The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), which is responsible for regulating activities connected with aquaculture in coastal areas, is going to clamp down on the illegal culture of the whiteleg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei).
The authority is also going to take steps to shut down shrimp hatcheries and farms that are unregistered. Even registered farms and hatcheries that are culturing and breeding whiteleg shrimp without the approval of the CAA will be shut down. Out of 14,549 CAA registered farms in the State only 246 have permission to cultivate whiteleg shrimp.
Action will be initiated against hatcheries using banned antibiotics as reported by the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).
The whiteleg shrimp also known as the Pacific White Shrimp is a prawn of eastern Pacific Ocean.
The production of whiteleg shrimp exceeded that of the tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) by 2004 itself, but the production of this variety of shrimp is limited by its susceptibility to various diseases, including the white spot syndrome, taura syndrome and vibrio bacteria.
Greenpeace International has added whiteleg shrimp to its seafood red list.
The environment-friendly organisation has on its red lists fish and other marine animals that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world as they have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries.
The CAA in its list of does and don'ts has stated that the bio-security requirements for getting permission to cultivate the whiteleg shrimp include bio-security requirements such as fencing of the farms (including crab fencing), provision of reservoirs for water intake, netting for birds, separate implements for each pond, training for personnel on bio-security measures, and effluent treatment system, notwithstanding the size of the farm.
Water quality
Over and above all this, the quality of water should conform to the standards prescribed by the CAA. And the waste water will be retained at least for two days and be chlorinated and then de-chlorinated before being released into the drain.
Several farms in coastal Andhra are not equipped to cultivate the whiteleg shrimp as per the CAA norms as its is highly capital intensive.
MPEDA Deputy Director C.J. Sampathkumar has said that there is also a problem of the shrimp being cultivated outside the jurisdiction of CAA. Efforts are being made to change the rules to cover such aqua farms also.
