The aquatic quarantine facility (AQF) in Chennai is gearing up for a bumper catch of Pacific White shrimp brooders. The facility is getting expanded and will be able to quarantine more vannamei brooders soon. The number of brooders that can be quarantined from this phase is estimated to be around 35,650. The third and the final phase of the facility is also under way, which will have 13 quarantine cubicles, boosting the total quarantine capacity of the facility to 20 cubicles that can quarantine close to 2,37,600 brooders per annum. This would facilitate a five-fold increase in shrimp aquaculture production.
The AQF is a state-of-the-art facility and only one of its kind in the world, which ensures the specific pathogen-free (SPF) status of the vannamei brooders imported to India. SPF assurance is a guaranteed option by which one can mitigate the risk of known pathogens associated with the introduction of this exotic species.
Speaking at the flagging off the second phase expansion of AQF, set up at a cost of R25 crore, commerce secretary S R Rao said another 13 cubicles will be added to the existing seven in the facility, which would further reduce the cost incurred for importing the broodstock.
“We need to meet the demand by import substitution by multiplication in India,” he said. ?Value addition on marine products should be increase as that was the only way.?
The AQF plays a major role in mitigating the risk associated with the introduction of this non-native species by its stringent quarantine measures . It is on par with international standards required for quarantine units and has high-end biosecurity to facilitate the quarantine services of vannamei broodstock.
The facility took shape when the Centre decided to permit introduction of the Pacific White shrimp SPF broodstock in a regulated manner.
The Centre has set a target of doubling the country’s marine exports to $7 billion by 2015 from $ 3.5 billion at present and is in the process of charting better schemes to ramp up public-private partnerships. According to MPEDA data, seafood exports recorded an all-time high of R16597.23 crore, ($ 3508.45 million) registering a 29% increase in rupee terms and about 23% in dollar terms. Shrimp accounted for about 50 % of the value of seafood exports by registering an all-time high of $ 1740 million foreign exchange earnings. This increase in shrimp export was achieved mainly by the surge in the production from aquaculture. The farmed shrimp included the indigenous Black Tiger shrimp, Giant Freshwater Prawn (Scampi) and the exotic Pacific White Shrimp (L. vannamei).