Domestication of P. monodon is needed to address a number of vital issues for the Australian prawn farming industry:
1.The erratic supply of wild broodstock means that the quantity, quality and timing of supply of postlarvae to farms are all high risk and impairs the productivity and profitability of the industry.
2.The continued use of wild broodstock makes it extremely difficult to control introduction of disease as almost all wild broodstock captured on the east coast of Australia carry viral infections, most notably with gill associated virus (GAV), spawner-isolated mortality virus (SMV), and the gut and nerve syndrome virus (GNSV). There is a critical need to understand the disease status of founder stocks for domestication programs. This includes the development and application of rapid and accurate diagnostic tools as well as knowledge of how disease can be managed to permit increased productivity from domesticated stocks.
3.Selective breeding programs to increase farm productivity will not be possible until the life cycle is reliably closed on a commercial scale, and captive reared broodstock of high fecundity are routinely produced.
4.New methods of production that can minimise impacts on the environment, most notably full water recirculation systems, will not work well unless domesticated stock of known health status can be used.
Both the current viability of the Australian industry, and its future development, require domestication of P. monodon. Some industry operators have already switched production from their preferred species (P. monodon) to lower value species due to problems 1 and 2 above. Future enhancements in production systems (e.g. points 3 and 4 above) are critically dependent on the use of domesticated stocks.
The prawn farmers and their representative body the Australian Prawn Farmers Association (APFA) have developed a structured R & D plan. Research priorities were determined by the APFA Executive and by a separate poll of individual farmers. The R & D plan identifies the highest research priority is to overcome the barriers to
P. monodon domestication.
