 An important part of any aquaculture production system is the harvest of the animals. Traditional harvesting practices often involve draining or saining of production ponds. Shrimp farmers often drain the production ponds and catch the shrimp in nets, mesh bags, or baskets as they flow out with the draining water. The shrimp must then be lifted and carried to a vehicle or tank for transport. Harvesting fish from a pond or raceway typically includes crowding the fish into a small area with a sain and sock combination or a crowding device so that they can be lifted out of the pond with a scoop net. Lifting large groups of animals in a basket or net can crush or cause damage to some of the animals and may reduce the quality of the final product. Some farms now use mechanical pumps to move the fish or shrimp from one location to another, including lifting them out of the pond onto a dewatering table and into a transport truck. These pumps can reduce the time, labor, and cost of harvest as well as help protect the animals from damage and improve the product quality. In this video we'll look at how a fish pump was used to harvest shrimp at the Claude Petit and Mariculture Center in Gulfshore, Alabama. Hello, my name is Alan Davis. I'm with the School of Fisheries, Aquaculture, and Aquatic Sciences. We're here at the Claude Petit and Mariculture Center in Gulfshore, Alabama. Today we're going to be harvesting some shrimp and so we want to show you some of the equipment that's going to be used. Now today we'll be using a fish pump to harvest those shrimp and the idea of using a fish pump is to reduce our labor and to move the product in water so that we then dewater it and then we can take it and store it and go to processing without doing this very quickly and without harming the product. There are a number of ways to power a fish pump. A fish pump could be powered with an electric motor or a diesel generator. In this case we're going to be using a tractor with a power takeoff. And for this particular fish pump we need a minimum of about 25 horsepower in order to run the fish pump. So we have a 30 horsepower tractor I believe with power takeoff. And the power takeoff is going to transfer the power from our tractor through this shaft to a pump. And this particular fish pump is run by hydraulic pump. And so we have hydraulic fluid which comes to this pump. It then circulates through these tubes and is transferred out to the actual fish pump. So we've got our hydraulic pump which is moving our hydraulic fluid and it's going to go through a series of hoses into a second motor which is this right here which actually drives this very large fish pump. And the idea is that that fish pump is moving a lot of water and it's very large impeller so it doesn't impact the animal. So we're going to physically concentrate the animals down. We're going to pump them through this fish pump. The animals are actually going to come in the bottom. They're going to come out here. And then what we're going to do is we're going to connect some large hosing you see right here. And it's going to go up to our dewatering station. And so right back here we actually have the pump that is going to move the hydraulic fluid. And that hydraulic fluid is going to go through a series of lines down to our fish pump which is currently in our pond. And that's going to drive that pump to move water up through these black hoses up into this dewatering station. Then the excess water is going to come back down through these blue hoses and be discharged. So what we're going to do is drain this pond as we're pumping water out. And one of the unique features of shrimp and different species of fish and shrimp will respond differently but this particular species of fish goes with a current. So as you're draining the pond all the shrimp will go towards that current. So the shrimp will concentrate down into our catch basin which is a depression in this pond where the pump sets. And then that pump will catch them, pump them through this hose up to the dewatering station. As the shrimp come up into the dewatering station, the water falls through a grate and the shrimp pass over the top and slide down a chute into the transport tank. Using three controls, the pump speed, the platform height, and the table tilt, we can adjust water flow and product flow. Flow of the water into the dewatering table can be controlled by the pump speed and height of the dewatering station. Ideally very little water should move across the platform and down the chute with the shrimp. To fine-tune the flow of shrimp and water the platform can also be tilted from side to side. The bulk of the shrimp pass through the pump when the pond reaches the final stages of draining. At this point new water is added directly to the catch basin to facilitate the movement of the remaining shrimp through the pump. To ensure that all the shrimp are harvested the catch basin is filled and pumped several times. The few remaining shrimp are manually removed with a net or by hand. Once the shrimp are harvested they are weighed, packed on ice, and transported to the processor. As you can see using a fish pump not only saves on labor but it also reduces the handling time. The ability to quickly harvest the shrimp from the pond and move them into ice ensures the highest quality product. One of the advantages of aquaculture is the ability to provide a consistent high quality product at a competitive price. Having a variety of tools and technologies available allows the farmer to choose the most appropriate technologies to provide the best results. Using a fish pump is just one option to help create a top-notch product.