SHRIMP GROWTH FUNCTIONS AND THEIR ECONOMIC-IMPLICATIONS

Obtaining a reliable growth function is an integral part of deriving t he optimal harvesting strategy for any aquaculture operation. This pap er examines the common functional forms of fitting growth equations fo r fish and shrimps. The following functional forms are considered: lin ear, polynomial, log reciprocal, Von Bertalanffy, Gompertz, logistic a nd exponentiaL Results of fitting these various functional forms with experimental data for Penaeus vannamei are compared and evaluated usin g standard statistical goodness-of-fit tests. The implications of thes e estimated growth functions in, determining the optimal harvest sched ule is compared and discussed. Results indicate that Gompertz and Von Bertalanffy functions are statistically the best fit to the experiment al data and the harvesting schedule calculated based on these two func tions well reflect the actual shrimp farm operation. Therefore, the Go mpertz and Von Bertalanffy function may be the best functions describi ng shrimp biological growth and hence might be useful for economic eva luation.