Honduran Shrimp Kabobs at Power Chicken
Please note that EMS is only affecting Shrimp raised on Farms which are exported.
At almost all restaurants / food establishments; within the Country of Honduras the Shrimp being served  are not Farmed they are Fresh

Last week Undercurrent News reported that shrimp from three farms in two Central American countries tested positive for (EMS), according to a researcher at the lab run by the shrimp disease expert credited with discovering the cause of the disease that has ravaged shrimp populations in Asia and Mexico.

But the researcher declined to name the countries where the shrimp was from, saying the lab’s research is not public yet and citing confidentiality agreements with the farms.

“Honduras and Nicaragua are confirmed positive,” Scott Horton, technical department manager with Mexican aquaculture company Grupo Acuicola Mexicano, told Undercurrent.

Abraham Andonie, an industry veteran who purchases shrimp in Honduras and Nicaragua to pack for Central American clients, agreed that those are the two countries impacted.

These sources were agreeing with what a source with knowledge of the Central American shrimp industry told Undercurrent last week — that he believed the two countries to be Honduras and Nicaragua.

This source said last week the appearance of EMS in Central America probably will not greatly affect the global shrimp markets.

“Central America produces a very small percentage of the world’s shrimp supply and hence will not have any appreciable impact on market supply or prices,” he said last week.

At the moment, it is too early to know or guess how much production in Honduras or Nicaragua could be affected by the disease, this source said for this article.

Andonie noted that Honduras last year produced 65 million pounds of shrimp, and Nicaragua produced about 25 million pounds.

Of that, Honduras sent around 17.4 million pounds worth around $66.4 million to the United States, with Nicaragua exporting about 6 million pounds worth about $22.3m, according to US National Marine Fisheries Service data. That year, the United States imported a total of more than 1.25 billion pounds of shrimp worth about $6.7 billion.

EMS, also known as acute hepatopancreatic necrosis disease, is linked to a type of vibrio bacteria and was first reported in China in 2009 before spreading to Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Mexico. The World Bank estimates losses in the billions of dollars, saying the disease will have resulted in the loss of three million metric tons of shrimp by 2016.

Honduran Shrimp Exports to exceed $220, million Dollars during 2014

Now, with the first appearance of EMS in Honduras, Andonie said the country has “to change our way of cultivating and change our production protocol.”

The EMS issue comes at a time when other issues already face Central American shrimp producers.

Andonie said production problems will be exacerbated because of El Nino.

In the last few years, Mexico has become Central America’s best customer because of its own problems with EMS, Andonie said.

But now Mexico is buying as low prices, and domestic demand in Central American nations is also low, he said.

“Prices here in Central America are not good,” he said.

That leaves Central American farmers aiming to grow larger shrimp for the US and EU markets, he said.

By: Matt Whittaker

SOURCE: Undercurrent News