MU Preparing to Raise Saltwater Shrimp

Dr. David Brune is setting up a greenhouse at the University of Missouri's Bradford Research Farm that will allow him to grow Pacific white shrimp.

Brune said he hopes to apply more than two decades of his research to this project. Before coming to MU, he worked at Clemson University in South Carolina, where he developed the university's patented system. The primary difference between the pond and Brune's system is a series of raceways. They are like lanes in a highway and allow the shrimp to grow at much higher densities than in conventional ponds. Another key piece of his design is growing algae with the shrimp to provide oxygen and clean up the water. After several years of experimenting with this process, Brune was able to achieve a huge leap in fish production.

“When we started doing this, (the farmers) were producing 5,000 pounds of fish per acre," Brune said. "After a few years, we were able to reach 20,000 pounds per acre.” The greenhouse Brune is working on at Bradford Research Farm is built around the same concept. The facility takes up one-fifteenth of an acre, about the size of a tennis court. It is divided into two identical sections for experimentation and educational purposes. Each section has two shrimp raceways that are 3 feet deep, a tank of tilapia, a water wheel and two tanks providing additional water treatment.

You can read the whole article in the Columbia Missourian here. To see a separate article with a graphic of the system click here.