The government of Bangladesh recognized shrimp farming as an industry under the Second Five-Year Plan (1980-85) and adopted measures necessary for increasing shrimp production (Haque 1994). In 1979-80, slightly more than 20,000 ha were under shrimp cultivation (Ahmed 1988). Later, farming area was increased to 130,000-138,000 ha (DOF 1994, Rosenberry 1995). There are now approximately 37,397 bagda farms (P. monodon) with an average farm size of 4.5 ha. Bagda shrimp production has increased by 20% per annum in the last fifteen years. There is also 30,000 ha of land under galda (M. rosenbergi1) shrimp culture with an average farm size of 0.28 to 4 ha comprising 105,000 galda farms, located mostly in the districts under Khulna division. The galda farm is expanding at a rate of 10-20% per annum in other parts of the country (Hasan 2004). An estimate showed that total shrimp production in 2003-04 was 114,660 MT 188 (DOF 2005) as against the production of 30,000 MT in 1995 (Rosenberry 1995). Experts and fisheries resource planners predict that all potential shrimp areas are unlikely to experience similar expansions. Satkhira District has the greatest potential for expansion of shrimp farming in the south-western region while the potential for expansion in Cox's Bazaar District of the south-east region seems also very high (MPO 1987). Among several species available in the coastal regions, P. monodon is the preferred, species for brackish-water shrimp farming and attracts a very high price in the international market. In Bangladesh, P. monodon comprises 60% of the farmed shrimp production, followed by the giant freshwater prawn, M. rosenbergii which accounts for 25% of the production (Rosenberry 1995, Ahmed 1996). In the south-western coastal areas (i.e. greater Khulna region), the cropping pattern for brackish-water shrimp culture is dry months (December-July), followed by transplanted Aman rice during July through to December. In some areas, shrimp farming is characterized by monoculture. In the south-eastern coastal areas (i.e. Cox's Bazaar region) shrimps are grown from May to November and for the rest of the year, the land is used for salt production. In some parts of the south-eastern tidal area, rice alternates with shrimp and fish production (ESCAP 1988). The majority of shrimp farms in the coastal region of Bangladesh follow the extensive culture practices completely relying on natural productivity where there is little or no management in respect of drying the pond bottom, ploughing, liming, fertilization and feeding with stocking density of 2,000 to 15,000 PLs/ha and annual yield is 160- 230 kg/ha. On the other hand, an improved extensive method is a slight modification of the traditional extensive method, whereby farmers apply a few aspects of shrimp farming technologies with stocking density of 10,000 to 25,000 PLs/ha. An annual yield of 350-500 kg/ha of shrimp is obtained (Mazid 1994, Mazid et al. 2001). The semi-intensive method requires good management practices which include heavy feeding, removal of farm waste, water exchange, installation of the aeration system and high stocking density (5-lOPLs/m2). The annual yield is 500-5,000 kg/ha (head on) with an average of 2,000 kg/ha (Rosenberry 1995). In 1995, only 1% of the shrimp farms in the country used this method (Begum and Banik 1995, Rosenberry 1995). The outbreak of white spot virus in Bagda shrimp in 1994 has reduced the intensive and semi-intensive shrimp culture practice in the country. However, the average production of bagda in Khulna, Satkhira and Bagherhat area is 70-250 kg/ha/yr from a single crop while that in the Cox's Bazar area is 250-500 kg/ha/yr (Karim 2003). Most shrimp produced in the farm is marketed through three supply chains: (i) farm to the processing plants directly; (ii) farm to supplier, then depot/landing center, commission agent and final delivery to the industry; and (iii) passes through a number of channels that is from farm to supplier, agent, depot, commission agent and finally to the industry. Some farms where communication is developed transport shrimp in iced condition either by boat or by refrigerated van to the industry (Mazid et al. 2001). Boat, truck, pickup and van are used to transport the shrimp to distant places of depot or collection centers and processing plants. The quality problem is serious where raw material passes through a number of channels. The overall infrastructure development of most of the depots in the coastal region is very poor and there is a general lack of hygiene and most of the depots are not registered or under any form of control of the Fish Inspection and Quality Control (FIQC) of the DOF (Mazid et al. 2001). Organoleptically the shelflife of marine tiger shrimp (P. monodon) was found acceptable for processing for 8-9 days in ice storage and freshwater prawn (M. rosenbergil) for 5-6 days under similar storage conditions (Rahman et al. 2000, Kamal et al. 2000). The delayed icing of shrimp and prawn significantly reduces the shelf life (Rahman et al. 200la, Rahman er al. 200lb). Shrimp hatcheries About 95% of shrimp farms were largely depended on wild fry collection for stocking of PLs until recent years (Ahmed 1996) having serious implications for biodiversity. Since black tiger shrimp (P. monodon) is the most targeted species, wild shrimp seed collectors discard other shrimp and fish species larvae onshore where for every single bagda fry collected from the natural habitat, up to 99 other species of shrimp and finfish could be destroyed (Islam et al. 2001). Realizing this, DOF provided plans for the construction of about 30 private-sector hatcheries (Selim 1994), 12 of which were under construction in 1995 (Haque 1995). Until 1995, there was only one bagda hatchery (DOF 1995) in Bangladesh producing between 20-30 million post-larvae. The estimated requirement for the 130,000 ha of shrimp farms is 2.6-3.0 billion postlarvae and the difference is made up from wild fry (Karim 1995, Rahman and Pal 1995). Khan (1994) estimated a standing stock of only 7,000-8,000 MT of shrimp in Bangladesh water of the Bay of Bengal. In recent years, shrimp hatchery establishments expanded very rapidly. In 2005 there were about 44 P. monodon hatcheries and 28 M. rosenbergii hatcheries. In Bagda hatcheries about 3,050 million of post-larvae are produced. Almost all bagda hatcheries are located in the Cox's Bazar region, but major culture grounds are situated in the southwest region of Bangladesh where most of the hatchery-produced post-larvae are transported from the south-east region by air cargos (BFFEA 2004). The recent expansion of bagda hatchery has a significant excess capacity which needs rationalization to ensure a stable and viable industry with a high-quality output responsive to grower demand (Huntington 2002). The country's 50 hatcheries produce about 5.0 billion shrimp larvae, which is regarded enough to meet the production target by 2008 (Khan 1994). Shrimp processing and export Shrimps are grown primarily for the international market and, although Bangladesh contribution is small in terms of its share in the international market (i.e. 4-5% of world production of farmed shrimp), it is the seventh-largest cultured shrimp producer in the world. In 1973, there were only 15 shrimp processing plants in Bangladesh which now stands at 129 having only 65 in operation. The annual production capacity of the 65 plants is about 2,60,000 MT. But due to scarcity of raw materials, these plants run at only about 13% of their installed capacity (Haque 2003). Out of 65 plants, European Commission has approved 57 plants in regards to the quality standards. HACCP has already been introduced in most fish processing establishments. The following are the new value-added products marketed in EU and USA. * Head on shard on shrimp with claws (IQF, Semi IQF and Block frozen) * Headless shard on (neck meat trimmed) IQF raw consumer packs * Headless shard on (neck meat trimmed) IQF raw tray packs * Headless shard on easy-peel (raw, raw garlic and herb bases butterflied, blanched and cooked in form of BF or IQF) * Peeled shrimp raw, cooked in form of BF or IQF * Pull-divined (PD) and P & D tail on (raw and cooked in the form of BF or IQF) * P & D butterfly and P & D butterfly tail on (raw and cooked in the form of BF or IQF) PD skewer and P & D butterfly tail on the skewer (IQF shutter pack raw) Buttered Nabashi (IQF raw shutter pack)