Research Support

Since as early as the nineteen seventies, France has been an important player in shrimp farming research thanks to its installations of the Ifremer Center of the Pacific, at Tahiti and in New Caledonia.

Some twenty species of penaeids were tested before the three which are farmed along our coast ( Penaeus japonicus, Litopenaeus stylirostris et Litopenaeus vannamei).

Currently, the majority of the programs concerning shrimps have been concentrated around the Aquaculture Laboratory of New Caledonia, a territory where the majority of the farms are to be found. The Tahiti laboratory provides its support for research into immunology and pathology.

Although the varieties of viral epizooty have spared the New Caledonia farms, a certain amount of seasonal mortality, associated with bacteria, has been observed. In collaboration with aquaculturists and different French and foreign scientific partners, a research program has been launched to find solutions concerning zootechnic and genetic improvements, the "Défi Santé Stylirostris" (DESANS) program.

Alongside an animal health monitoring activity, several actions to support and accompany the development of the shrimp sector are being carried out. These are implemented particularly through specific in situ experiments and through the contribution of a technical expertise (quarantine, new projects, data bases).