In an effort to boost marine exports, India has decided to concentrate on black tiger prawn and Vanammae shrimp.
Good quality black tiger prawn seeds are being sourced from Hawaii. A centre for seed multiplication has been selected in Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh for which a MoU was signed between Mona Technologies and the National Fisheries Development Board (MFDB).
“We have invited bidders through tender for participation in the seed multiplication project. Once the bids are finalized we will begin with the process of seed multiplication,” said the Union animal husbandry secretary, Pradeep Kumar.
Kumar said that the seeds multiplied in the centre would be given to farmers.
He also said that plans are afoot to source Vanammae shrimps seeds from Thailand, Korea or China. A separate project would be launched for multiplication of Vanammae shrimp seeds in a public-private partnership mode.
Kumar said that the draft National Livestock Policy has also promised development of inland fisheries to raise fish production from 6.8 million tonne to 10 million tonne by the end of the 11th Plan period, apart from development and multiplication of black tiger shrimp and Vanammae shrimp. He said that territorial waters were over exploited and therefore there was a need to concentrate on deep sea fishing, particularly with high-tech vessels tuna fishing around Amdamans.
India’s marine exports are around $ 1.8 billion and the government has plans to boost exports to about $ 2.5 billion.