We believe Integration is the key to successful corporate aquaculture. This is why we have been patiently growing our broodstock over the past 2 years at 2 separate broodstock centres. In addition to the Tiger Grouper and Barramundi broodstock, we also have Giant Grouper broodstock as well as that of other Grouper species. As the seas become over-fished, broodstock fishes are also getting increasingly rare and may be considered as a strategic commodity!
In addition to maintaining broodstock fishes, we have begun to construct Bio-Secure Facilities for our Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) Broodstock prawns. Since we possess in-house facilities to detect 10 different types of prawn viruses routinely using Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) techniques, we are able to begin development of our own pathogen free broodstock prawns.
The development of Broodstock Prawn Technology may eventually lead to an extremely profitable spin-off that can have a global impact. We are already looking at the possibility of crossing 2 geographically and genetically distant stocks of Tiger prawns to develop a superior stock. We are also looking into using molecular signals to switch on “silent genes” that can lead to extraordinary growth. On a kilo to kilo basis, profitability of farming Broodstock prawns could be 100-fold that of farming prawns for eating. Of course, the market for Broodstock prawns is a specialized one but global prawn farming has grown 15% per annum over the past 50 years; hence this is a growth opportunity!
