20 SEPTEMBER 2024 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG facility, Agromarina de Panama, in Panama. The nutritional requirements for shrimp maturation were not well-known in those days but the lipid profile of the worms, especially their content of highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) turned out to be optimal for the ovarian maturation of the females. In those days, there were comparatively few members in the network of pioneering researchers and producers working in shrimp farming and word of Joe’s discovery travelled fast. Within a few years a number of researchers published work that confirmed what Joe had already discovered (Middleditch et al. 1979, Middleditch et al. 1980a, 1980b). Since then, several species of marine worms are being used as the primary source of essential HUFAS in maturation diets. The closing of the life cycle of shrimp opened the way for the development of specific pathogen free and genetic improvement programs, without which the shrimp farming industry would not exist in its present form. Today Polychaete worms are a staple in shrimp maturation diets worldwide, either collected from the wild as in Panama, New England, and several Asian countries, or cultured by specialized companies in the UK, EU, and Asia. These worms are the most expensive component of maturation diets, and often must be imported into countries that do not produce them. Commercial shrimp maturation can now be done without these worms by using mixtures of other marine animals such as Artemia biomass, squid, mussels, clams, oysters, and specialized formulated diets. However, the highest fecundity and hatch rates are still obtained with the use of worms. Wild North Atlantic bloodworms, Glycera dibranchiata, and sandworms, Nereis viriens, are widely used in maturation facilities in the Western Hemisphere. Commercial companies in Europe grow From humble beginnings in the 1970s, when it was an artisanal, small-scale business, the marine shrimp aquaculture industry has grown into a global, technologically advanced industry, forecasted to produce an estimated 5.8 million metric tons of shrimp in 2024, with a market value of about 30 billion USD. In the last decade shrimp farming has registered Compound Annual Growth Rates (CAGR) of between 5 and 6%, surpassing this year (2024) the worldwide harvest of wild shrimp. Today shrimp are grown throughout the world in a multitude of climates and systems. The top five producer nations include China, Ecuador, India, Vietnam and Indonesia, accounting together for 74% of global production. The Breakthrough It seems incredible now, but in its beginnings all shrimp farming depended on wild-caught postlarvae. Then people learned to catch gravid females from the wild and to spawn them in captivity and grow the larvae in hatcheries. But one critical step was missing to begin to truly domesticate the species: to be able to grow young shrimp into broodstock and to mature them in captivity to produce gravid females, eggs, and viable larvae. Joe Mountain was the first person to obtain consistent commercial gonadal maturation, mating, and nauplii production from white leg shrimp Penaeus vannamei, the principal shrimp species farmed today around the world. Success came from Joe’s inspired idea of feeding the shrimp with Polychaete worms (“bloodworms”), found in mud tidal flats, and used as recreational fishing bait. Marine Polychaete worms (Americonuphis reesea) were first used as maturation feed by Joe in 1976 at the Ralston Purina shrimp The Role of Polychaete Worms in the Global Shrimp Farming Industry and Joe Mountain, the Man Who Made it Happen Lorenzo Juarez, Tony Schuur, Bill MacGrath and Kirk Pendleton Joe Mountain was the first person to obtain consistent commercial nauplii production in white leg shrimp. “Joe Mountain was a pioneer in marine shrimp aquaculture. He led the development of shrimp aquaculture in Florida and Central America from the 1970’s through the 1990’s. He worked closely with the shrimp research team at Harbor Branch to advance the technology to produce Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater. Joe had a wonderful sense of humor and was always willing to share his knowledge with researchers and farmers around the world.” — KEVAN MAIN, EMERITUS SENIOR SCIENTIST, MOTE MARINE LABORATORY AND AQUARIUM, PAST PRESIDENT OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY AND FOUNDING LIFETIME MEMBER, AFRICAN CHAPTER OF THE WORLD AQUACULTURE SOCIETY.
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