KISR initiates whiteleg shrimp farming project

KISR initiates whiteleg shrimp farming project

By Faten Omar

KUWAIT: Rising volatility in the global food system is causing a breakdown in a system that’s already fragile. Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) has managed to farm whiteleg shrimp as an important step to boost food production, availability and sustainability. Speaking to Kuwait Times, Dr Sherine Al-Subaei, scientific researcher and head of the project at the institute’s Center for Environmental and Life Sciences, explained KISR’s project and how it succeeded in harvesting shrimp farmed in Wafra and Abdaly. It also aims to farm fish in desert areas and improve aquaculture operations.

Kuwait Times: Tell us more about commercially farmed shrimp.

Subaei: The hydroponics projects started in the seventies in Kuwait, but farming in low salinity water started seven years ago. We started to think about modern technology that would be sustainable and can be used in low salinity water to be adapted at the Wafra and Abdaly farms. Previously, our focus was on local shrimp, but now we are working on farming non-local shrimp because of their advantages, such as the rapid growth, resistance to diseases and extensive farming, factors more qualified to be used for scientific research. This type of shrimp is also suitable to be farmed in