The shrimp have been found in waters near Lafitte, Grand Isle and Venice according to Martin Bourgeois, a biologist who heads the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries shrimp programe.
There have also been a number of unconfirmed reports from shrimpers and the department is circulating a new poster at shrimp docks in south Louisiana, asking fishermen to keep an eye out, according to a report in Houma Today.
State officials say native shrimp species could be infected with a variety of diseases if the giant tigers, penaeus monodon, establish a population in Louisiana’s waterways.
The species is native to the western Pacific and is widely farmed commercially, the report says.
The most significant threat to Louisiana’s native shrimp is that giant tigers carry several pathogens and various forms of bacterial, fungal, and viral infections.
Houma Today says that local fishermen and processors say the appearance of the prawns illuminates the reasons they have been opposed to planned aquaculture operations in the Gulf region.
Louisiana Shrimp Threatened by Exotic Species
US - Wildlife experts in nLouisiana are concerned about the appearance of giant tiger prawns in Gulf of Mexico waters.
