Shrimp Culture in Malaysia
Malaysia would like to increase production from marine shrimp aquaculture. Shrimp culture industry in Malaysia has succeeded commercially with the adoption of improved aquaculture methods and the commitment of large companies. The farmed species are mainly the Giant Tiger and the Pacific White Shrimps, and a little quantity of the Banana Prawn. Culture of SPF Pacific White Shrimp was allowed in the country only in mid 2005. Malaysian shrimp production, mostly the giant tiger shrimps, Penaeus monodon was 21,866 metric tons (mt), whereas for the Pacific White Shrimp, Penaeus vannamei production was 11,498 mt in 2005. Shrimp farmers harvested a total of 33,364 mt of shrimps in 2005, of which 23,615 mt was produced in Peninsular Malaysia, and 9,749 mt in Sabah and Sarawak, East Malaysia. It is estimated that in 2006, shrimp production will be 40,000 mt especially with the increased popularity of the culture of the Pacific White Shrimp. About 80 percent of the Malaysian shrimp culture production is exported, mostly to Singapore, Japan, the United States, and Europe.
In 2005, Malaysia produced 3,118 million shrimp post larvae (PL) for stocking in grow-out ponds. Production of post larvae in 2006 was targeted at 6,640 million. Since Malaysia’s post larvae production exceeds the domestic shrimp farmers’ needs, the surplus is exported. It was estimated that about 1,550 million PL and 3,320 million PL have been exported in 2005 and 2006, respectively. There are currently about 11,580 farms operating in Malaysia, covering a total of about 7309 hectares (ha). In Peninsular Malaysia, 7115 farms are operating the 4810 ha, and 4465 farms cover about 2,500 ha in Sabah and Sarawak. The Malaysian Government has targeted to further develop a total of 25,000 ha of coastal land into aquaculture ponds, which are expected to yield 180,000 mt of shrimps by the year 2010.
Most of the shrimp farming activities are carried out in earthen ponds, using intensive culture systems, located in the coastal lands, which have traditionally been mangrove forests. The production technology is uniform using hatchery produced PL and commercial feeds for growing, with productivity as high as 10 mt per hectare per cycle.
The main shrimp producers are from large farms located in various parts of the country. Most of the smaller farms that require estuaries for their water intake, are located along the western coastline of Peninsular Malaysia and also in Johor as well as Tawau, Sabah and Kuching, Sarawak.