Environment a priority for prawn farm
Published: Mar 18, 2010 23:51 Updated: Mar 18, 2010 23:51
JEDDAH: The National Prawn Company (NPC), one of the world's largest integrated prawn farms, based at Al-Lith, has appointed Frédéric Millet as general manager of quality and sustainability. His responsibility is to oversee the sustainability programs that form the basis of the company's high quality products.
Millet's appointment is an example of commercial considerations work hand in hand with environmental concerns, each supporting the other. His brief is to integrate all the components of prawn production from hatchery through to delivery to the customer in such a way that they are working toward the same goal of long-term sustainability. As the production of prawns within NPC's farm is essentially organic - no chemicals, fertilizers or antibiotics are used at all - it is of paramount importance to keep the environment of the production ponds in pristine condition.
"We do not push the ecosystem to its limit. We prefer to extend the system to the maximum that is sustainable through an "All In All Out" strategy within the capabilities of the local environment in a way that leaves it in good condition," said Millet. NPC took the long-term view with a 20-year extendable strategy to develop a prawn industry in Saudi Arabia, rather than a five-year plan for maximum short-term returns.
Millet said that in many areas NPC had achieved an optimal balance, for example in the maintenance and preparation of the ponds in terms of their ecology and condition to avoid any outbreak of disease. "We need to expand and integrate this thinking across all non-farming aspects of the business," he said.
All the component areas of the operation - breeding, feeding and cleaning have to work together in parallel and all at the same target. "Everyone needs to be focused on the same goal - that of sustainability."
The development of the 250 sq km farm is in Millet's view not a matter of overcoming problems, but planning them out of the system.
"You need to anticipate the issues and this we did right from the start. So it is not a matter of overcoming existing problems. We want to continue to improve our systems and processes within a clear, practical framework for sustainability as we develop and scale up the business."
He said that the target, at the project's full extension, is that it will have a minimal impact on the environment. This involved a very complex and detailed computer-modeled water study to assess the environmental impact of the effluent, which is significantly below permissible international and Saudi standards.
The environment in which the prawns live is in delicate balance and it is managed with great care. NPC uses low density stocking in its 10-hectare ponds, strict biomass thresholds, and carefully monitors and manages water quality and oxygen levels 24 hours a day.
"We use nothing at all except the very best environmental management practice to sustain the pond natural balance. Very few producers can say that," Millet concluded.
