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Domestic units nervous over huge import of prawn seeds

R. Balaji

CHENNAI, April 30

UNREGULATED import of freshwater prawn seeds pose a threat to the survival of domestic prawn culture, according to industry sources.

The fear is not one of competition from imports, but that of a major disease outbreak along the lines of that experienced in saline water shrimp farms a few years back, fears the industry.

It may be recalled that import of tiger shrimp seeds, a few years back had resulted in a major outbreak of viral diseases in shrimp farms. The industry is yet to fully recover from the disease which even to this day wipes out shrimps cultivated in the fa rms, said industry representatives. At that time, to meet the growing demand for tiger shrimp seeds, they had been imported in the guise of `live feed', they said.

If left unchecked, import of freshwater prawn seeds could similarly decimate the local industry. History would repeat itself, they said.

During the previous season the prawn seed had been imported from Thailand and distributed at exorbitant prices. The seeds had been imported through Kolkata ports and found their way to the prawn farms in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, they said. Lack of proper quarantine facilities for aquatic animals, and loopholes in the regulations aggravate the situation, they said.

The imports of live aquatic animals, particularly those cultivated in mass quantities will have to be strictly regulated and the laws tightened, they said.

According to Mr G.S. Samarasam, a leading freshwater prawn hatchery owner, the threat posed by import was not that of competition, but one of environmental concern. When saline shrimp culture had been on a growth phase a few years back, import of tiger p rawn seeds from South-East Asian countries had caused an uncontrollable outbreak of viral disease, he said.

Similarly, following the growth of freshwater prawn farming in recent years, there has been a demand for prawn seeds. But some hatchery operators had managed to import prawn seeds, and had distributed them to the farmers at high prices. While the domesti c variety is sold at around Re 1 per seed, the imported were sold at much higher rates.

Apart from the threat of disease, it had also turned out that these were not the species being cultivated in India or that in demand in the export market.

In India, the freshwater species being cultivated is `Macrobrachiium rosenbergii'. But the variety imported from Thailand was distinctly different, smaller in size and starts breeding even before it reaches marketable size. So, the imported variety does not fetch a good price and farmers had suffered severe losses, he said.

In addition, if this species inter-breeds with the domestic species, it could result in a new and economically lesser grade species that could affect the superior domestic species, he said.

Andhra Pradesh, particularly Nellore district, has emerged a leader in freshwater prawn cultivation. In the last five years the area under cultivation had increased from a few hundred acres to about one lakh acres. The number of hatcheries have increased , but fall far short of the capacity required to meet the demand. The established capacity is around 400 - 500 million seeds per year. About 30,000 seeds are required per acre per crop. Farmers manage two crops per year, he said.