Bio-economic analysis of super-intensive closed shrimp farming and improvement of management plans: a case study in Japan

• Published in: Fisheries science Vol. 85; no. 6; pp. 1055 - 1065
• Main Authors: Shinji, Junpei, Nohara, Setsuo, Yagi, Nobuyuki, Wilder, Marcy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tokyo Springer Japan 01.11.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Aquaculture; Aquatic crustaceans; Batch culture; bioeconomics; biomass; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Case studies; Computer simulation; Crustaceans; Culture; Decapoda; Dissolved oxygen; Economic analysis; economic productivity; Economics; Farming; Fish & Wildlife Biology & Management; Food Science; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; Individual rearing; industry; Japan; Life Sciences; Marine crustaceans; mortality; Original Article; oxygen; path analysis; Population dynamics; Productivity; Profit; Profits; profits and margins; salinity; Shellfish farming; Shrimp culture; structural equation modeling; wastes; Water temperature; Japan; Shrimp farming; Population dynamics; Super-intensive aquaculture; Bio-economic
• ISSN: 0919-9268; 1444-2906
• DOI: 10.1007/s12562-019-01357-5

Crustacean aquaculture is a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide that continues to show significant growth. Shrimp farming has been intensified for decades, and super-intensive closed culture systems have now been developed to improve productivity and reduce environmental burdens. Here, we used bio-economic approaches to investigate the mechanisms and economic productivity of shrimp farming. We used three steps: (1) path analysis by using structural equation models to determine the candidate factors associated with productivity; (2) modeling of population dynamics and profits; and (3) simulations based on the models to clarify the productive characteristics of a super-intensive closed culture system. Our findings suggest that the population dynamics of the system were limited by unidentified factors that differed from those found in many experimental studies, such as water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, and nitrogenous waste. The unidentified factors were related to the number of days of rearing and cumulative biomass mortality. The production plan suggested by our simulation required frequent culture rotation to increase profits. Our case study provides important practical information about the characteristics of super-intensive shrimp farming, implications for efficient economic management, and new research subjects for the future.