The conference Aqua India 2016 was held this year for two days in January, focusing on the theme “Indian Aquaculture: Assuming Responsibilities & Adapting to Changes”
During the interactive sessions at Aqua India, participants expressed the need for increasing capacity of quarantine and broodstock multiplication centres, enhanced bio-security measures to avoid spreading new diseases, genetic programmes, and new technologies to control microbial development in pond systems including probiotics and specific functional feeds.
Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) chairman Leena Nair said, “Seafood exports from India have increased fivefold in the last 15 years reaching US$6.5bn, converting India into the fourth (largest) global seafood exporter.
Nutriad showed its commitment to the Indian aquaculture industry through a gold sponsorship for the Aqua India 2016 event held this January.
SAP president S. Muthukaruppan added, “67 per cent of the export value is shrimp of which 77 per cent is farmed. Increased production costs and diseases are likely to slow Indian shrimp production in 2016. A more than 10 per cent production decline due to flooding and disease outbreaks was already seen in 2015. A recovery is likely to be marginal due to lower returns from farming.”
