Project harvests 3,000 pounds of shrimp

OCEAN SPRINGS, Miss. - An aquaculture project at the Gulf Coast Research Lab has harvested about 3,000 pounds of shrimp, the largest since the program began in the mid-1980s. The project is designed to show the viability of raising saltwater shrimp at a commercial facility. Eight of a dozen tanks at the Cedar Point lab were drained Tuesday morning, yielding the shrimp. The tanks are 100 feet long, 11 feet wide and 30 inches deep. Jeff Lotz, chairman of the University of Southern Mississippi Department of Coast Sciences and director of the marine aquaculture program at GCRL, said the program aims to harvest about 500 pounds of shrimp per tank every 13 weeks, the minimal production for a commercial facility. (Source: Mississippi Press, 08/11/10)