aquafeed - May 2017 | 37
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efforts of all stakeholders in the shrimp industry, especially by
establishing a strict and constraining strategy of controls and
being very demanding with the quality of their own work.
It is really important to note that this success is mostly as
a result of the investment and of the work of the Ecuadorian
producers. After the WSSV outbreak, the Ecuadorian shrimp
farmers had to learn how to deal with these diseases that have
threatened to destroy the entire sector, to survive and to overcome
them. This has been done with almost no support from any
government, whilst the owners and the production staff carried
out all financial and labor efforts.
To note, almost 30 percent of the Ecuadorian production
is exported as ‘Head Less’ or ‘Added Value’ products, so to
estimate the exact production of the country it would therefore be
necessary to add roughly 30-32 percent of these amounts.
References
Aquacop - 1982 - Constitution of broodstock, maturation,
spawning and hatching systems for peneid shrimps in the Centre
Océanologique du Pacifique. In Handbook of Mariculture, Vol. 1:
Crustacean Aquaculture - CRC Press, Inc. Boca Raton, Florida,
USA 1983
Aquacop - 1982 - Penaeid larval rearing in the Centre
Océanologique du Pacifique. In Handbook of Mariculture, Vol. 1:
Crustacean Aquaculture - CRC Press, Inc. Boca Raton, Florida,
USA 1983
Le Hang and Kim Thu - 2016 - Shrimp imports into Vietnam in
2015 - VASEP: http://seafood.vasep.com.vn/seafood/50_11003/
shrimp-imports-into-vietnam-in-2015.htm
Viacava Moises - 1995 - Feeder Trays for Commercial Farming
in Peru - World Aquaculture 26(2): 11-17
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