Prawn farming: Prawn breeding creates jobs to the locals in Myeik

Nearly 1,000 acres of Vannamei prawnspecies are being bred in Myeik District of Tanintharyi Region. The Vannamei prawn is also known as the Pacific white shrimp or King prawn and it is a species of prawn of the eastern Pacific Ocean commonly caught or farmed for food.

The farming produces over 6,000 tons per year and Myanmar exported these prawns to Japan and American market. The export of vannamei prawn fetches around 6,000 US dollars per ton in foreign market.

Thet Soe, Secretary, Taninthayi Region Fisheries Federation said "The vannamei prawn is the prawn species from the United States. This species is needed to breed for 3 to 4 months. The factoriesfreeze these prawns as a raw materials and exported to the foreign market. Some factories export to China via another country. Currently, it is exported to Japan and it has a plan to export them to the Europe. If we can directly export to the China market, the breeders can expand their farming industry and the locals can get a lot of job opportunities. 400-acres of shrimp farming can support job opportunities to more than 500 people and about 600 people can work in the frozen factory. "

At present, Myanmar can only export vannamei prawn as raw material to the foreign market and measures are being undertaken to export the finished products whiledeveloping the fishery market.