10. In Search of the Perfect Prawn

“Aquaculture is being developed to reduce the pressure on wild stocks,” Al Stokes, director of the Waddell Mariculture Center in Beaufort, South Carolina, told us. “Since the shrimpers can’t possibly keep up with the growing demand for shrimp, the production must come from the farm, where they can be grown in large quantities, delivering uniform-sized shrimp on demand. That will leave a niche market for wild shrimp. Fresh wild shrimp will be local, and ideally, as the demand goes up, there will be more boats, and they will catch it all up, and aquaculture markets will fill in the difference.”

Dr. Motosaku Fujinaga was the father of modern shrimp farming. From 1930 to 1968, with an almost maniacal zeal, he learned ...

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