Innovation cycles, niches and sustainability in the shrimp aquaculture industry in Thailand

In this paper we explain how a shift from culture of the black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) to the Pacific white shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) took place during 2002–6 in Thailand. We use system innovation theory to help explain how niche substitution led to a regime change within a Thai aquaculture industry trying to maintain international competitiveness but under pressures from a global landscape in which consumers are increasingly concerned with health and ecological sustainability. Support from a vertically integrated major firm, an extensive foundation of learning networks within the industry, and early profitability made the scaling-up and embedding of the experiment with white shrimp very rapid once the formal ban on import of exotic broodstock was lifted. Disease management with domesticated, specific pathogen-free strains of white shrimp has proven much easier than with black shrimp still dependent on capture of wild broodstock. Moreover relative production costs are lower. The switch in species had significant consequences for the environment and firms. Using life cycle analysis we found that rearing white shrimp requires less resource and produces less waste than black shrimp. The shift in regime, however, also made it more difficult for small farms and hatchery businesses.