Nutriad showed its commitment to the Indian aquaculture industry through a Gold Sponsorship for Aqua India 2016, a bi-annual event organized by the Indian Society of Aquaculture Professionals (SAP). The event was held Jan. 29-30 in Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh. The conference focused on the theme of “Indian Aquaculture: Assuming Responsibilities and Adapting to Changes.”
“Seafood exports from India have increased fivefold in the last 15 years reaching 6.5 billion USD, converting India into the fourth global seafood exporter, “said Leena Nair, chairman of Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). Sixty-seven percent of the export value is shrimp, and 77 percent of that is farmed. Increased production costs and diseases are likely to slow Indian’s shrimp production in 2016. “A more than 10 percent 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,” said S. Muthukaruppan, president of SAP.
“White spot virus (WSSV) continues to be the predominant threat to farmed shrimp in India, but new diseases are increasingly important too,” according to Dr. Shankar Alavandi, principal scientist at CIBA. Surveillance programs have revealed new diseases such as the running mortality syndrome (RMS), white faeces syndrome, and Enterocytozoon hepatopenaei, a microsporidian causing slow growth and bad feed conversions. India still has an enormous potential to expand production of Penaeus vannamei into new farming areas in the states of West Bengal, Odisha and Gujarat.
During the interactive sessions at Aqua India, participants expressed the need for increasing capacity of quarantine and broodstock multiplication centers, enhanced bio-security measures to avoid spreading new diseases, genetic programs and new technologies to control microbial development in pond systems including probiotics and specific functional feeds.
Upon receiving the gold sponsorship award Dr. Peter Coutteau, Nutriad BU Manager Aquaculture, said, “Nutriad has been working alongside producers in India for many years. Together with them, we develop concept that addresses the current and future challenges of the industry.”
