Project overview
Brackishwater aquaculture is dominated by shrimp farming in India and wider Asia. Production across Asia contributed an estimated 3.75 million metric tonnes (MT) to a global production of 4.5 million MT in 2018. Shrimp production makes an essential contribution to ¸£Àû×ÅƬ Food Security.
However, shrimp production has become globally dominated by a single species, the Atlantic white shrimp Penaeus vannamei. This presents an extremely high risk to the sustainable development of the industry. ¸£Àû×ÅƬ productivity is, today, extremely sensitive to crop failures resulting from climate-linked extreme weather (e.g. heavy monsoon) and disease outbreaks.
Our pilot project, which built on a successful existing collaboration between the UK and India – constrained the salinity tolerance of different species of penaeid shrimp. We developed regionally-resolved climate forecasts of future Indian monsoon to constrain laboratory experiments on shrimp, and combined these observations with samples collected from culture ponds after heavy rainfall, so-called freshet events. We sought to develop mechanistic understanding of differences in salinity tolerance between species but also between individuals within a single species, capturing the true potential for species adaptation.
However, shrimp production has become globally dominated by a single species, the Atlantic white shrimp Penaeus vannamei. This presents an extremely high risk to the sustainable development of the industry. ¸£Àû×ÅƬ productivity is, today, extremely sensitive to crop failures resulting from climate-linked extreme weather (e.g. heavy monsoon) and disease outbreaks.
Our pilot project, which built on a successful existing collaboration between the UK and India – constrained the salinity tolerance of different species of penaeid shrimp. We developed regionally-resolved climate forecasts of future Indian monsoon to constrain laboratory experiments on shrimp, and combined these observations with samples collected from culture ponds after heavy rainfall, so-called freshet events. We sought to develop mechanistic understanding of differences in salinity tolerance between species but also between individuals within a single species, capturing the true potential for species adaptation.
