Water Quality Dynamics and Survival of Pacific White Shrimp in Inland Saline Ponds

Abstract

The Pacific white shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei, is now farmed far from the coast, in ponds filled with saline groundwater or irrigation drainage that has little in common with seawater except the presence of salt. Producers often assume that bringing such water to a suitable salinity is enough, yet reports of poor survival from inland farms are common. This narrative review asks what the published literature says about water quality dynamics in inland saline ponds and about the factors that govern survival of the shrimp stocked in them. It draws on work on the ionic composition of inland waters, on crustacean osmoregulation, on acclimation of postlarvae, on nitrogen and alkalinity management in ponds, and on shrimp disease and biosecurity, and it reports no new data. The central point is that the proportions of potassium, magnesium and calcium relative to sodium and chloride matter at least as much as total salinity, and that these proportions differ from one site to the next. Acclimation practice, nitrogenous wastes, pond management and disease add further layers, and most of the experimental evidence comes from small tank or short pond trials. The review concludes that a site-specific analysis of the water, followed by a modest pilot, is a better basis for stocking decisions than a salinity reading alone, and it outlines what better studies would report.