Shrimp farmers across India are facing a persistent, unexplained mortality pattern once known as Running Mortality Syndrome (RMS), which has now intensified into Aggressive Running Mortality Syndrome (ARMS). Crops rarely survive beyond 70–75 days, threatening farm viability and farmer morale.
In mid-2025, the Prawn Farmers Federation of India (PFFI) launched the Targeted Shrimp Disease Investigation Program (TaSDIP) MoU between ICAR–Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA), and PFFI was signed on 29 July 2025, followed by the official launch on 10 August 2025. MPEDA–Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), joined as a key institutional partner, coordinating closely with CIBA and PFFI on laboratory analyses, field validation, and data integration in the pilot district of Nagapattinam, Tamil Nadu.
While farmers coordinate sample collection, field logistics, and data, scientists conduct pathogen screening, microbial profiling, and histopathology. In parallel, PFFI has forged a separate collaboration with the University of Arizona, USA, to pursue complementary research on pathogen characterization and genetic resilience.
The program has received support from over 30 private companies and eight national institutions, signaling a rare sector-wide unity to tackle India’s most critical shrimp-health challenge. TaSDIP demonstrates how farmers and scientists can jointly lead change - for the farmers, by the farmers, with the scientists. Partner organisations are the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI), All India Shrimp Hatcheries Association (AISHA), Society of Aquaculture Professionals (SAP), and leading aquaculture industry stakeholders.
The presentation outlines how Indian shrimp farmers, research institutions and industry partners come together under a structured framework to jointly investigate the cause of ARMS. This collaborative model represents the first of its kind research