Research in four earlier ACIAR projects has revealed that successful smallholder shrimp farming at any locality in Indonesia is likely to depend on interactions between several site-specific physical and environmental characteristics: the distribution and load of various white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) genotypes in host populations; the virulence and/or competitive fitness of these genotypes for farmed shrimp; the maintenance of suitable pond environments and biosecurity. This small research activity, which formally brings together for the first time agencies involved in earlier or concurrent ACIAR studies of white spot disease (WSD) and related issues, has the following objectives:

To determine the stability of WSD outbreak-associated WSSV genotypes when passaged through various shrimp - namely WSSV-free Penaeus vannamei, WSSV PCR test-negative P. monodon and selected other WSSV PCR test-negative, non-penaeid hosts;
To identify - using locality-specific environmental data, pond environmental data and data on WSSV genotype distribution and dynamics - the likely determinants for WSD outbreaks at a suitable, broadly representative locality in South Sulawesi.

Taken together with findings from project FIS/2005/169, this study should enable relevant agencies (and ultimately farmers themselves) to more readily identify localities suitable for smallholder shrimp farming, and also to assist in the modification and simplification of these programs that will lift both profitability and adoption rates.