Short Bio

Dr. Eran Hadas graduated B.Sc and M.Sc degrees in animal science (Hebrew University) and Ph.D. in marine biology (Tel Aviv University). Over 20 years of experience in different aspects of aquaculture; including fish nutrition, fish feed production and management of R&D projects related to aquaculture (both in Israel and overseas). In the past 3 years managing the shrimp RAS project for Maof Hanegev. Further, managing the research fund and research project of the Israeli Fish Farmers Association.

Abstract- Shrimp (L. vannamei) culture in Recirculated Aquaculture systems (RAS) as a viable alternative to supply global shrimp demand

Eran Hadas, Asaf Elkayam, Yoav Dagan and David Hazut

Global shrimp production is about 4 million tons (2018) and the market value is estimated to be more than 40 billion USD per year (2018). More than 75% of the cultured shrimps are from a single species - the Pacific white leg shrimp (L. vannamei).

Presently, the entire shrimp production industry is based on extensive, outdoor ponds located within the Tropics. To a great extent, these production systems rely on exploitation of natural resources, such as the use of vast land areas, and the use of high quantities of water that are freely discharged into the environment. Whilst this type of natural resource usage results in relatively low production costs, the intensive use of land, the lack of biosecurity and the inability to control the effect of climate on culture ponds is not environmentally sustainable, results in unstable production, and in end products that sometimes cannot meet food health standards, such as cases of antibiotic residues in shrimps that exceed the norm.

An industrialized RAS is a viable alternative to the traditional shrimp culture industry, as it optimizes the use of all resources and enables bio-secured, year-round optimal culture conditions.

One of the main challenges in constructing a commercial RAS system for shrimp is the need to achieve a relatively high yield from production units; more than 10 times than is harvested in the traditional production system. Maof Hanegev has developed technology for high density production of shrimp in RAS.

Shrimp mortality in RAS can be significant in high density systems and research of the causes of mortality is a key element in the ability to commercialize shrimp RAS. Shrimp health in the newly developed system has been studied profoundly and several causes of mortality has been identified.

Presently, it has been shown that most shrimp mortality in the fully bio-secured system of Maof Hanegev is due to aggressive behavior and not due to infectious diseases. These findings demonstrate the advantage of RAS compared to outdoor systems, where infectious diseases are one of the main threats to the industry. Methods to decrease the aggressive behavior of shrimps cultured in high densities is one of the research targets of Maof Hanegev.