Govt Donates Prawn Hatchlings from Belfast Hatchery to Aquaculture Farmers

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has donated thousands of prawn hatchlings to three aquaculturists across Dominica. The prawns were hatched at the Belfast Hatchery and given out to prawn farmers to boost their business and ease the challenges of having to travel to neighbouring countries to obtain the hatchlings.

One of the beneficiaries, Marvin Daniel, is full of gratitude to the government for the hatchlings since he usually travels to St. Lucia to obtain them for his seven ponds. He said the prawn larva given him by the government will not only save him the stress of travelling outside the country during a COVID-19 period, the gesture will save his travel expenses and enable him to save on the lodging he would have taken in St. Lucia.

With the travel to St. Lucia to hatch his prawns, Daniel said he experiences significant losses since many of the hatchlings do not survive the stress of the trip and die off before or on returning to Dominica. He however noted that with the larva donation from the government, his hatchlings will enjoy up to 78% survival rate and this will also boost his profits.

Daniel obtained about 30,000 prawn hatchlings and this will fill two of his seven ponds. He plans to engage in more hatching to fill the remaining five ponds. According to him, the matured prawns will be ready for harvesting in four months and that is when it will hit the market and be purchased by consumers.

Kurt Hilton of the Fisheries Division said the government will continue to boost prawn production in Dominica when the Belfast Hatchery and others begin to function at optimum levels. He said the hatchery had functional since 2003 but got hampered by tropical natural disasters. He noted that the government will continue to invest in the agricultural sector and in the businesses of fish and livestock farmers across the island. 

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