NaturalShrimp, Inc. has announced that a renovation project to upgrade its pilot production facility will be completed by the second quarter of 2020, allowing for full production to begin by the third quarter of the year.
Located in Lacoste, Texas, U.S.A., about 25 miles southwest of San Antonio, NaturalShrimp has been in business for nearly 20 years. The company uses a warehouse to grow fresh shrimp in what it claims to be the first viable system that recirculates saltwater in the tanks where the postlarvae shrimp develop. The patented system controls the amount of ammonia and bacteria in the tanks using a process that’s cleaner that foreign shrimp farms.
“The pilot plant has undergone considerable changes in order to convert it into a first-class shrimp production facility,” NaturalShrimp Chief Technology Officer Tom Untermeyer said. “In addition to removing and replacing the plastic lined tanks with new fiberglass tanks and constructing a new in-ground 20,000-gallon concrete gravity fed harvest tank, the renovation involves routing new electrical wiring, air plumbing, and water plumbing throughout the 30,000 -square-foot production area. It has also included receiving and installing electrocoagulation equipment, supporting filtration vessels, new custom automated feeding devices, and alarm condition monitoring. Building renovations include new laboratory space and controlled access.”
The renovation project entails raising test batches of shrimp to ensure the newly installed nursery and grow-out tanks and equipment are operation properly. When completed, the pilot plant will include four nursery tanks and 40 grow-out tanks, with a total volume capacity of more than 600,000 gallons.
NaturalShrimp has signed a deal with Sea Products Development, LLC to receive postlarvae shrimp to populate the tanks once the tests are finalized. Under terms of the contract, NaturalShrimp will receive up to one million postlarvae on a monthly basis beginning next month. The shipments, according to a company release, will take place on a continuous basis.
"Year-round weekly shrimp production requires stocking PLs in our nursery tanks on a regular year-round basis,” Untermeyer said. “This contract with SPD can provide NaturalShrimp on a regular basis with healthy (postlarvae shrimp) that have been selectively-bred with the capacity for rapid growth under intensive bio-secure systems."
Officials with the company sees potential in taking the recycling system and putting tanks anywhere, giving restaurants and customers in that region access to fresh shrimp year-round.
It takes about 24 weeks for the shrimp to grow to market size.
In late July 2019, officials from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department placed the NaturalShrimp facility under quarantine after samples from one of the two tanks tested positive for infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis, a virus that causes deformities in the Pacific white shrimp the company grows.
That quarantine was lifted on 4 September.
NaturalShrimp is a public company trading in the over-the counter market under the symbol SHMP. The price of its shares closed at USD .096 (EUR .087) after trading on Monday, 27 January.
Photo courtesy of NaturalShrimp
