Marine shrimp farming continues to evolve and expand globally, significantly contributing to the economies of many developing nations, where it generates much needed employment and hard currency through exports. However, the industry has been the target of increasingly aggressive criticism that it is based on unsustainable practices. While it is true that unsustainable management practices have occurred in some regions, it is also fair to state that this criticism has been indiscriminately generalized and unjustly applied to the industry as a whole. Researchers, producers, and regulators have made important strides in developing better technologies and management strategies aimed at assuring environmental and social responsibility while improving technical and financial sustainability. The New Wave reviews the latest technical foundations of operational sustainability. Many of its reviews emphasize the synergisms between advanced technologies that support operational sustainability and the development of policies that promote environmental and socially responsible industry development.

The first part of the book summarizes advanced technologies and management strategies supporting responsible shrimp farming. Topics include: high health and genetically improved stock development; farming Litopenaeus vannamei in freshwater and potential for use of effluents for agricultural irrigation in arid regions of the world; improved production efficiency in indoor raceway systems; advances in the application of traditional pond based and advanced superintensive production systems with minimal water use; the Kuruma shrimp industry in Australia; environmentally friendly feed formulations; feeding strategies to reduce waste while improving growth and production; and development of fish meal replacements. The second part of the book reviews many of the most recent developments in understanding and controlling disease. Reviews are presented on shrimp immunology, new theories on the shrimps response to viral pathogens, and the use of genome mapping towards identification of quantitative trait loci involved with disease resistance in shrimp. Experts in the field present practical aspects of farm health management from Asia and the Americas. Epidemiology and the relationships between pond microbial ecology and disease are discussed in detail, along with the most recent results on the Yellow Head complex viruses. The application of HACCP principles and new findings on the distribution of WSSV in shrimp bodies are presented to assist with management of the risks of disease transfer. Finally a review of codes of conduct summarizes a number of national and international efforts to develop and apply best management practices.