World Aquaculture 57 Lax biosecurity threatens whiteleg shrimp health on small farms: A policy and research challenge to India C. Regunathan1 and M.R Kitto2 After the shrimp boom of the early 1990s, with commercial integrated shrimp farming units under foreign collaboration, losses of Penaeus monodon from diseases (Babu et al. 2001) crippled profits of large-scale corporate shrimp farms and led to the introduction of the whiteleg shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei . Among other outcomes, this needless diversification of species had verily shown unregulated ethics in transfer and postimport management (Raghavan and Prasad 2006). These factors also caused shrimp farming to become a smaller scale farming activity (Umesh et al. 2010). The farming of shrimp is largely dependent on small holdings of less than 2 ha, accounting for 90 percent of the total area used for shrimp culture; 7 percent of farms are between 2 and 5 ha and the small remainder have an area greater than 5 ha (MPEDA 2008). Unorganized small-scale farmers do not have access to technological innovations and scientific applications. They contribute around 80 percent to the total shrimp production, but are poorly served. Small-scale farmers are innovative and productive but, because of poor organizational skills and an inadequate knowledge base, they are vulnerable to the numerous risks and hazards that impact farm productivity (Umesh et al. 2010). Small shrimp farm producers are also reluctant to adopt biosecurity measures that are perceived to be an additional cost. Biosecurity Requirements of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) of India is responsible for regulating activities connected with aquaculture in coastal areas. They are preparing to clamp down on illegal culture of whiteleg shrimp (Rao 2012). The authority also is preparing to take steps to shut down unregistered shrimp hatcheries and farms. Even registered farms and hatcheries that are culturing and breeding whiteleg shrimp without the approval of the CAA will be shut down. Out of 14,549 CAA-registered farms in the country, only 246 have permission to cultivate whiteleg shrimp. The CAA, in its list of do’s and dont’s, has stated that the biosecurity requirements to get permission to cultivate the whiteleg shrimp include fencing of the farms (including crab fencing), provision of reservoirs for water intake, netting to reduce predation by birds, separate implements for each pond, training for personnel on biosecurity measures, and effluent treatment systems, regardless of farm size. Over and above all this, the quality of water should conform to the standards prescribed by the CAA. Wastewater will be retained for at least two days and chlorinated and then de-chlorinated before release into the drainage system. Lack of Biosecurity Threatens Sustainability Several farms in coastal Andhra Pradesh are not equipped to cultivate whiteleg shrimp as per CAA norms, inasmuch as it is highly capital intensive. The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) Deputy Director, C.J. Sampath Kumar, has said that there is also a problem with the shrimp being cultivated outside the jurisdiction of the CAA. Efforts are being made to change the rules to cover such aquaculture farms (Rao 2012). The negative effects of lax biosecurity measures on shrimp health on smaller farms in India is a serious threat to the sustainability of cultured marine seafoods in India today. Although the original stock of SPF shrimp may have been certified as clear of specific pathogens, shrimp can no longer be regarded as SPF once they leave the biosecure environment and the offspring produced from this stock are cultured in non-biosecure production facilities of small farmers in India (Regunathan and Kitto 2011). A new historical record must be freshly logged to support claims of SPF status in the new transboundary region. Only a small number of biosecure hatcheries under strict selection procedures should be chosen as multiplication centers to produce only SPF broodstock (Chinarong and Krishna 2011). Supposedly normal shrimp are capable of carrying one or more unknown viral pathogens without gross or histological signs of disease (Flegel 2006). Wild and farmed native Indian shrimps are putatively not free of infection from many exotic agents. Exotic viruses can be present in prawns as ‘cryptic’ infections. Even in farmed populations, evidence suggests disease
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