Some Aspects of the Shrimp Farming Industry in China: Constraints and Priorities

There are about 100 penaeid shrimp species in China’s coastal waters, of which a dozen Penaeus spp. and Metapenaeus spp. have commercial value (Liu 1989a). The main species cultured in China are Penaeus chinensis, P. monodon, P. japonicus, P. merguinsis and P. penicillatus. Chinese shrimp farms are distributed along almost 18,000 km of coastline from Hainan Province in the tropics to Liaoning Province in the temperate zone. Farmers usually culture two crops of shrimp per year in southern China, while to the north of Yangzi River farmers can harvest only one crop. More than 80% of shrimp farms use low intensity culture technology. Air blowers or paddlewheel aerators are rare. The modern shrimp farming industry in China has a history of only about two decades but it has gone through an extraordinary experience which can be roughly divided into four stages: steady increase (1978–1984), rapid increase (1984–1988), prosperity (1988–1992), and recession (1993–1995). There were only 1,300 ha of shrimp ponds in China in 1978, however the area of ponds reached 160,000 ha in 1991. Total shrimp output increased by more than 400 times, from 450 t in 1978 to 200,000 t in 1991, and the average yield increased from 350 kg/ha to 1,500 kg/ha. Since 1988, more than 100 billion shrimp larvae were produced each year (Wang and Cai 1995). About 100,000 t of cultured shrimp were exported annually, earning more than US$500 million (Cen 1993). The development of shrimp culture also promoted related businesses, such as feed manufacture, processing, transportation and marketing. It was estimated that more than one million people were employed in shrimp culture or related businesses in China (Wang and Cai 1995).