Commissioner of Fisheries, Ram Shankar Naik, has said several counties, including Japan, China and the US, were keen on investing in aquaculture owing to its high potential in the State.
“As the State has a 974-km coastline and scope for increasing production of shrimp, shellfish and other exotic species, international traders are coming forward to invest in farming, processing and export units,” Mr. Naik said. He also asked Fisheries Department officials to help farmers prevent diseases to produce quality shrimp.
Mr. Naik was inaugurating a State-level workshop on ‘shrimp disease surveillance and capacity building measures’ for Fisheries officials here on Thursday. Officials of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), Chennai; National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture (NaCSA), Kakinada, and the Central Aquaculture Pathology Lab (CAPL), Sirkali, spoke of disease surveillance and remedial measures on the occasion. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) Deputy Director S. Kandan chaired the workshop.
RGCA All India Project Director Y.C. Thampi Sam Raj said of the total $ 5.51 bn. aqua exports from India, aqua products worth $ 3.5 bn. are from cultured scampi and 80 per cent of shrimp production arrived from Andhra Pradesh during 2014-15 financial year. “There is scope to increase production if farmers follow better management practices. To improve quality, surveillance teams, comprising members of MPEDA and NaCSA, will collect samples to screen diseases in all coastal districts and alert farmers to prevalence of viruses,” he added. Dr. Kandan said White Spot Syndrome Virus (WSSV) and Enterocytozoon Hepatopenaei (EHP) infection were high in L. Vannamei species in coastal districts. Owing to EHP, farmers will suffer loss, as shrimp loses weight,” he added.
RGCA Deputy PD Jaideep Kumar; NaCSA CEO K. Shanmuka Rao; L. Vannamei Multiplication Centre, Visakhapatnam, Project Manager H. Dinesh Kumar; Assistant Project Managers (APMs) V.N. Biju and Remany; Aquatic Quarantine Officer A.K. Panda and CAPL Assistant Technical Manager Karthick Kannan gave power-point presentations on various diseases prevalent in shrimp as well as prevention methods.
As AP has a 974-km coastline and scope for increasing production of shrimp, shellfish and other exotic species, international traders keen to invest in processing and export units.
Ram Shankar Naik,
Commissioner of Fisheries
State-level workshop on shrimp disease surveillance held
