India focuses on adapting to change

An aquaculture conference in India recently focused on the theme ‘Assuming Responsibilities and Adapting to Changes’.

Aqua India 2016, a bi-annual event organised by the Indian Society of Aquaculture Professionals (SAP), was held this year in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, from January 29-30.

‘Seafood exports from India have increased fivefold in the last 15 years, reaching US $6.5 billion, converting India into the fourth global seafood exporter,’ said Leena Nair, chair of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

But S. Muthukaruppan, president of SAP, said: ‘A more than 10 per cent production decline, due to flooding and disease outbreaks, was already seen in 2015. A recovery is likely to be marginal due to lower returns from farming.’

White spot virus (WSSV) continues to be the predominant threat to farmed shrimp in India, but new diseases are increasingly important too, such as the running mortality syndrome (RMS), white faeces syndrome, and Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei, a microsporidian causing slow growth and bad feed conversions.

During the interactive sessions at Aqua India, participants expressed the need for increasing capacity of quarantine and broodstock multiplication centres, enhanced bio-security measures to avoid spreading new diseases, genetic programmes, and new technologies to control microbial development in pond systems, including probiotics and specific functional feeds.

Nutriad sponsored the event and on receiving the gold sponsorship award, the firm’s Dr Peter Coutteau said: ‘Nutriad has been working alongside producers in India for many years. Together with them, we develop concepts that address the current and future challenges of the industry.’

Above: Dr Peter Coutteau receiving the gold sponsor award for Nutriad at Aqua India 2016 from Dr P Ravachandran of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority