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China’s shrimp farmers ‘terrified’ as deadly virus threatens to destroy lucrative seafood industry
- The virus, known as Decapod iridescent virus 1, has infected about a quarter of the shrimp farms in Guangdong province, the heart of production in China
- It is not known to harm humans but can kill shrimp in a matter of days
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Shrimp farmers in China are watching with growing horror as a mysterious virus decimates aquaculture farms in the southern province of Guangdong, slashing output of the popular seafood and threatening the livelihood of tens of thousands of households.
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The virus, known as Decapod iridescent virus 1, or Div1, was first detected as early as 2014, but came back with a vengeance last spring and again in February this year, affecting about a quarter of the area under shrimp production, local farmers said.
The spread of the disease, which is not known to be harmful for humans, has left the shrimp industry in Guangdong fretting over whether it will face mass deaths of a similar scale to the African swine fever crisis, which wiped out as much as 60 per cent of China’s pig herd.
“The infection rate and lethalness of the virus are terrifying,” said Wu Jinhong, a shrimp farmer in Da’ao township in Jiangmen city.
It only takes two or three days from detecting the first infection for all shrimp in the pond to be killed
“It only takes two or three days from detecting the first infection for all shrimp in the pond to be killed.”
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