The government of Qatar announced that it has chosen the partnership of the Qatar-based ITQAN and the U.S.-based Global Blue Technologies to create a multi-million dollar shrimp recirculating aquaculture system (RAS) in the country.
Through a two-year search, Qatar went through a dozen applicants to select the partnership to be named the sole source to “position the state of Qatar as the global center for aquaculture excellence,” according to a release. The end goal of the project is to produce thousands of tons of shrimp from an environmentally sustainable RAS facility, it said.
“Qatar insists on absolute fidelity to excellence in all we do,” ITQAN Chairman Musallam Al-Nabit said. “The long due diligence to determine the company and system that will best safeguard our nation’s land and water resources was time and effort well spent. My pledge is that we will ensure every prawn our partnership produces will be the most exquisite the world will ever enjoy.”
Global Blue Technologies has been working on shrimp aquaculture technology for decades, but suffered a severe setback during Hurricane Harvey in 2017, which made landfall near the company’s headquarters in Texas. Despite the setback, the company has managed to bounce back to secure the partnership with Qatar to build a land-based salmon RAS intended to produce large, premium shrimp that are environmentally sustainable.
According to a release from the company, the first phase of the project will be building a hatchery and production modules to produce 3,000 metric tons of shrimp a year, in addition to a “Brood Stock Multiplication Center” with the capacity to produce 300,000 brood stock. The eventual goal is to produce 100,000 metric tons of shrimp over the next four or five years.
“GBT operates in keeping with the triple bottom line ethic of economic prosperity, environmental stewardship and community prosperity,” GBT CEO Stephen White said. “All that we do is to show that an ethical better way exists for the benefit of people, the animals, and the Earth. We see Qatar as the perfect partner in this endeavor.”
