Market-ready shrimp grown in aquaculture facilities

Kiel company Ecomares wants to produce six tons per year

Scientists from the Kiel-based company Ecomares have succeeded for the first time in breeding market-ready shrimp in closed aquaculture facilities. The researchers have been working on this for a year at their MariFarm base in Strande, the company Ecomares announced on Friday.

The special thing about the new technology: The crustaceans grow up in a so-called ecological recirculation system. According to Ecomares, the polluted water is treated in its own sewage treatment plant without chemical additives and returned to the breeding tank. "This technology, for example, uses significantly less energy than conventional breeding facilities. The process is also very environmentally friendly," reports Gerrit Quantz, Ecomares' graduate biologist and Chief Technical Officer (CTO). Ecomares did not use antibiotics or other medicines when rearing the animals. The Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Agriculture has therefore funded the research project with 94.000 euros.

During the research period, the fish experts first tested whether the chosen type of shrimp, the so-called Gulf shrimp from the USA, is at all suitable for breeding using closed-loop technology. "We then checked the conditions under which optimal breeding results can be achieved," explains Quantz. In just a few weeks, the test module is to be expanded to its original size with a pool length of 30 meters. Up to six tons of shrimp per year will soon be bred here. The animals need almost six months to be ready for the market, and the plant can be harvested every two months.

Ecomares is divided into four core business areas: research and development in the field of aquaculture, project planning and sales of aquaculture plants, operation of fish and shrimp farms, and processing and marketing of the products.

Source: Kiel [ ecomares ]