Shrimp venture launched

Respected businessman Anthony Pellegrino is marking another first in the CNMI.

After introducing the bottled water business on island exactly 20 years ago, and sustaining its lead in the industry, Pellegrino reached another milestone in the local business scene as he launched yesterday his new venture in aquaculture: Marianas Sweet Shrimp.

The new company will engage in the supply of fresh shrimp, not frozen, to the local market and in the export of baby shrimp to growers abroad.

While aquaculture is not new, Pellegrino is actually the first CNMI businessman to build a shrimp farm, equipped with facilities for hatchery and shrimp growing.

Located in approximately two acres of land in the inner village of China town, Marianas Sweet Shrimp dba Marianas Aquaculture Co. Inc., houses culture tanks, broodstock maturation tanks, hatchery, aeration, filtration, and power supply, packaging and shipping building, water storage, and waste disposal system.

Pellegrino said the farm will concentrate on raising and selling Pacific White Shrimp, one of the sweetest tasting shrimp and a popular kind in the U.S.

Pellegrino said he began the business with a vision to put the CNMI on the map in the aquaculture world “as renown and trusted source of disease-free shrimp broodstock (parent or mature shrimp) and postlarvae or baby shrimp, and supplier of best tasting consumption shrimp to the local market.”

He said the farm will sell the harvested shrimp locally and export the baby shrimps to other growers in countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, Japan, India, and China.

“The demand for postlarvae is great worldwide. The demand is greater than the supply,” said Pellegrino.

He cited that a grower in Indonesia needs 6,000 pairs of broodstocks and a farm in Thailand needs four billion baby shrimps.

In the U.S., he said that the shrimp industry increases by 15 to 20 percent annually.

The U.S. spends some $2 billion to $3 billion a year on shrimp imports.

Right now, Pellegrino said that he buys his broodstock from the University of Guam.

In six months to a year, he hopes that the farm will be self-sufficient.

“That’s the reason why we put up our own hatchery. We don’t want to keep buying from outside. We will supply our own need and we will export postlarvae,” he said.

The company invested over $200,000 in capital for the infrastructure.

Total investments would reach up to $500,000 once the business is fully operational.

The farm has three units of circular concrete culture tanks 15 feet diameter each and two units of 30’ x 70’, three-phase raceway tanks.

The circular tanks have a combined volume of 16,000 gallons with a projected shrimp annual production capacity of 6,000 lbs.

Each raceway can produce annually up to 12,000 lbs. of shrimp with an average body weight of 18 grams.

Pellegrino said he has made three small harvests in the farm.

Harvests can happen every four months when shrimps reach maturity.

Meantime, the hatchery, which has two mating tanks, three larval tanks, and 10 spawning tanks is projected to produce a minimum of 12 million postlarvae per year.

Pellegrino said he learned about the shrimp business from the Northern Marianas College-Cooperative Research Extension and Education Services’ Aquaculture Program.

Through NMC, he got contacts from UOG.

He also contacted and received assistance from the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii.

“The beautiful thing about this is the knowledge is free. People are most willing to help out,” he said.

He encouraged interested groups to go into the aquaculture business as well.

“My dream is to help other farmers in Rota and Tinian where there’s lots of land. They can raise baby shrimp and do export. It’s a lucrative business,” he said.

Pellegrino said the farm produce is Specific Pathogen Free.

The Pacific white shrimp or Litopenaeus vannamei is said to have the ability to withstand diseases that other shrimp species are unable to resist.

Pellegrino said the farm is under strict supervision of in-house aquaculturist Joe Antipolo.

Saipan Aquaculture Co. Inc. is wholly owned by Pellegrino’s Saipan Ice and Water Inc.