Seychelles' Island Development Company (IDC), a state-owned company, is set to produce black tiger prawns this year and the first batches are expected to be on the market by October or November, said a top official.

The deputy chief executive of IDC, Christian Lionnet, told reporters last week that this kind of prawns are very susceptible to stress and that is the main reason why 90 percent of the initial broodstock batch did not survive when imported into the country.

"For the first half of this year, we are planning on finalising our hatchery. Following the first attempt, we've decided that it would be better to develop our broodstock here in Seychelles. So, we will produce the larvae and then rear it in the ponds," said Lionnet.

He added that IDC expects "that by June this year, our hatchery on Coetivy will be ready, that way we'll be able to produce black tiger prawns. And four months later, during October or November, the first batches should be ready for the market."

Lionnet shared that the quality of the prawns produced on Coetivy is expected to be much improved this year as well, and this was due to certain improvements that IDC made to the processing system.  

"We've stabilised the way that we process the prawns, before, we had to fly the prawns from the farm to a processing facility on Mahe, now there is a processing plant on Coetivy. Therefore, the public can expect the prawns; (these are what they've dubbed the white shrimp) that will be on the market from February onwards to be of a much better quality."

The first batch of white shrimps produced by IDC on Coetivy came on the Seychelles market in April 2023.

Lionnet also said that the number of prawns that they will produce will total around 160 to 170 tonnes and this is about 85 percent of the estimated 190 to 200 tonnes that the population of Seychelles consumes per year.

"These figures include both the production of white shrimp as well as the black tiger prawns. At the moment, we have eight ponds with white shrimp. Each pond produces around 8 to 10 tonnes of prawns. However, once we introduce the black tiger, these ponds will be shared between the two species," said Lionnet.

The IDC CEO, Glenny Savy, stated that while they have been able to make great strides, they also faced certain challenges concerning the prawn project on IDC.

"We were frustrated with certain projects last year on Coetivy, we faced major delays, especially with suppliers who were supposed to be delivering equipment that we needed for the processing of the prawns, such as blast freezers. This was several months of delays; the project was supposed to be ready by October. Finally, we decided to change suppliers and in December we were able to set up the processing facility for the prawns on Coetivy," said Savy.