Coastal Aquaculture and Mariculture (2+1)

Unit 1 - Shore based aquaculture and mariculture

1.3.1. Status of Coastal Aquaculture

• India has a coast line of 6517 Km (mainland), a continental shelf of about 40 million hectares and brackish water area of about 1.7 million hectares.
• The east and west coast of India are productive and are suitable for undertaking mariculture, while the edges of the seas offer scope for large scale culture of organisms such as oysters, mussels and seaweeds.
• The open seas could be used for suspending rafts and cages for the culture of finfish and shellfish.
• Despite the huge potentials, the development of coastal aquaculture in India has been rather confined to brackish water shrimp culture in the maritime states.
• In fact, the country has a rich tradition in shrimp culture, as various traditional practices were followed in different regions to grow and harvest shrimps in its natural habitats.
• Taking a cue from the traditional practices, scientific systems have subsequently been evolved to culture shrimps in protected and manually controlled regimes. Presently, over 1,67,500 ha area is under shrimp farming in various coastal states, out of which as much as 50,000 ha is still adopting traditional practices.
• Presently there are about 350 hatcheries in India with a built in capacity of 14 billion seed per annum to supply quality seeds of both shrimp and scampi. Broodstock collectors, nauplii producers, nurseries, water quality analysis laboratories, PCR Labs etc are also functioning to support the operations.
• Another vital sector for the sustainable development of coastal aquaculture is the feed and feed inputs. Over 30 domestic feed mills are supplying shrimp feed to the farmers, apart from the imported brands. Various forms of other inputs such as probiotics, immunostimulants, Zeolite, BKC etc are also marketed to help successful crops.
• The shrimp farms in the country have been periodically affected by white spot syndrome viral disease and the farmers are adopting various management measures to prevent crop loss and ensure sustainable production levels.
• The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) of Government of India has been playing a major and significant role for promoting coastal shrimp and scampi cultivation in the country, as shrimps constitute the major revenue earner in the export market.
• The revolution in coastal shrimp culture started when MPEDA established two modern shrimp hatcheries in the east coast, with overseas technological tie-up. Subsequently, scientific commercial shrimp farming practices were also demonstrated to farmers through pilot projects. This sector, which has witnessed a sudden upsurge with large-scale development, faced several challenges from environmentalists, lawmakers, financiers, etc. apart from in-house problems such as the onslaught of diseases.
• However, the situation got stabilized and now streamlined with the enactment of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act facilitating statutory and regulatory control over coastal farms. Small and marginal farmers largely run the shrimp culture sector in India. In order to empower these farmers, MPEDA has mooted the concept of forming “Aquaculture Societies” in various farming villages, through a project undertaken by MPEDA in association with the Network of Aquaculture Centers in Asia-Pacific (NACA), Bangkok on Shrimp Disease Control and Coastal Management in India.
• Aquaculture societies are expected to improve the socio-economic condition of the small scale and marginal farmers by assuring them sustainable production levels through adoption of Better Management Practices (BMPs) to reduce the risk of diseases and improve production and productivity.
• The country is estimated to have about 1.2 million ha.of areas, suitable for undertaking brackish water aquaculture. However, the development so far, has been only about 15% of the available area, and the scope for further expansion is therefore enormous.
• In order to regulate the development of coastal aquaculture in an environmentally and sustainable manner, the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) has been authorized by the Government of India to license the aqua farming activity in the coastal region for which, the norms and guidelines are already framed by the CAA. This Authority, although national in character will be working through the state governments for the governance of coastal aquaculture sector.