INLAND CULTURE OF THE WHITE SHRIMP Litopenaeus vannamei IN ARIZONA: GOING FORWARD OR BACKWARD? Joshua S. Wilkenfeld * Craig Collins, Roger Drudge, Tark Rush Arizona Mariculture Associates, LLC HC1 Box 46A Agua Caliente Road Dateland, AZ USA Phone: (928) Fax (928)

TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED 1. Quick Review of Existing Farms & Culture Methods Used in Production History & Recent Data 3. Why we are going in the direction we are 4. Production Problems Encountered & Progress in Resolving Them (this is the good part) 5. Future Prospects (this is the not-so-good part, maybe)

WHY RAISE SALT WATER SHRIMP IN THE ARIZONA DESERT?!?  Colorado and Gila River aquifers  Relatively inexpensive land  Friendly regulatory environment  Very important: VIRUS FREE (thus far)

CULTURE SYSTEMS EMPLOYED ( Take Your Pick!)

Arizona Mariculture Dirt Pond Arizona Mariculture Dirt Ponds

Arizona Mariculture Dirt Pond Desert Sweet Dirt Ponds

PRODUCTION HISTORY IN ARIZONA (’98&‘99=26HA; ’00=36HA; ’01=114HA; ’02=136HA; ’03=90HA)

SYSTEM PERFORMANCE: 2003

FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE: 2003

PROGRESS IN RESOLVING PROBLEMS  Laundry list presented last year included: continuous attrition, molting mortalities, cramping, unstable blooms, benthic algae, blue green algae…  Shrimp were living on the edge, very sensitive to stress  Significant Concern: WATER CHEMISTRY  In 2003, focused on standardizing use of potash, fertilizer, and dolomite  What Josh wishes someone had told him before

STANDARDIZING & MINIMIZING OUR USE OF POTASH (KCl)  Fielder, D.S., Bardsley, W.J., Allan, G.L., Survival and growth of Australian snapper, Pagrus auratus, in saline groundwater from inland New South Wales, Australia. Aquaculture 201,  Key is factor obtained by dividing K/Cl (both in mg/l), regardless of salinity  Minimum value for survival is  Unpublished data: Works for Shrimp too!  We chose for safety

DEDUCTIVE REASONING FOR FOCUS ON POTASSIUM

STANDARDIZING OUR USE OF FERTILIZER  Went back to basic literature; opted for 20:1 ratio of N:P  We use urea (0.45 kg-N per kg urea) and phosphoric acid (0.24 kg-P per kg PA)  Trial & error yielded basic dose of 11.5 kg urea/ha and 1.02 kg phosphoric acid/ha  Apply twice in first week of water culture, then as needed to obtain and retain desirable sechi (35-45 cm)  To avoid runaway blooms, wait AT LEAST three days between applications!

NOT SO SCIENTIFIC USE OF DOLOMITE  Attempting to boost alkalinity and magnesium  May help in stabilizing algae bloom  We apply 1,000 kg dolomite/ha before filling pond  After first 30 days, we follow up with 75 kg/ha once/week

So, Even Though Everybody Loves Shrimp…

THE FUTURE OF INLAND SHRIMP FARMING IN ARIZONA IS CLOUDY  All four farms will probably stock again this year  Focusing on the live shrimp market failed as a strategy in 2003  Still trying to develop reliable, profitable specialty niches  Three of the four farms will drop to low density, low cost operations

The End Got Questions? them to