US 17-season pond records: acoustic feeding raises shrimp survival to 84% and yield to 6,630 kg/ha

The Claude Peteet Mariculture Center in Gulf Shores, Alabama, USA, reviewed pond records from a total of 17 production seasons between 2006 and 2024, comparing the performance of Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) raised under three methods: manual feeding, timed feeding and acoustic (sound-based) feeding. The results were written by Khanh Q. Nguyen, Melanie Rhodes and D. Allen Davis and published on November 9, 2026.

The records show that survival in acoustic-feeding ponds was about 84%, versus about 70% in manual-feeding and timed-feeding ponds; average final body weight of shrimp under acoustic feeding was 29.3 g, versus 22.3 g under manual feeding, roughly 30% higher; converted per hectare, acoustic-feeding ponds harvested 6,630 kg/ha, versus 4,490 kg/ha in manual-feeding ponds. Timed feeding fell between the two: survival 69.9%, final body weight 26.5 g, and harvest 5,570 kg/ha, with no statistically significant difference from the other two methods in size or harvest volume.

On feed input, acoustic-feeding ponds used about 8,053 kg/ha, roughly 40% more than the 5,676 kg/ha under manual feeding and 5,774 kg/ha under timed feeding. Feed conversion ratios for the three methods were 1.36 for manual, 1.06 for timed and 1.35 for acoustic, with no significant difference (P=0.058). The authors accordingly noted that the extra feed consumed in acoustic-feeding ponds was converted into biomass rather than waste, but that the higher nutrient load requires greater aeration capacity.

Differences in the growth curve had already opened up by mid-season. Around week 7, acoustic-fed shrimp averaged 17.8 g, timed-fed 14.0 g and manually fed 10.1 g, with acoustic-fed shrimp 76% heavier than manually fed ones. During the fastest growth phase, acoustic-fed shrimp gained 4.1 g per week, timed-fed about 3 g and manually fed 2.0 g, with the former's weekly gain more than double that of manual feeding. The authors stressed that their manual feeding was not a perfunctory control — this method had been refined at the center over 13 production seasons.

The three feeding methods correspond to different management logics. Manual feeding has the lowest setup and maintenance cost; feed is broadcast by hand or by feeder several times a day, and the next ration is adjusted based on the previous day's feed-tray check or gut fullness; each feeding requires manpower, feeding frequency is limited by labor, effectiveness depends heavily on the skill and consistency of the feeding staff, and decisions are a reactive form of management. Timed feeding uses programmable equipment to spread the daily ration across multiple small meals, saving labor and achieving feeding frequencies that are hard to match manually, but the daily total still has to be set by someone, and the equipment feeds according to a preset program regardless of whether the shrimp are eating, so management is likewise reactive. Acoustic feeding uses an underwater microphone (hydrophone) to pick up the clicking sounds made by the shrimp's mandibles as they chew; feed is increased when the sound intensifies and slowed or stopped when it weakens. The system is usually linked with dissolved oxygen and temperature sensors and aerators, feeding only when pond dissolved oxygen is sufficient; technicians can monitor it on site or remotely, and it generates detailed data records.

The authors note that acoustic feeding equipment has been commercial for less than a decade, is already widely used in Latin America, and has spread more slowly in Asia, where manual feeding is still preferred. Each of the three methods is mature in its own right, but independent side-by-side comparative studies are few, and this center happens to hold long-term records for all three.

The data come from the center's 16 0.1-ha research ponds, supplied with filtered seawater from the nearby Intracoastal Waterway at a salinity of about 13‰. Each year, staff cast-net sampled about 60 shrimp from each pond weekly for weighing. Manual feeding was used from 2006 to 2019, and timed and acoustic feeding from 2016 to 2024. 2012 and 2021 were excluded because production was interrupted by construction and a hurricane; because acoustic-feeding ponds often reached market size earlier, comparisons were uniformly taken over the first 10 weeks of each crop, ultimately including records for 40 crops under manual feeding, 9 under timed feeding and 23 under acoustic feeding. The authors explain that these ponds were not controlled trials set up to compare feeding methods — in most years they were running nutrition and feeding trials — so what is presented is a record of routine production seasons rather than the results of a single designed experiment.

In terms of cost and supporting infrastructure, the production gains from acoustic feeding are real, but the requirements are equally clear: greater aeration capacity, higher capital expenditure, and trained personnel able to operate and maintain the system. This article is adapted from Nguyen, K.Q., M.A. Rhodes, A. Abebe, L.A. Roy, and D.A. Davis. 2026. Implementing automation and real-time feed management in shrimp farming. Proceedings of the XVI SINA 2025, November 19–22, 2025. ISBN: 978-607-27-2816-5.