Shrimp industry hit by EMS disease

MALACCA: Local shrimp farmers are being adversely affected by large-scale losses of their products due to a disease called “Early Mortality Syndrome” (EMS), says an industry expert.

The disease has caused high mortality rates of cultivated shrimp in China, Vietnam and Thailand for the past two years.

The problem has also affected Malaysia, said the industry expert Shamar Kamarudin.

He said EMS or Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Syndrome (AHPNS) comes from bacteria and delays shrimp growth that prevents it from reaching maturity.

“It simply means the shrimp will be undersized and eventually they cannot be harvested.

“The disease can infect shrimp through virus carriers such as wild shrimps, crabs and the shrimp seeds itself,” he said in an interview here yesterday.

In the latest case, he said an EMS case was detected in July in Johor, where 100% of all shrimps in seven ponds died due to infection.

The virus is known to affect two species of shrimps commonly bred worldwide, which are the giant tiger prawn and white shrimp.

Shamar noted that some farms could experience total death rates of shrimps, while infected ponds are very unlikely to be re-cultivated.

“Many farmers had to switch to fish farming instead,” he added.

Shamar, who is an aquaculture expert with a company, advised farmers to carry out prevention methods, including maintaining pond hygiene to reduce the risk of virus contamination.

“Water quality and appropriate pH level of the pond should be checked,” he added.

Meanwhile, Melaka Biotech Holding managing director Badrul Hisham Badrudin said that a new vaccine would be introduced to shrimp farmers in the state next month aimed at reducing the risk of the virus attacks.

He added that the vaccine was developed by Bio Nexus, which is a subsidiary of Malaysian Biotechnology Corp (Biotech Corp).