Holistic Approach to Shrimp Farming

India has made rapid strides in shrimp aquaculture mainly due to the introduction of the exotic species L. vannamei during the last decade. There has been a sevenfold increase in the estimated shrimp production in India that grew from 1 lakh ton/annum in 2009-10 to 7.5 lakh tons at present. Despite the phenomenal growth of the sector, the shrimp aquaculture sector is beset with challenges like environmental impacts, food safety and occurrence of diseases and crop losses.

Any successful shrimp farming necessitates disease management during the entire culture period besides addressing other production issues like poor water quality, lack of nutritional diet etc that may crop up during different phases of culture. Production losses due to slow growth, disease affliction and high Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) may ultimately affect the profitability of the farmers. Proper care needs to be taken from sourcing the seed up to the harvest for successful shrimp farming.

Activities involved in successful shrimp farming

• Hatchery selection / seed quality and screening
• Pond preparation
• Water management
• Pond bottom management
• Feed management
• Disease management
• Biosecurity protocol (hatchery and farm)