Aquaculture is the only option to meet the demand for fish in the domestic market, according to Baskaran Manimaran, Vice-Chancellor of Tamil Nadu Fisheries University, Nagapattinam.
Speaking at a conference on ‘Strategies for bridging the yield gap in fisheries and aquaculture’ at College of Fisheries in Mangalore on Monday, he said that the fish supply was short of around 40 per cent of demand in 2012-13.
Stating that marine fisheries sector is near stagnation, he said inshore waters have been exploited to sustainable levels. Added to this, the fishing fleet is under-equipped for targeted fishing in deep sea.
“Under these circumstances, culture fisheries is the only option through which the demand could be attempted to be met out. This includes both coastal aquaculture and inland/freshwater aquaculture,” he said.
The potential brackish water area available for shrimp culture is estimated at 1.2 million hectares. Of this, 15 per cent is under farming practice, he said.
As far as inland aquaculture is concerned, smaller water bodies such as ponds and tanks with water spread of 2.41 million hectares are the major source for freshwater aquaculture. Added to this, the country has many rivers, canals, reservoirs and wetlands, he said.
C Vasudevappa, Vice-Chancellor of University of Agricultural and Horticultural Sciences, Shimoga, said that innovations that make huge impact on fisheries sector are needed. Stressing the need for taking technology to farmers, he said not even 5 per cent of technology has reached farmers in fisheries sector.
CK Murthy, former Executive Director of National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad, said that the use of the existing resources and transfer of technology for aquaculture are the major challenges.
Shivakumar M, organising secretary of the conference, said that the average production of any fish or shrimp species in India is less than that of China or Vietnam. Some of the issues such as fragmented land holdings, low working capital, lack of infrastructure and skilled manpower, technological gaps and weak extension activities are the reasons for this, he said.