Hainan
The situation for first round-stocked shrimp is pessimistic that disease breakout rate is high, especially in western regions where the rate is as high as 80%. Up to now, some farmers has already finished the second round-stocked stocking with the size of 100/500g. Some ponds that have caught disease can still harvest after making some handling. The overall situation in Wenchang and Qionghai is positive that a large number of shrimp have already met the commercial shrimp size requirements. But the first typhoon this year is expected to come into being in recent few days, which would be a test for the fragile shrimp farming in Hainan.
The biggest problem in Hainnan is that its shrimp price is cheaper than that of mainland shrimp and it’s more difficult to farm shrimp in Hainan than in mainland, especially the high risks led to by extreme weather in high temperature season. Convenient shrimp fry purchasing maybe the only advantage of farming in Hainan.
Guangdong
Big size shrimp is very scarce in Da’ao, Jiangmen, Muzhou and Zhuhai. At present, 50-60/500g size shrimp is the common product in market. 30-40 days’ shrimp is the main force in market now. In general, the disease breakout is low. The price is lower than that during Dragon Boat Festival, 14-15 yuan/jin for 65/500g size.
In Taishan, the situation is not so positive. Surprisingly, 70%-80% farmers choose to stock ordinary fry. Although there are no huge disease breakout and large-scale pond clearance, the shrimp sizes are uneven and some even grow very slowly, which are mostly still at around 100/500g size level while the first round-stocked fry has already grown into 60-70/500g.
Guangxi
The first round shrimping farming has almost come to an end. Conservatively, the overall success rate is above 50%. Farming regions between Genglou and Yujiang in Hepu, and in Bailong, Fangchenggang enjoy better condition as a result of steady weather condition and the improvement of shrimp fry.
Overall fry stocking in Qinzhou is put off, the last region to stock the fry, where the size is mainly about 90-150/500g. Only 10% ponds are left empty this year, which shows that the farming initiative has improved. Owing to good price, the loss of farmers is not so big as that of last year whose ponds are put empty. The farmers who acquire good earnings are still those who stocks fry earlier, in March and April. Last year, Qinzhou is the severely afflicted area because of disease breakout, which turns much better this year. But the weather becomes hotter and hotter after entering June so that white feces disease begins to emerge in many ponds. It still takes further observation to estimate the farming situation in the left days of 2016.
Fujian
The shrimp stocked in greenhouse pond from the beginning of this year to Dragon Boat Festival has already been consecutively harvested in Longhai. The rising price in Fujian largely inspires farmers’ willingness to stocking. Now, some outside ponds has already or just prepared to stock the fry. So the big size shrimp is not so many on market. According to farmers, this year’s farming status is better than that in last year and the disease is mainly caused by unstable weather condition. But the total production is a litter higher than that of last year with an average production of 250kg/mu.
Jiangsu
Rudong and Ganyu are the main farming regions in Jiangsu province. The fry bred in small greenhouse heated by boilers has already been sold out while there are still some left in pond because of the low price and farmers are waiting for the price rising to sell them. The success rate of shrimp farming in pond this year is extremely high, up to 90%, but the shrimp price is a bit of lower than that in the same period of last year. Meanwhile, at least half farmers give up middle stage-stocked shrimp farming. Some region’s ponds are even left empty, which is rarely seen is previous years.
However, the farming status in Ganyu is still on the way to pessimistic development. About 50% of the shrimp in market has suffered different disease. But there are still some progress in Ganyu this year that the popularizing rate of first-generation fry continues to grow year by year. And the farming mode is continuously to be explored and improved.
Zhejiang
Last year, the overall farming situation is not ideal while the success rate is only 10% in Xiaoshan. But up to now, there is huge improvement. The harvest of shrimp stocked in greenhouse in last winter and early spring is almost at then ending period. Because of the high price (22-24 yuan/jin for 40/500g size in Ningbo), there is profit for most of the farmers. The farming in Xiaoshan is mainly through soil ponds while present size is mainly at 100/500g without big disease breakout rate. But in the end of June, rains are relatively more than that in the same period of previous years. Farmers worry about the influence caused by heavy rains. If there is no high disease breakout rate in the rainy season, the overall farming situation of the whole year will be better than that in last year.
Hunan and Hubei
The main farming regions are located in Lixian, Anxiang, Hanshou in the city of Changde. The whole farming area in Hunan is about 5, 000 mu. The stocking of shrimp fry is carried out mainly in May while greenhouse with extensive farming mode starts to stock in April. Up to now, the disease breakout rate is low and pond clearance rate is below 10%, which is better than that in last year.
Shrimp farming in Hunan goes up and down in recent years. In the beginning, the unstable stocking technology causes stocking cost fluctuate a lot and farmers grope for farming technology in consecutive years. The market for its finished shrimp product has just been opened. Some farmers even give up after years of loss so that the total farming areas shrink a little. With the improvement of technology, the farming situation is also improved. It’s believed that its market will continue to expand in future.
There are a small number of farmers starting to employ the extensive greenhouse farming mode in Southern China, which stocks the fry around middle April. Now, this batch of shrimp fry is in fine status, expected to harvest in early July. The peak period of disease breakout is in July in Hubei province. Last year, farmers suffer a huge loss because of slow growth, white feces and other problems. So the farming situation will not be clear until the next month, July.
Shandong
In recent two years, the farming status is fine. Binzhou is the new emerging area to farm shrimp. With fine environment and water quality, the success rate is up to 80%. And the farming area expands year by year, which increases 50% this year. Some farmers begin to try two round farmings this year that they begin to stock the fry in early April while others don’t do that until mid-May.
The mixed farming of sea cucumber and shrimp is the new farming mode with the background of poor profits in sea cucumber farming. The new farming mode gradually secures its popularity in Qingdao, Weihaiwei and other regions around Bohai. The mixed farming mode can fully take advantage of the farming space and speed up the cucumber growth. Present shrimping farming density is around 5000/mu under the mixed farming mode. Farmers are trying to gradually expand the farming density.
Hebei and Liaoning
Outside pond farming is the most common cultivation way in Hebei province, which mainly stocks the fry from mid-May to early June while Tangshan is relatively late to stocking. Some farmers who carry out breeding in greenhouse and stocking in early spring begin to harvest the shrimp. One batch of shrimp stocked in early spring reaches 70% success rate. Overall, there is now large-scale disease breakout up to now. But in Tianjin, slow-growing shrimp accounts for a big proportion while the reason is not clear now.
Because this year’s market for fresh water fish is no so good, farmers all have the willing to shift fish farming to shrimp farming. However, most of them hold a wait-and-see attitude towards shrimp farming. The farming status is relative fine in Panjin last year, which inspires farmers’ zeal to stocking. On the contrary, the success rate is only 10% in Yingkou last year. To avoid risks, many farmers in Yingkou lower the farming density this year, which keeps around 40, 000/mu. Up to now, the overall farming in the two regions is in pretty fine condition with a low disease breakout rate, which is also better than that of last year. If the fine farming status continue to grow this year, it’s believed that many more farmers will join in the shrimp farming this year.
