Since its inception in 2018, Galoa Aquaculture Station has produced 1.32 million shrimp larvae.
This, according to Taiwan Technical Mission (TTM) project assistant Hsu Wei-Chan, who said the station had also produced 0.515 million freshwater shrimp larvae.
Mr Wei-Chan said Galoa was one of five aquaculture stations within the Ministry of Fisheries.
The main function of the station, he said, was to cultivate the larvae for farmers.
He said shrimp farming had attracted huge interest from commercial farmers and could be a food source to many. “Many farmers have showed there interest in doing shrimp farming they should also know this could be their food source as well,” he said.
“When we identify farmers we train them and make sure they know what they are doing because it is quite an extensive job to breed shrimps.”
Mr Wei-Chan said shrimps were high in demand especially in hotels and big supermarkets.
TTM specialist Dr Robert Chang said Fiji had good natural environmental conditions for shrimp farming, which included warm climate, excellent water quality, extensive land area and a lack of shrimp disease problem.
“Therefore, shrimp breeding has considerable potential for further expansion.”
