First batch of IDC-produced prawns to hit market in April |14 February 2023

By Laura Pillay

The first batch of prawns produced by the Islands Development Company (IDC) on Coetivy island are set to hit the market as from April, it was announced last week.

The whiteleg shrimp, one of two species being produced by the company, are to be sold to the local market through supermarkets, as well as to restaurants and hotels, and will be available both in fresh form-on ice, as well as frozen.

“Unfortunately, being our first harvest, we will not have enough for the whole population. It will take us around one year before we can reach our 200-tonne capacity, but gradually, and I expect that when we have small shrimps on a regular basis, we will have prawns, both fresh and frozen hitting the market every week to ten days,” chief executive Glenny Savy stated.

Although the price at which the prawns will be sold are yet to be determined, “it will definitely be inferior to the price offered on the local market these days”, Mr Savy confirmed.

IDC is currently awaiting processing equipment from France.

The company was one of the six investors to receive the first aquaculture business licenses issued in December last year.

Despite some delays in kicking off the project, IDC received the first batch of 150,000 whiteleg shrimp post-larvae (PLs) imported by air freight from Singapore on Wednesday December 7, 2022. The batch was transported directly to Coetivy and placed in nursery tanks for our weeks, before being transferred to a grow out pond, some three months before harvesting.

With the significant advances in prawn farming over the years, the IDC is utilising a system which differs from that which the Seychelles Marketing Board (SMB) used from 1989 to 2009.

The system requires that only around five percent, or less, of the water to be changed daily instead of the 40 percent ratio during the SMB production days, a significant cost savings. Further cost savings and benefits are made possible through biofloc technology.

“We are totally satisfied, because when we compare our parameters which we measure daily and weekly, the progression and growth is slightly above the established international parameters, which is a good sign for us,” Mr Savy added.

IDC will also be producing black tiger prawns, a superior product, with the first batch expected to arrive in the coming month to six weeks.

The SMB produced only the black tiger prawns which is much more expensive than whiteleg shrimp, but since the halt in production, there has been much emphasis on the importation of white shrimp, which is both cheaper and faster to produce.

To sustain and grow production to capacity, IDC will be producing instead of importing small shrimps.

The accompanying photos show samples of the prawns being produced by IDC on Coetivy as well as views of the prawn ponds.

Laura Pillay

Photo credits: IDC