Shrimp, being the most widely farmed and traded seafood in the world, is totally dominated by a single commodity marine species, L. vannamei. This heavily fragmented farming industry is still primarily located in ecologically vulnerable coastal areas. The next two commercially important species, P. monodon and M. rosenbergii, despite their high local demand and market value are lagging far behind. Without diversity of species, the unavoidable next shrimp pandemic has the potential to decimate global supply. As wild caught from fisheries is slowly declining and is destined to disappear, demand for seafood diversity from aquaculture will grow. Sustainable freshwater alternatives, disconnected from seawater and oceans, hold a huge untapped potential to benefit from these changes and trends.
Enzootic is a fully vertically integrated shrimp biotechnology company with a proven proprietary all-female, non-GMO genetic technology that solves one of the biggest obstacles of scaling freshwater prawn (M. rosenbergii) production, grow-out densities. Without the aggressive territorial males in the ponds, farming densities of freshwater prawn, which are usually quite low because of the males, can be quadrupled, enabling dramatic increase in yields that for the first time justify the economics of scaling the production of this amazingly delicious sustainable alternative.
Presently, freshwater prawns are mainly produced and consumed in Asia, with local preference for larger males, either live or chilled. Like the rest of the shrimp industry, production across Asia is fragmented, mostly in small traditional operations. Enzootic has strategically decided to exploit its unique technological advantage and become fully vertically integrated, with capacity to control the quality and value of the entire production and supply chain. To realize the full value of this delicious and sustainable freshwater alternative, Enzootic has set up independent production facilities and farms in Thailand, aiming at short grow-out cycles at high densities to an average size of 38gr. The company is expecting to reach an independent annual production capacity of 1,000MT in 2024. The medium size category at harvest is selected as the ideal size for processing and exporting to premium markets, under the company’s brand, Queen Prawnä. To support this strategic objective, the company has also developed a novel processing and freezing formula, which unlocks the potential of exporting this premium quality specialty seafood as a sustainable alternative to North American and European markets.