Ceatech expects
rebound from virusThe Kauai shrimp farm expects its
ponds to be ready for new shrimp
by mid-summer
A Kauai aquaculture farm that had to kill 20 million shrimp after the discovery of a devastating virus last month expects to restock its ponds this summer.
The outbreak of the white spot syndrome virus at Ceatech USA Inc., has been contained, and no evidence of it has been found outside the company's West Kauai farm, state officials said. The virus is harmless to humans but highly contagious and deadly for shrimp.
Paul Bienfang, senior vice president at Ceatech, said the company expects its ponds to be ready for new shrimp by July, but harvesting won't happen until March or April of next year, at the earliest.
Demand for Ceatech's pacific white shrimp, sold under the brand name Kauai Shrimp, far outpaced the supply before the virus hit, he said. The shrimp, bred to be healthier than ocean shrimp, have a distinct, sweet taste, he said.
The company supplies restaurants and hotels, mostly on the West Coast, as well as retail seafood stores and supermarkets, he said.
Now, "everything's gone," Bienfang said. "The impacts to the marketers and the retailers is unknown at this time. That's always the danger with an uninterrupted supply."
The virus has cost Ceatech between $1 million and $2 million in crop loss, and the company has had to let go some of its 50 employees, he said.
The disease was discovered April 14, and the state immediately placed the facility under an emergency quarantine. The company then began eradicating its stock.
"Something like 20 million" shrimp, said Bienfang. "That is the entire farm."
The virus was contained to Ceatech's facility at Kekaha. State agricultural officials tested shrimp from a sedimentation basin, the last stop for effluent from the growing ponds before it is released to a ditch outside the property and eventually into the ocean, and all those animals tested negative for the virus, said Dr. James Foppoli, the state veterinarian.
"So it was a good sign that the shrimp in the sedimentation basin were negative because effluent is draining directly into those," he said.
The company is in the process of disinfecting and drying out its ponds and sedimentation basins, which are located a little less than a mile from the coast, Bienfang said.
"At some point they're going to be chlorinated" as part of the cleanup, Foppoli said. "(The chlorine) will kill crustaceans that are in the sedimentation basins, and it will easily kill the virus because the virus is pretty sensitive," he said.
The virus also can't survive in the water, without an animal host, Foppoli said.
"It's considered pretty devastating because it has such high mortality and it rapidly kills shrimp," Foppoli said.
The outbreak was the first time the virus had been diagnosed at an aquaculture facility in Hawaii, Foppoli said.
White spot syndrome virus is common in Asia, and it has been making its way to Hawaii and the mainland in frozen uncooked shrimp since at least 1995, Foppoli said.
How it infected the Ceatech facility is under investigation, Bienfang said.
Dee Montgomery-Brock, a health management associate who works with disease prevention in the Department of Agriculture's aquaculture develop- ment program, said she has been working with Ceatech since the day after the virus was diagnosed.
"They've been very cooperative and they should be commended for their openness and willing to work with all the departments," she said.
"It's been a lot of work on Ceatech's part, but they're getting the job done," Foppoli said. "It's a big operation. It's going to be a long project to finally complete everything they need to do."
Montgomery-Brock said Ceatech will work closely with her department before restocking its ponds.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources also will be involved, testing the ditch outside the Ceatech property and the nearby shoreline to ensure the health of the marine environment, said Francis Oishi, program manager with the department's aquatic resources division.
"We want to make sure there is no more residual source of contamination left," he said.