Wild. Fresh. Sustainable.
Ceylon Giant Freshwater Prawn
The Giant Freshwater Prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) from Marisvitae Ceylon, grown the way the land already works — released into Sri Lanka's ancient dry-zone reservoirs, raised on nothing but the water's natural ecosystem, and landed by the fishers who live beside it.
A Different Kind of Aquaculture
We didn't build a farm. We joined a community.
Most of the world's prawns come from intensive coastal ponds — built on cleared mangroves, fed on manufactured feed, and flushed with treated water. We do the opposite. Through culture-based fisheries, we release hatchery-raised juveniles into existing perennial reservoirs, let them grow on the water's own natural productivity, and buy back what local fishers catch in their nets. The reservoirs are never drained. The ecosystem is never emptied. Nothing is force-grown.
AN INHERITANCE, NOT AN INSTALLATION
Sri Lanka's dry zone holds thousands of village reservoirs — wewa — engineered over nearly two millennia. This ancient tank tradition was recognised by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System. We add value to that living infrastructure without altering it.
1
Released to Nature
Post-larvae are introduced into the open reservoir — a living body of water that irrigates the surrounding land.
2
Grown Wild
They mature over many months on the reservoir's natural food web. No feed. No cages. No antibiotics, hormones, or chemicals.
3
Hand-caught
Fishers land mature prawns in the same nets they set for fish. Smaller prawns slip through the mesh and keep growing.
The lightest footprint in the seafood aisle.
Because we take an existing ecosystem, rather than manufacture the prawn's environment, the usual costs of environmental effects simply don't exist here.
Intensive Shrimp Farming
-
Coastline and mangrove cleared for ponds
-
Manufactured feed trucked in daily
-
Aeration and pumping around the clock
-
Effluent discharged to sea and soil
-
Chemical and antibiotic use to fight disease
Ceylon Giant Freshwater Prawn
-
Reservoir already in place and in use
-
Natural food web — nothing brought in
-
Rain-fed and gravity-fed
-
Zero discharge; the water stays the water
-
No chemical inputs of any kind
A premium alternative to commodity shrimp—defined by its size, texture, flavour, freshwater origin and radically different farming model.
A company anchored in the national system
Marisvitae operates under the framework of Sri Lanka's National Aquaculture Development Authority (NAQDA) and the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DFAR), in partnership with registered Fisheries Societies at each reservoir. Our methodology draws on multi-year research conducted in the reservoir systems, and our tank cascade is recognised by the FAO as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System.
One species. One place. Fully traceable.
The Giant Freshwater Prawn is unmistakable — the mature males carry long, slate-blue claws and reach a size no ordinary prawn does. Grown slowly in open water and caught by hand, it is a single, honest product: not a blend, not a substitute, and never anonymous.