The Important Role of Technicians in Shrimp Farms

Every shrimp farm undoubtedly requires a team of competent human resources. Each of them have their own skills and responsibilities, and it is due to the fact that there are many factors that must be addressed in farms, including finances, cultivation stock, security, and so on. However, particularly for cultivation, farms need competent technical personnel or technicians.

Shrimp farm technician duties

In general, technicians play a significant part in cultivation. They ensure that the entire cultivation process, from preparation to harvest, runs smoothly and efficiently. They are also responsible for designing SOPs for fieldwork activities, choosing high-quality shrimp fry, coordinating the field team, conducting regular evaluations, calculating partial and total harvests, and making periodic cultivation condition reports to be delivered to the farm owner.

Technician’s primary duties are around feeding programs, water quality, and shrimp health and growth performance. They are in charge of planning the feeding program, controlling water quality parameters, arranging treatment needs, ensuring that the shrimp are protected from disease, and so on.

However, at other farms, the technician’s duties can vary depending on the management of the farm. Sometimes the technician serves as the farm manager who manages all aspects of the farm, including cultivation management, finances, storage, kitchen, employee salaries, and so on.

Challenges faced by shrimp farm technician

It is common for technicians to face various challenges. When problems occur with the feeding program, water quality, and shrimp health, the technician will immediately give instruction to the assistant technician and farm employees. For example, they will direct feeding program maneuvers when the Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) is high, provide treatment to improve declining water quality, or take shrimp that show disease symptoms to the laboratory for accurate detection.

Given their importance for shrimp farms, technicians must be equipped with extensive technical insight and have experience handling cultivation challenges. During Shrimp Outlook 2023, Shrimp Club Indonesia (SCI) highlighted that reliable and knowledgeable technical personnel are needed to achieve national shrimp production targets and boost Indonesia's shrimp competitiveness in the global market. If this is achieved, shrimp cultivation will be able to run in a sustainable and productive way.

References Important! What Human Resources Do Shrimp Farms Need? Be the Next Generation in the Shrimp Industry: Facing Global Challenges