Globally aquaculture is facing tremendous pressure on the business stability and its sustainability.
There is a need to focus on new management tools and production techniques, including addition of healthcare products for aqua health and nutrition.
A good culture can be achieved through better management with a view towards the long-term sustainability of production, commercial viability, and environmental impact. However, there are a myriad of challenges plaguing the aquaculture industry with the major challenge being the increasing widespread of disease. Following is a list of few of the challenges in that the Indian and worldwide aquaculture industry is currently facing:
- Market fluctuations w.r.t selling price of the shrimp.
- Fluctuation in the cost of production owing to inflation.
- Improper set up and farming techniques employed.
- Lack of proper infrastructure & implementation.
- Resistance towards adopting new farming technologies and nutrition.
- Lack of farm/stakeholders’ communication.
- Disease:
- EHP (Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei, microsporidian parasite).
- WSSV
- White Muscle & White Gut
- RMS/SGS/NHP
- WFD & EMS
So, what steps can the aquaculture industry as a whole adopt to mitigate the loss of culture owing to the challenges mentioned above. Following is a list of standard practices that have yielded good crop cycles and yields.
- Use of SPF/SPT/SPR Brood stock to eliminate the possibility of importing novel pathogenic viruses and other diseases into the hatchery & farms and prevent the pathogens from being passed to the larvae.
- Adopting proper pond preparation practices including giving enough break in between cultures (especially if the culture was riddled with disease) to ensure elimination of pathogens and use of quality pond preparation products to mitigate risk of disease entering the new crop.
- Ensuring healthy and biosecurity of the ponds growing the culture.
- There needs to be an increased effort towards staff education and skill development. This will not only ensure increased efficiency and yield better results for farm owners but also help the entire region remain disease free.
- Adoption of modern farming technologies is quintessential. A good start would be for farms to grow their seeds in specialized nurseries before introducing them to the ponds. This will enable better growth, higher FCR, lower risk of disease, increased survivability, and result in a better count.
- Use of quality products for pond preparation and shrimp nutrition is another important step. Using slightly cheaper products to save a buck is the exact definition of pennywise pound foolish. Use quality feed and feed supplements helps achieve a better shrimp count and keep diseases at bay.
Adoption of these standard practices will help mitigate the risk of the culture contracting diseases and improve productivity & production. These practices will also help improve sustainable production not just for individual farmers but for the entire region and increase the probability of getting a better shrimp count
