Fishing in India - Aquaculture

Aquaculture

India laid the foundation for scientific carp farming in the country between 1970 and 1980, by demonstrating high production levels of 8 to 10 tonnes/hectare/year in an incubation center. The late 1980s saw the dawn of aquaculture in India and transformed fish culture into a more modern enterprise. With economic liberalization of early 1990s, fishing industry got a major investment boost.

India's breeding and culture technologies include primarily different species of carp; other species such as catfish, murrels and prawns are recent additions.

The culture systems adopted in the country vary greatly depending on the input available in any particular region as well as on the investment capabilities of the farmer. While extensive aquaculture is carried out in comparatively large water bodies with stocking of the fish seed as the only input beyond utilising natural productivity, elements of fertilisation and feeding have been introduced into semi-intensive culture. The different culture systems in Indian practice include:

• Intensive pond culture with supplementary feeding and aeration (10–15 tonnes/ha/yr)
• Composite carp culture (4–6 tonnes/ha/yr)
• Weed-based carp polyculture (3–4 tonnes/ha/yr)
• Integrated fish farming with poultry, pigs, ducks, horticulture, etc. (3–5 tonnes/ha/yr)
• Pen culture (3–5 tonnes/ha/yr)
• Cage culture (10–15 kg/m²/yr)
• Running-water fish culture (20–50 kg/m²/yr)

Aquaculture resources in India include 2.36 million hectares of ponds and tanks, 1.07 million hectares of beels, jheels and derelict waters plus in addition 0.12 million kilometers of canals, 3.15 million hectares of reservoirs and 0.72 million hectares of upland lakes that could be utilised for aquaculture purposes. Ponds and tanks are the prime resources for freshwater aquaculture in India. However, less than 10 percent of India's natural potential is used for aquaculture currently.

The FAO of the United Nations estimates that about 1.2 million hectares of potential brackishwater area available in India is suitable for farming, in addition to this, around 8.5 million hectares of salt affected areas are also available, of which about 2.6 million hectares could be exclusively utilised for aquaculture due to the unsuitability of these resources for other agriculture based activities. However, just like India's fresh water resources, the total brackishwater area under cultivation is only just over 13 percent of the potential water area available. India offers opportunities for highly productive farming of shrimp in its brackishwater resources.

Carp hatcheries in both the public and private sectors have contributed towards the increase in seed production from 6321 million fry in 1985–1986 to over 18500 million fry in 2007. There are 35 freshwater prawn hatcheries in the coastal states producing over 200 million seed per annum. Furthermore, the 237 shrimp hatcheries with a production capacity of approximately 11.425 billion post larvae per year are meeting the seed requirement of the brackish water shrimp farming sector.

Freshwater aquaculture activity is prominent in the eastern part of the country, particularly the states of West Bengal, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh with new areas coming under culture in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Assam and Tripura. Brackishwater aquaculture is mainly concentrated on the coasts of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa and West Bengal. With regards to the market, while the main areas of consumption for freshwater fish are in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa and northeast India, cultured brackishwater shrimps supply India's fish export industry.