World Aquaculture - December 2014

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48 DECEMBER 2014 • WORLD AQUACULTURE •
Farming of Giant
Freshwater Prawn in China
Yang Ming
A Brief History of
Prawn Farming in
China
There are more than
35 species of the genus
Macrobrachium present in
China (Li et al. 2007) but the
two main species cultured
commercially in China are
the giant freshwater prawn
Macrobrachium rosenbergii
and the oriental river prawn
Macrobrachium nipponense. As
one of the most commercially
important farmed crustaceans,
the giant freshwater prawn is
cultured in many regions of
China. As an exotic species, M.
rosenbergii was first introduced
into mainland China from Japan
in August 1976 (Cai and Chen
1995). During this process, the
Guangdong Province Fisheries
Research Institute (now Pearl
River Fisheries Institute, Chinese Academic of Fisheries Science)
led propagation research and achieved success in 1977. Postlarvae
produced in that year (79,600) were distributed to 14 provinces.
Giant freshwater prawn farming first started in southern China and
thereafter gradually spread to other coastal provinces and even to
northern and inland areas.
The start-up phase for giant freshwater prawn development in
China extended from 1976 to 1992. Many regions in other provinces
carried out farming and breeding experiments after obtaining initial
seed from Guangdong. Because breakthroughs in artificial breeding
were first made in Guangdong Province and, combined with suitable
temperatures there, the farming of the giant freshwater prawn was
initially concentrated in the Zhujiang Delta. The culture area in
Guangdong Province was 276 ha in 1991, increasing to 520 ha in
1992, with production reaching 598 t (Liao 1994).
Beginning in 1993, the giant freshwater prawn farming
industry entered a new phase of development, obtaining splendid
achievements. The prospect of greater profits attracted many more
farmers to giant freshwater prawn farming. Another reason is related
to the contagious disease of penaeid shrimp caused by white spot
syndrome virus (WSSV), which spread throughout China in 1993.
White spot syndrome virus outbreaks caused the farmed production
of marine penaeid shrimp to drop dramatically in 1993 as a result
of mass mortalities of native cultured species Fenneropenaeus
chinensis. As a result, many shrimp farmers began culturing
giant freshwater prawn as
an alternative species. The
farming area reached 1,533 ha
in Guangdong Province with a
production of 2,601 t in 1993,
which was 2.9 times the area
and 4.3 times the production
of 1992. The phenomenal
growth in farming area
and production enabled
Guangdong Province to rank
first in the nation. Earthen
pond culture was commonly
used during this period and
the yield was between 1,500-
3,000 kg/ha, with a mean net
profit of US$ 6,410-9,615/
ha. Profitability was twice
as much as traditional fish
farming and this greatly
stimulated the giant freshwater
prawn farming industry.
Prawn culture has
expanded at a tremendous
rate. Giant freshwater prawn production in China increased by
13,000 t every year from 1993 to 2001, reaching an average annual
growth rate of 65 percent (Fig. 1). China became the largest global
producer of giant freshwater prawn in the middle of 1994. Prawn
production in China rose to a peak of 111,282 t in 2001, representing
65 percent of global production.
Production declined in 2002 and 2003 as a result of outbreaks
of white tail disease (WTD). The pathogen was first found in
prawn seed imported from Thailand to Guangdong Province in
1996 (Qian et al. 2006 b). Thereafter, the disease spread rapidly to
most hatcheries and culture farms throughout the country, causing
widespread losses. The causative agent of WTD has been identified
as Macrobrachium rosenbergii nodavirus (MrNV) and extra small
virus (XSV) (Qian et al. 2003 b). Diagnostic techniques for WTD
use reverse transcriptase-PCR (Widada et al. 2003) and TAS-
ELISA (Qian et al. 2006 a) methods. The development of specific
pathogen (SPF) free seed production technologies has effectively
prevented WTD epidemics.
Since then, aquaculture production of giant freshwater prawn
recovered gradually. Guangdong Province was the country’s main
producing region from 1976 to 2002. In 2003, for the first time, the
production of farmed giant freshwater prawn in Jiangsu Province
exceeded that in Guangdong Province. Since then, Jiangsu has
replaced Guangdong as the province with the greatest prawn
production in China. Another popular farmed species, Litopenaeus
The start-up phase for giant freshwater prawn
development in China extended from 1976 to 1992.
Many regions in other provinces carried
out farming and breeding experiments after
obtaining initial seed from Guangdong.
Because breakthroughs in artificial breeding
were first made in Guangdong Province and,
combined with suitable temperatures there,
the farming of the giant freshwater prawn was
initially concentrated in the Zhujiang Delta.
FIGURE 1. Production (t) of farmed giant freshwater prawn Macrobrachium
rosenbergii in China.