Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has resolved to ban the import of shrimps from Pakistan in response to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) announcement of the of White Sport Syndrome Virus (WSSV) infection.

This resolution came as a preventive procedures and application of biosecurity regulations followed in Saudi Arabia to maintain the safety of marine life cultured especially the shrimps in order not to pass diseases through import to Saudi Arabia.

KSA, represented in Ministry of Agriculture and Saudi Aquaculture Society, has established an ambitious program of biosecurity crowned recently by singing significant agreements between Ministry of Agriculture and Saudi Aquaculture Society with regard to biosecurity control project in aquaculture projects.

Worth noting that the formal authorities in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia imposed a similar banning on importing Australian shrimps based on the warning announcement issued by World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) including the outbreak of AHPND in the Australian shrimps.

Saudi Aquaculture Society and the competent authorities explained that the banning resolution shall be applied on live and headed produced shrimps. The resolution excludes the headless and peeled products, those subjected to heat processing, and cooked products. 

It is said that Pakistan is one of the countries exporting fish products to Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the shrimp exported to Saudi Arabia in 2015 was about 189 tons in 2175000 USD.