Aquaculture is the only option available to meet the growing demand for fish in the domestic market, according to Baskaran Manimaran, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, Nagapattinam.
Speaking at a conference on ‘Strategies for bridging the yield gap in fisheries and aquaculture’ at College of Fisheries in Mangalore on Monday, he said there was around 40% shortage in fish supply in 2012-13.
Stagnation
Stating that marine fisheries sector is near stagnation, he said inshore waters have been exploited to sustainable levels. Added to this, the fishing fleet is under-equipped for targeted fishing in deep sea.
“Under these circumstances, fish farming is the only option to meet the demand. This includes both coastal aquaculture and inland/freshwater aquaculture,” he said.
The potential brackish water area available for shrimp culture is estimated at 1.2 million hectares. Of this, 15 per cent is under farming now, he said.
As far as inland aquaculture is concerned, smaller water bodies such as ponds and tanks with water spread of 2.41 million hectares are the major source for freshwater aquaculture. Added to this, the country has many rivers, canals, reservoirs and wetlands, he said.
Tech reach
C Vasudevappa, Vice-Chancellor of University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, said that innovations that make huge impact on fisheries sector are needed. Stressing on the need for taking technology to farmers, he said that not even 5 per cent of the existing technology had reached farmers in fisheries sector.
CK Murthy, former Executive Director of National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad, said that the use of the existing resources and transfer of technology for aquaculture are the major challenges.
Shivakumar M, organising secretary of the conference, said the average production of any fish or shrimp species in India is less than that of China and Vietnam. Issues such as fragmented land holdings, low working capital, lack of infrastructure and skilled manpower, technological gaps and weak extension activities are the reasons for this, he said.