Aquastar shrimp production to hit 10,000 tons by 1993.

Aquastar Shrimp Production To Hit 10,000 Tons by 1993

Farmed shrimp production at the Aquastar Foods Ltd. operation in southern Thailand is expected to reach 10,000 tons by 1993, with the area of shrimp farms increasing to 1,000 hectares.

Anticipating the increased harvest of black tiger shrimp, the company - a subsidiary of BP Aquaculture - has plans to expand the capacity of its processing plant in Songkhla from 24 tons a day to 60.

Meanwhile, it has opened marketing branches in the United States and Britain - Aquastar, Inc., in Seattle, and Aquastar Europe in Grimsby. The latter is an acquisition, formerly known as Black Tiger Seafoods.

Mike Girton and Bob Hooey head the USA branch, which engages in market research and new product development as well as sales. Inge Skulsson is managing director and Stephen Burns sales director at the UK branch, which already has offices in Belgium and Spain, and plans to open others in France, Italy and Germany. Both branches are being overseen by Dr. Philip Smith, managing director of BP Nutrition's seafood operations.

To ensure product quality, Aquastar's own harvesting teams take control of the ponds 14 days before harvest, using a system of water exchanges to force the shrimp to moult, so that they will have new, clean, firm shells by the time they are harvested. They are put in a salt water/ice slurry as soon as they are harvested to bring them down to 0 [degree] C and minimize enzymatic reactions that cause black spots and other problems.

Iced shrimp are trucked to the plant within an hour, sorted and graded, and held in chill storage until processing. A fully-automated line transports the shrimp through deheading, sizing, color grading, peeling and cooking. Block or individual quick freezing follows, and the finished products are packed for shipment to Japan, the USA and Europe.