The Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA-Chennai) scientists on Tuesday advocated crop holiday and micro-level focus on water parameters to bring down the mortality rate of shrimp due to ‘White Spot Syndrome (WSS)’.
The group of Principal Scientists — M. Poornima, M. Muralidhar, and S. Kannappan — have investigated the samples of the shrimp seed and water to find the reasons for the shrimp mortality in the nine coastal mandals in Krishna district, Kaikaluru, Kalidindi, Mandavalli, Bantumilli, Machilipatnam, Koduru, Avanigadda, and Nagayalanka.
Major hub
The nearly 100 kilometres aqua zone in the nine mandals is said to be one of the country’s major hubs for shrimp cultivation. The scientists on Tuesday shared their investigation details with the aqua farmers during the one-day camp on ‘Shrimp health and aquatic environment’ under the aegis of the National Fisheries Development Board in Kaikaluru town in Krishna district.
Speaking to The Hindu , Ms. Poornima said, “The seed will be tested prior to beginning of the cultivation. Holiday between the two crops is strongly advocated, given the existing unhealthy conditions in the shrimp cultivation in the district.”
Ms. Poornima has added that soil samples have also been collected in the district to conduct tests in the CIBA-Chennai laboratories as the farmers have expressed fear that soil conditions might have led to reporting the WSS in the shrimp.
Kaikaluru MLA D. Nageswara Rao has released the study report on the WSS and distributed it to the farmers. Mr. Muralidhar spoke on the aqua zones while another scientist P. Ezhil Praveena delivered a lecture on the WSS and clarified doubts of the farmers on the shrimp cultivation.
Fisheries Department Krishna District Joint Director Yakub Basha and Kaikaluru Assistant Director of Fisheries D.S. Sudhakar were among those present.
