The Intensive Culture of the Penaeid Shrimp <i>Penaeus vannamei</i> Boone in a Recirculating Raceway System

Abstract

Abstract Recirculating raceway systems were examined for their potential as a method for the intensive culture of the marine shrimp Penaeus vannamei Boone. The systems consisted of fiberglass raceways 38 m 3 (13.7 m ± 2.4 m ± 1.16 m) and 28 m 3 (13.7 m ± 2.4 m ± 0.85 m) each equipped with a vertical screen biofilter, foam fractionators and an ultraviolet ozone generator. All of the systems were enclosed in a commercial greenhouse. Four preliminary growout experiments and two growout experiments with stocking densities of 970 shrimp/m 3 and 2,132 shrimp/m 3 were completed. Temperature, pH and salinity remained constant throughout the experiments. Unionized ammonia levels remained below 0.2 mg/L. Nitrite levels ranged from 0.1 to 1.0 mg/L. The 2,132/m 2 stocking density resulted in 48% survival, food conversion ratio (FCR) of 1.8 and an average size of 10.8 g. The 970/m 3 stocking density resulted in 82% survival, FCR of 2, and an average size of 14 g. Production was 11.4 kg/m 3 (114 tons/ha) and 11.0 kg/m 3 (110 tons/ha) for the high and low stocking densities, respectively.