Representatives from the Global Soy in Aquaculture Program attended Global Aquaculture Alliance’s GOAL 2016 conference in Guangzhou, China, September 20 – 22.

USSEC Marketing Director – Aquaculture Colby Sutter and USSEC China Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang and USSEC China Freshwater Aquaculture Technical Manager Zhou Enhua were joined by United Soybean Board (USB) director Dan Farney and American Soybean Association (ASA) director Dan Roe to participate in the program focused on “Healthy Fish, Healthy People and Healthy Planet.”

Mr. Zhang’s presentation on “Trends in Intensive Pond Aquaculture,” detailing the many benefits of the Intensive Pond Aquaculture (IPA) technology introduced to China by USSEC’s aquaculture program, received immediate interest in the technology from Chinese producers as well as the many other international representatives attending the conference.

USSEC is participating in the 2016 Global Outlook on Aquaculture Leadership (GOAL) conference in Guangzhou, China September 19-22.

GOAL is a unique, once-a-year opportunity to learn, network and connect producers and suppliers to the marketplace and is widely viewed as a must-attend conference for global aquaculture thought leaders. This year’s conference theme is “Healthy Fish, Healthy People, Healthy Planet.”

United Soybean Board (USB) director Dan Farney and American Soybean Association (ASA) director Dan Roe will represent U.S. Soy growers at the event.

USSEC Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang will present the Global Aquaculture Innovation & Leadership Award, and USSEC is sponsoring a breakfast during the event.

As a result of producing aquafeed with less fishmeal, taurine has risen in importance as an important ingredient that supplies protein.   Taurine allows animals, especially marine fish that require high amounts of protein, to achieve a balanced diet.

Vietnamese feed mills in Vietnam have been specializing in pangasius feed, and feed formulators have not yet turned their focus to taurine.

Recently, another freshwater species, snakehead, became a motivation to use taurine and lecithin in the diet. Snakehead requires high levels of protein and fat in feed (45 percent crude protein, 10 percent crude fat). The role of corn gluten meal (CGM) is also important to steady the unbalanced amino acid profile when using soy products as a main source to replace protein demand in marine fish.

The above-mentioned ingredients need to be recommended to feed formulators in order to get a suitable formulation with the lowest cost. USSEC Vietnam focuses on those specific ingredients, and taurine and lecithin will be a subject in the upcoming Asian Aquaculture Feed Formulation Database (AAFFD) workshop.

USSEC’s goal is to give aquaculture feed formulators more confidence in using a soy-optimized diet. The U.S. Soybean Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) will be a key method to promote U.S. Soy products during seminars and workshops.

Working with a feed mill to promote U.S. Soy products at a feeding demonstration site in Sadec, Vietnam. (L to R): USSEC Technical Consultant Aquaculture – Philippines Levy Manalac; farm staff Kim Chung; USSEC Technical Consultant, Aquaculture – Vietnam Nguyen Vo Hoang; Viet Thang Feed R&D staff, Tuan Anh

As part of its commitment to promote sustainable marine aquaculture development, Indonesian marine aquaculture stakeholders have established a group to regularly discuss issues and challenges, along with ways to promote sustainable marine aquaculture production and marketing. The discussions are mainly held via online chats, but are sometimes live through presentations and lunch together.

USSEC Indonesia has been working with the group to encourage the development of a roadmap to allow better planning and management of Indonesian marine aquaculture development. The development of marine aquaculture will boost quality feed production in Indonesia, eventually leading to soy use in aquafeed. Marine fish feed production requires high quality ingredients (primarily soy), thus ensuring the potential absorption of U.S. Soy in aquaculture feed production.

Participants in the “USSEC Risk Management in Milkfish Cage Culture and Health & Disease Management Workshop” in Alaminos, Pangasinan, Philippines on July 20

USSEC conducted the “USSEC Risk Management in Milkfish Cage Culture and Health & Disease Management Workshop” in Bolinao and Alaminos in Pangasinan, Philippines on July 19 and 20. The workshop aimed to inform milkfish cage farmers on how to manage risk in milkfish cage culture and teach health management and disease prevention to maximize profit.

Levy Loreto Manalac, USSEC Philippines Technical Manager and Southeast Asia Demonstration Coordinator, presented and discussed risk management in milkfish cage aquaculture to maximize profit including the use of quality feeds, good feeding management, and best culture management.

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, presented and discussed milkfish health management and disease prevention in milkfish marine cage culture emphasizing USSEC’s low volume high density (LVHD) cage culture technologies, with proper feeding management and understanding the fish growth rate in relation to feeding levels and feed conversion ratio to minimize pollution to the environment and optimizing economic return.

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, does a milkfish disease dissection and checks for microscope parasite infection and possible bacterial infection on milkfish internal organs. Milkfish growers brought diseased milkfish to the workshop for disease identification and to learn possible causes of mortalities

The participants understood and realized the value of using high quality feeds and the importance of best management practices in a risk-free and disease-free milkfish cage culture.

The two workshops were attended by 97 participants including milkfish cage operators, technicians, feed managers, staff from local government units, aqua feed miller’s staff and a cage manufacturer from Bolinao, Anda, Alaminos and Sual, all in Pangasinan and Rabon, La Union.

Hsiang Pin Lan, USSEC Marine Fish Aquaculture Specialist, discusses “USSEC Milkfish Health Management and Disease Prevention in Milkfish Marine Cage Culture” in Bolinao, Pangasinan on July 19

Participants in the “USSEC Risk Management in Milkfish Cage Culture and Health & Disease Management Workshop” in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines

USSEC Vietnam Aquaculture Technical Manager Võ Hoàng Nguyên visits the INVE booth at the Vietshrimp International Fair

USSEC attended the first international fair organized specifically for Vietnam’s shrimp industry from June 24 to 26. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) of Vietnam and the People Committee of Bạc Liêu province co-organized the event. About 100 booths from multinational producers, chemical and equipment manufacturers, and shrimp feed companies exhibited at the event.

Shrimp extensive culture systems occupy about 70 percent of the shrimp farming area in Vietnam. Stocking density for tiger shrimp (P. monodon) is 20-30 post larvae (PL) /square meter (sqm) and for white leg shrimp (P. vannamei), 100-150 PL/sqm. In 2014, white leg shrimp represented 60.6 percent of Vietnam’s total production at 660,000 metric tons (MT) /year.

As a carnivorous animal, tiger shrimp requires a higher protein level in feed, 42 to 36 percent, while white leg shrimp are more omnivorous with protein levels at 26 to 32 percent. According to a 2012 survey, 30 to 40 percent of Vietnamese farmers still used unsuitable tiger shrimp feed for white shrimp because they believed that using higher protein feed would speed up the growth rate in white shrimp.

Vietnam has 20 shrimp feed mills that produced 500,000 to 600,000 MT of shrimp feed in 2015. The top five feed mills represent 67.6 percent of the total production. Shrimp feed are commonly viewed as pellet feed, but some companies offer extruded sinking shrimp feed, claiming better digestion. Shrimp larva pellet feed is mainly imported from two key players, INVE and Bernaqua.

Every year, Vietnam produced about 143 billion of shrimp PL. Viet Uc Company is the leader with a 28 percent market share. Stocking size is PL14, but some companies offered a PL15 for the PL14 price to gain a competitive advantage.

Thus far, USSEC Vietnam has not been active in the country’s shrimp industry. There are many issues where the industry needs technical support, including better feed and health management. The outlook of Vietnam’s shrimp industry is positive in the near future. The fact that an international fair was organized in Vietnam for specifically for the shrimp industry implies a bright future for Vietnam’s export market.

USSEC’s Intensive Pond Aquaculture Technology was the focus of a June/July 2016 article in Aquaculture Magazine.

In 2015, the Chinese government, together with private aquaculture producers, invested about $10 million for IPA technology. That investment is expected to double to $20 million in 2016.

“USSEC remains committed to working with the Chinese government and aquaculture producers to help improve the sustainability of their products with innovative technologies, while optimizing the value and utilization of U.S. soy products in feeds.”

-USSEC Marketing Director Aquaculture/ Customer Focus Colby Sutter

USSEC introduced IPA technology to China in 2013 and has been working to support the expansion of IPA in that country since that time.

Aquaculture Magazine is a U.S. publication serving the national and global aquaculture industry with more than 5,000 subscribers in over 100 countries.

Click here to read the article.

As of April 2016, Indonesia continues to lead in the production of certified shrimp for the international market. Trends show that markets are increasingly demanding certifiably produced shrimp. About 70 percent of Indonesian shrimp is exported to the U.S.

Most aquaculture certifications including Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP), and Global GAP require that at least 50 percent fish meal and fish oil for feed production must be derived from certified sources. Soy is favored as the main ingredient for aquafeed. Research shows that soy has replaced fishmeal as a greater percentage of aquafeed, and so it is believed that the demand for sustainable, responsibly produced soy will continue to increase.

USSEC has an excellent opportunity to continue to promote U.S. Soy as consistent, high quality and responsible produced for the aquaculture industry through support for certified product development.

USSEC conducted an aquaculture seminar, Floating Feed Feeding Management in Cage Aquaculture, for the staff and managers of Southeast/Sahara Feeds Corp. Cage Farm in Taal Lake, Talisay, Batangas, Philippines on June 11.

USSEC Philippines Technical Manager – Aquaculture Levy Manalac discussed the proper use of extruded floating feed and good feeding management with extruded floating feeds in cage culture. These tips will help milkfish and tilapia cage farmers to reach more efficient, better production and profitability and will also help improve water quality in the area by having lower feed conversion ratios (FCR)FCR, better contributing to continuous fish farming. The goal of this seminar is to ensure continuous, and even increasing, demand in U.S. Soy products in aquafeed manufacturing.

34 participants, including technicians, feed managers, office staff and warehouse staff attended the seminar.

USSEC Philippines Technical Manager-Aquaculture Levy Manalac presents the USSEC Floating Feed Feeding Management in Cage Aquaculture to the managers, farm technicians and feed managers of Southeast/Sahara Feeds Corp. Cage Farm in Taal Lake, Talisay, Batangas, Philippines

In May, USSEC visited and investigated the offshore marine fish cage aquaculture industry in Malta to evaluate whether it would be a suitable replacement for the recently cancelled (due to ongoing security concerns) team tour to the offshore industry in Izmir, Turkey.

USSEC Aquaculture Program Lead Technical Consultant – SEA Lukas Manomaitis worked with a local expert, Dr. Carmelo Agius, to get an overview of Malta’s marine fish cage aquaculture industry. Based on this trip, USSEC is confident that it will be able to bring a team to Malta later in 2016 to replace the cancelled tour in Turkey. Because Malta lacks a large hatchery facility, a trip to a suitable hatchery in Sicily is also being planned.

Marine fish aquaculture is particularly attractive for U.S. Soy products because marine fish require ingredients that are of high quality and very consistent.

Harvest activity of European sea bream at P2M’s offshore site in Malta

USSEC Aquaculture Program Lead Technical Consultant – SEA Lukas Manomaitis poses with offshore cages in the background near Malta

USSEC recently organized a tour trip to Shanghai, China to visit intensive pond aquaculture (IPA) sites.

The group of 40 visitors came from Egypt, India and Vietnam and attended an IPA seminar on the first day. Dr. Jesse Chappell of Auburn University introduced participants to the principle and concept of IPA. USSEC Aquaculture Program Manager Jim Zhang and USSEC Technical Manager Zhou Enhua provided information about China’s aquaculture industry and the implementation of IPA in China.

The first site visited was a state-owned farm, Maotian Wetland Eco-Agri Investment Co., Ltd., located to the west of Shanghai. Maotian has a total area of about 100 ha. In 2014, Maotian constructed two units of IPA cells in a four ha pond. After the first year’s economic success and efficiency (production increased 20 percent with a 75 percent lower labor cost), the farm manager added two more cells to each IPA unit to create five-cell units. Feed used is mainly USSEC-formulated feed with a U.S. Soy-optimized diet that contains more than 50 percent of U.S. Soy product.

On the second day, participants visited Yancheng Zheng Rong Fisheries Ecological Co., Ltd. This is a private company farm located in Hengji Town, Jianhu of Jiansu province and is currently the largest IPA farm with a 52-cell unit in a 27 ha pond, constructed in 2015. Due to the success of 2015 production (ROI 40 percent, 200 percent increase in production, lower labor cost, especially the flesh quality of fish living in a moving water environment), another IPA system is under construction with a 28-cell unit. In total, Yancheng Zheng Rong built 80 cells for its two IPA units.

A wrap-up meeting among the Vietnamese visitors was conducted by USSEC Vietnam. There was very positive feedback from the group. As a seafood export country, IPA technology could be a positive image for Vietnam to demonstrate to the export market.

USSEC tour team at a 52 raceway IPA farm in Jiangsu on May 30

USSEC Country Manager – Vietnam Tran Trong Chien talks with participants during the wrap-up meeting on May 31

USSEC recently met with the Philippines’ Department of Agriculture – Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR) in Diliman, Quezon City to learn their plans and program for the country’s aquaculture sector over the next five years. The head of the Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Division presented the newly approved “Comprehensive National Fisheries Industry Development Plan Medium-Term 2016-2020” (CNFIDP 2016-2020) to USSEC, after months of consultation from various fisheries sectors.

This is a new development for the aquaculture industry in Philippines, as it now has a focused vision for increasing aquaculture production over the next five years. The vision of the CNFIDP 2016-2020 is a “sustainable and competitive fisheries industry” and must address the following issues: sufficient contribution to national food security; inclusive growth within the industry; sustainable, science-based fisheries and aquatic resource management practices; compliance to international laws, policies and standards, and enforcement of local laws and regulations; strengthened capacities in infrastructure, technologies, human resource, and information sharing; and resilience to environmental hazards.

To achieve these goals, targets were developed through the combination of science-based information as presented by resource persons from academic and research institutions, and actual observed situational information from industry front liners.

The CNFIDP 2016-2020 has a target aquaculture production of: a 4 percent annual increase in milkfish production; a 6 percent annual increase in tilapia production; a 10 percent annual increase in shrimp production; a 5.4 percent increase in mud crab production over 5 years; a 10 percent increase in shellfish production over 5 years; and a 25 percent increase in seaweed production over 5 years.

BFAR’s aquaculture strategies to achieve these goals are similar with those of the USSEC Soy in Aquaculture program for the Philippines with strategies that include:  secure quality fry/seed supply through coordinated investments in propagation facilities (broomstick, hatcheries, nurseries laboratories);institutionalize Good Aquaculture Practices (GAqP) for key commodities and promote sustainable aquaculture; assure quality and traceability of aquaculture inputs and outputs; invest in species with high commercial potential; optimize operation of mariculture parks; and ensure climate/disaster resilience of the aquaculture sector.

These strategies to increase production will use a lot of formulated feeds, ensuring an increase in demand for the usage of U.S. soybean meal and other soy products as the major ingredient of formulated aquafeeds.

(L-R) Levy Manalac (USSEC Philippines Technical Manager-Aquaculture); Roy C. Ortega (Head – Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Division, DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources); Jeffrey Albanese (Agricultural Attaché, FAS, USDA, Manila, Philippines); Grace Soriano (Aquaculturist, DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources); and Teodoro Cortes (USSEC Country Manager – Philippines) during a visit to the DA-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources in Quezon City, Philippines on March 9

USSEC recently organized the first meetings on aquafeed in Morocco. These one-on-one visits with operation managers focused on the use of U.S. soybean protein concentrates (SPC), soybean meal, and lecithin in aquafeeds.

Visit to Aqua Mdiq

USSEC consultant and aquafeed expert Tim O’Keefe presented the benefits of sound aquaculture based on sustainable feed resources, highlighting the importance of U.S. soy protein concentrate in different fish species’ diets. The nutritive value of U.S. Soy products and their advantages in feed formulation for different species were highlighted, confirming that soybean products offer the amino acids and digestible energy needed.

Several aquaculture development projects supervised by the National Agency for Aquaculture Development (French acronym ANDA) will contribute to improve resources’ sustainability; promote aqua farming, processing, and marketing; upgrade value chain components; and improve competitiveness and overall performance. The need to produce good quality aquafeed based on soy products as fish resources decrease was emphasized.

A total production of 200,000 metric tons of aqua products in Morocco is projected for 2020, contributing to sustainable economic growth and increasing its contribution to local gross domestic product (GDP). The minimum amount of soybean meal in aqua feed is projected to be an addition 40,000 metric tons (MT) by 2020, and about 60,000 to 80,000 MT, when SPC is readily available.

USSEC’s Jim Zhang stands between the aquaculture “cells” containing thousands of fish feeding on feed containing 50 percent U.S. soybean products. (Photo courtesy of Rural Life Today)

USSEC’s aquaculture efforts in China were recently featured in Rural Life Today magazine.

Rural Life Today visited the USSEC team in China for a feature about aquaculture and demand for U.S. Soy in that country. The articles focus on USSEC’s endeavors to build demand for U.S. Soy in China and a visit to a Shanghai fish farm and conversation with USSEC Program Manager – Aquaculture Jim Zhang about the demand for U.S. Soy in aquaculture.

Rural Life Today provides farming and agriculture news and information in print and online for 66 counties in Ohio and surrounding states. The periodical is an agricultural publication offering its readers coverage of agricultural news, events, the market, and agriculturally related profiles, columns and features. This publication is direct-mailed to over 60,000 households every month.

Feedmill participants at “Extrusion Technology Trouble Shooting” seminar at Sheraton Saigon Hotel, Vietnam on March 25

Extrusion technology has been the key tool for Vietnamese feedmillers to manufacture quality pellet feed for the country’s aquafeed market. This technology helps solve the problems of uneven size pellets; sinking vs. floating feed; extruder screw configuration; and calculating the die opening area, which are major concerns for feedmill staff. USSEC Vietnam conducted a tailor-made seminar with questionnaires sent to participants one month prior to the seminar date. Following the feedmill’s response, the seminar content was set up to give a solution to specific questions raised.

USSEC consultant and director of Texas A & M University’s Food Protein R&D Center Mian Riaz was invited to be the key speaker and to interact with feedmill participants for two in-house seminars in Binh Duong and Dong Thap provinces, and one public seminar in Saigon.

The U.S. Soy video, “This is Harvest,” attracted participants’ attention

At the in-house seminars, participants felt free to express their technical issues. At the public seminar, where the production and formulation staffs came from different companies, it was assumed that the ambiance would be sensitive; the interaction was truly open, however, since feedmill staff could get a chance to share experiences from each other regardless of the competitive situation on the aquafeed market.

Plant protein, especially from soy, was concluded to be a good replacement to fishmeal to contribute to the stability of the pellet, thanks to its good functional protein properties.

Furthermore, participants were impressed by U.S. Soy production’s approach through the U.S. Soy Sustainability Assurance Protocol (SSAP) certification and reacted positively to U.S. Soy’s video “This is Harvest.”

USSEC – SEA held its Aquaculture Feed Nutrition Workshop in Manila on March 16.

The conference was organized by USSEC Technical Consultant, Aquaculture – Philippines Levy Manalac and USSEC Feedmill and Nutrition Consultant Mark Newman. Mr. Newman discussed what is new in fish and shrimp nutrition and how to utilize U.S. Soy products to reduce the amount of fishmeal and fish oil in aquaculture feeds. USSEC Technical Consultant, Animal Utilization – Philippines Basilisa Reas talked about the amino acid and energy in soybean meal used in poultry and livestock as a model for aquaculture nutrition. Katherine Bentoy, Alltech Technical Sales-Aquaculture, presented her experience with low and zero fish meal diets in the Japanese Marine Aquaculture Industry.

The workshop was attended by 29 participants from different aquaculture feedmills, a feed additive supplier, feedmill machineries, and an aqua feed formulation software in Philippines.

USSEC Feedmill and Nutrition Consultant Mark Newman discusses “What is New in Fish Nutrition” during the USSEC Aquaculture Feed Nutrition Workshop in Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria, Manila, Philippines

(L-R) Levy Manalac, USSEC Technical Manager Aquaculture – Philippines; Katherine Bentoy, Alltech Technical Sales-Aquaculture; Mayette Ramos, Insta-Pro SEA Manager; USSEC Technical Manager for Animal Nutrition – Philippines Basilisa Reas; and Mr. Newman

Mr. Newman presents “The Utilization of Soy Products to Reduce the Amount of Fish Meal and Fish Oil in Aquaculture Feeds” during the USSEC Aquaculture Feed Nutrition Workshop in Crowne Plaza Manila Galleria, Manila, Philippines

USSEC recently provided technical service to Mexican shrimp producers.

USSEC consultants Jairo Amezquita and Dr. Eduardo Reyes travelled to Ciudad Obregon, Los Mochis and Mazatlan, Mexico to visit shrimp producers who are customers of Vimifos, an aqua feed mill co-operator of USSEC. They provided recommendations to overcome the challenge with growth rates of a new shrimp strain from Ecuador that has been used for the past two years to improve the survival and production per hectare.

The consultants visited three shrimp farms where they made inspections and met with technical staff, highlighting how the current management of this shrimp strain and corresponding aquaculture practices are not working and are reducing performance conditions. They also discussed opportunities and challenges to develop recirculating water systems, current farm situations, and guidelines to prevent or mitigate the possible entrance of pathogens that could affect not only the growth rates but also the survival of the shrimp.

Additionally, Mr. Amezquita and Dr. Reyes conducted seminars for shrimp producers in each of the three cities visited. More than 150 people attended these events and Dr. Reyes presented a lecture, “How to Manage the Ecuadorian Shrimp Strain Under Mexican Conditions.” He explained how to improve the water conditions for shrimp production, emphasizing best aquaculture practices.

Mr. Amezquita addressed “USSEC’s Role in the Development of Aquaculture in the World,” where he emphasized the current situation of the aquaculture industry in the world, Latin America and Mexico, and spoke about opportunities to prevent early mortality syndrome (EMS). He also presented statistics and trial results of the inclusion of soybean protein concentrate (SPC) and soybean protein isolate (IP) into the diets for aqua species.

Last year, Mexico produced more than 100,000 metric tons (MT) of shrimp, which represented more than 50,000 MT of U.S. Soy products, with an even higher forecast for FY16-17.

USSEC contractors and a representative of Matahari Sakti Feedmill at an intensive shrimp farm near Surabaya, Indonesia

The USSEC aquaculture team recently visited an intensive shrimp farm in Indonesia.

USSEC Aquaculture Program Lead Technical Consultant – SEA Lukas Manomaitis, together with other USSEC contractors and representatives of Matahari Sakti feedmill visited Yu-Shan Phillip’s intensive shrimp farm in Sidayu Gresik. This is an important visit because it is an indication of a possible move to better culture practices in the shrimp industry where shrimp production is currently conducted in isolated, covered ponds instead of open ponds. This technology has been perfected in Brazil, according to the Global Aquaculture Association (GAA), and it is encouraging to see this technology now being tested in Southeast Asia. High intensity systems such as this favor high quality feeds that minimize fishmeal, a good target for U.S. Soy and U.S. soy protein concentrate (SPC) products in particular. The aquaculture team also plans to conduct a U.S. Soy-optimized shrimp feeding demonstration with Matahari Sakti Feedmill in FY16

In 2013, USSEC shrimp production technology consultant Ken Corpron introduced the concept of Biofloc shrimp culture technology to China. The Biofloc shrimp culture technology uses biological control in water and generates the live microorganism to absorb the shrimp waste from the water.

In 2014, during a shrimp farming technical consulting service, Mr. Corpron provided details about Biofloc shrimp farming technology. The participants became very interested in this new method of shrimp production and asked for more information in order to try this new technology.

In October 2015, USSEC China’s aquaculture program organized an aqua study team to the U.S. and visited the RDM shrimp farm in Fowler, Indiana. Team members learned the operation’s techniques and RDM shared its experience. Two participants become “Biofloc pioneers” after returning to China and with technical help from USSEC, these pioneers finalized the operation procedure in the fall of 2015, doing a test run in the winter. Mr. Corpron came to China in March 2016 to visit three shrimp farms that had adopted and were very successful with the Bioflco shrimp culture technology, tripling their actual production.

Biofloc shrimp culture technology uses indoor facilities that provide quality water to the shrimp and increase production capacity significantly. Additionally, the indoor culture saves energy and allows winter shrimp production where traditional outdoor shrimp farming is not possible due to low water. The most important reason for USSEC to promote this technology is to increase the consumption of U.S. Soy as wintertime in China is the time when most U.S. Soy is acquired.