Dragoș Mircea
Founder & CEO
Good Tôm Company Limited
Vietnam
Dragos is a modern, professional shrimp farmer. Driven by a passion for sustainable protein, he moved to Vietnam in 2023, where he immersed himself in the shrimp universe — he engaged with tens of producers, aquaculture suppliers, and experts across Southeast Asia, to understand the real issues of this sector. He focused on solving two of them: The huge risk associated with shrimp farming and the use of antibiotics.
Dragos founded Good Tôm (Good Shrimp), a venture-backed, precision aquaculture startup which utilises science-based, data-driven practices to grow vannamei shrimp in a profitable and more sustainable way. The company takes over existing farms that are abandoned or underutilised, turns them around, and produces shrimp without using any antibiotics. Good Tôm operates the sites 100% by themselves, with their own staff, capital, and proprietary SOPs. This approach is still unique in Vietnam, due to its risk and complexity. They currently run two farms in the Mekong Delta, targeting 150+ tonnes of “good shrimp” per year.
Prior to Good Tôm, Dragos was a complete shrimp outsider. He was a management consultant at Strategy& (part of PwC), in London and spent 6 years advising leading pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies and healthcare providers across the UK, Western Europe, Middle East, and the US. In 2022, Dragos obtained his MBA from INSEAD. Therefore, he is bringing a completely different mindset and approach to shrimp farming.
| Session | Living with Diseases: Prevention, Managing Trigger Points and Integrating Mitigation into Production Models |
| Presentation | Managing TPD: The Practical Experience of a Shrimp Farmer in Vietnam |
Abstract
Translucent post-larvae disease (TPD) is a relatively new and highly lethal bacterial disease affecting Penaeus vannamei production. It originated in China in early 2020s and it is now prevalent in Vietnam, in the hatcheries and grow-out farm. The disease, caused by a hypervirulent strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus, was given this name due to its dramatic, visible impact on shrimp: pale, often transparent hepatopancreas and digestive tract, followed by massive mortality, which can reach 100% within 7-14 days.
Good Tôm is a modern shrimp farm operator located in the Mekong Delta, South Vietnam, producing P. vannamei in intensive settings. Akin to other farms in the region, the company has faced TPD over the past 12 months. In this presentation, we focus on three cases of TPD outbreaks in two Good Tôm farms. Across all these individual cases, three aspects were explored: (1) the likely source of the pathogens; (2) the biological and economic impact of this disease; (3) the attempts made to try to rescue infected shrimp and complete the farming cycle. Each of the TPD cases differs in its epidemiology, overall impact, and farm management protocol used to mitigate negative consequences. Thus, future lessons can be drawn to support other farmers manage the threat of TPD.