Tom Yum soup – one of the many reasons that shrimp dying in their early stages is bad. PHOTO/ WIKICOMMONS
Bad news for sea food fanatics. Shrimp in Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, are dying en masse from a mystery illness that kills eggs.
The disease, which has also crippled farms in Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia, has affected Myanmar for the past two years, according to U Hnin Oo, chairman of the Myanmar Fisheries Federation (MFF).
“Three years ago, some of the entrepreneurs produced 20 million shrimp eggs but now there are only a few who surpass 100,000,” he told Myanmar Business Today.
MFF is on the case. This year, the organisation, in collaboration with international experts, has conducted breeding experiments to determine the cause.
Various theories have blamed the drugs used by shrimp farmers, problems with the water and poor weather.
Myanmar’s marine export profits are expected to reach $450 million at the end of the 2014-15 fiscal year, $80 million less than last year.
