C

entral Sulawesi provincial administration is championing a new, environmentally-friendly technique to boost shrimp farming production.

The new technology, which will help with the cultivation of the vannamei variety of shrimp, is called Supra Intensive Indonesia (SII) and will replace the current intensive farming technique.

SII was launched by Indonesia Aquaculture Community (MAI) head Rokhmin Dahuri at the CV Dewi Windu shrimp hatchery in Kuppa village, Barru regency in South Sulawesi, around 140 kilometers north of Makassar city, in October 2012.

The SII technology was first introduced at a shrimp farm owned by Hasanuddin Atjo, who is currently head of the Central Sulawesi Maritime and Fishery Agency, the designer of the Supra Intensive Indonesia technology and head of the Indonesia Shrimp Club.

According to Hasanuddin, the shrimp pond measures approximately around 1,000 square meters and the water is at a depth of 270 centimeters. The pond is surrounded by an embankment, the base is lined with concrete and a central drain is installed at the base of the pond.

'€œThe central drain dumps shrimp waste, excess food and other waste every six hours automatically. To maintain oxygen supply, windmills, root blowers and turbo jets are used,'€ said Hasanuddin.

From a trial run in Barru regency, he added, the highest yield was recorded in February, 2013. One hundred days after releasing 750,000 shrimp fries in the pond, 15.3 tons of shrimp were collected at a value of Rp 750 million (US$62,000).

He said initial capital of Rp 425 million was needed to build a 1,000 square meter pond.

The SII technology was then utilized in Central Sulawesi. The trial run was conducted at the Central Sulawesi Maritime and Fishery Agency'€™s Regional Technical Implementation Unit.

In the trial run, two circular concrete ponds, each measuring around 100 square meters with a depth of 3 meters, were used.

A series of SII tests were conducted. The result, the ponds were able to produce 15.3 tons of vannamei shrimps per cycle, said Hasanuddin during the initial harvest in Palu recently.

He added the SII shrimp farming concept was an integrated upstream-downstream farming concept that intensified the five sub systems of superior fries; infrastructure and facilities; aquaculture technology; environmental health; and business management, while the intensive cultivation concept is the opposite.

Separately, Central Sulawesi Governor Longki Djanggola expressed hope that the application of the technology would have a possitive impact on Central Sulawesi'€™s contribution to the national production of shrimp, absorb the local workforce and raise the economy of the province.

'€œWe are optimistic to be able to supply 30 percent of the nation'€™s shrimp requirement,'€ said Longki.