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January 30, 2009

The Biggest Shrimp You Ever Saw

I used to think the word "shrimp" meant some little pink and white thing you'd see in a cocktail glass. So imagine the shock of seeing this gigantic breeder at a model hatchery in Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra. We called her Big Momma. A breeder like this can produce a million eggs.

Big Momma

Aceh is a producer of Penaeus Monodon, or Black Tiger shrimp. The Acehnese shrimp sector has seen hard times: it was slammed by disease in the 1990s, crippled by decades of civil conflict, and in 2004, ravaged by the Tsunami.

One of my organization's projects was to rebuild the Acehnese shrimp sector, which employs about 100,000 people. It was a great project, and played an important role in the recovery of the sector. You can read about it in the World Bank's East Asia & Pacific Blog.

Black Tiger shrimp is big and incredibly delicious, especially on a grill. It's not easy to find in the West, so if you see it, try it. If there were such a thing as designer shrimp, this would be it.

There's more about shrimp farming in Aceh in this photo journal:

(download)
Thanks to the Aussies for funding us!

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Filed under  //   Aceh   AIPRD   AusAID   Breeder   IFC   Momma   Monodon   Shrimp   Tsunami  

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November 18, 2008

Aceh Diary Archive

When I lived in Aceh, which suffered the greatest losses in the 2004 Tsunami, I contributed to the World Bank's Private Sector Development blog. There was a category called Aceh Diary, started by my friend Shaela Rahman, who helped set up our office there. After I left there was nobody to take over, and I started writing for A Mongolian Tale. The Aceh Diary category no longer exists, but the posts are still in cyberspace. I've collected them here, mainly for my own ease of access, but also for anyone else who is interested.

My Posts:

Aceh Diary 2.0  ♦  An Indonesian Esperanto  ♦  Ramadan   ♦  A Visit to Nias Island  ♦  Shrimp Day at IFC   ♦  Risky Business: Bringing Seaweed to Nias  ♦  Shoes (not) Optional  ♦  Happiness is a full Bak Mandi  ♦  Fighting Poverty at 25m   ♦  I Left my Belly on Mount Seulawah   ♦  An Acehnese Biker Chick   ♦  Goodbye Aceh  

Shaela's Posts:

First Impressions  ♦   Photos   ♦  Coordination   ♦  Photos   ♦  A Bisa State of Mind   ♦  Aceh Diary on BBC Radio   ♦  Commemoration     ♦ Price Distortions   ♦  Dining Out   ♦  Banda's Beehive   ♦  The Housing Hole   ♦  Wolfowitz Visit   ♦  Hazards and Risks   ♦  On the Weekend, Work or...?   ♦  The Staffing Challenge   ♦  Handing Over the Torch   ♦  An Aceh Veteran Speaks Out

Aceh has changed completely since Shaela went there in 2005. You can get an update of Aceh's economy and reconstruction efforts at the World Bank's Tsunami and Earthquake Reconstruction  site. There is also an interesting article in the online publication Inside Indonesia about the return of the founder of GAM, the Free Aceh Movement.

Sampai jumpa lagi!

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Filed under  //   Aceh   Diving   GAM   IFC   Indonesia   Islam   Reconstruction   Shariah Law   Tsunami   World Bank  

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