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Compendium of Lectures
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1
Farmers as Stakeholders
in Commercial Aquaculture
1961-2011
Edited by
M.Krishnan
P.S.Ananthan
R.S.Biradar
W.S.Lakra

CIFE Golden Jubilee Mini Symposium Series No. 1
Compendium of Lectures

Farmers as Stakeholders in
Commercial Aquaculture

June 2011

Fisheries Economics, Extension and Statistics Division
Central Institute of Fisheries Education
(University under Sec 3 UGC Act - ICAR)
Panch Marg, Off Yaari Road, Versova, Andheri, Mumbai - 61
http://www.cife.edu.in

Farmers as Stakeholders in Commercial Aquaculture, A Compendium of Lectures of CIFE Golden
Jubilee Mini Symposium held on 30 April 2011, CIFE, Mumbai.

Edited by
Dr. M. Krishnan
Dr. Ananthan, P.S.
Dr. R. S. Biradar
Dr. W. S. Lakra

Published by
Dr. W. S. Lakra, Director, CIFE, Mumbai

Citation
Krishnan, M. et al, 2011. Farmers as Stakeholders in Commercial Aquaculture, A Compendium of Lectures of
CIFE Golden Jubilee Mini Symposium held on 30 April 2011, CIFE, Mumbai.

Copyright: Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai, 2011

Foreword
In our journey to deliver record production and productivity in shrimp farming, the commercial
aquaculture sector must always realize its responsibility to the 90 percent small and marginal farmers
who make the single largest contribution en bloc. Beneficiaries of welfare schemes of the state DoFs must
become an integral part of this new business. The sector should take lessons from initiatives like
Agrocel of Kutch. Inclusive growth as a business model in shrimp farming is being popularized by the
NaCSA model in Andhra Pradesh. Cluster farming and satellite farming are production strategies that can
help the nation attain consistent and sustainable production. With other species offering scope for
diversification like seabass, ornamentals and seaweed, the sector seems to be limited only by extent of
institutional and organizational networking
Shrimp farming is the most dynamic sector in Indian agriculture. Ceteris paribus, it offers the highest
returns per rupee of investment compared to any other investment opportunity in agriculture. Indian
shrimp farming sector had been the sunrise sector in the early nineties. It literally underwent trial by fire
in the late half of the nineties and had achieved unsteady stability in terms of productivity in the first
decade of this century.
With an eye to the future and also to be in sync with the neighboring shrimp farming countries, India had
developed a pragmatic recovery plan to help shrimp farming find its feet again. Led by the National
Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) and Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) of Ministry of Agriculture,
the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) of the Ministry of Commerce and the ICAR
fisheries research institutes, shrimp farming has been given a fresh lease of life with the introduction of
Litopenaeus vannamei. Specially equipped hatcheries that will specialize in SPF L.vannamei broodstock
and seed production have been identified, the rules for regulating the second coming of the shrimp
farming in its new avtar has been drawn meticulously by the CAA with the state DoF in tandem. The
nation is waiting for the business end of the sector to record consistent and restrained performance that
will help the country to achieve sustained growth in shrimp production and exports.
Once bitten twice shy, Indian shrimp farming, processing and trade, I am sure, will play a responsible role
in contributing significantly to the growth rate of agriculture and also enable enhancement of economic
and social quality of life among the small and marginal shrimp farmers. The Central Institute of Fisheries
Education, Mumbai in its Golden Jubilee year has taken the right step in organizing this very important
and significant symposium on Farmers as Stakeholders in Commercial Aquaculture.

S. Ayyappan
Director General, ICAR & Secretary, DARE
Govt. of India, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi

PREFACE
The Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE) Mumbai is celebrating the Golden Jubilee of its journey
that began in 1961 in a befitting manner in June 2011. The CIFE continues to deliver quality education in
fish and fisheries science and has attained creditable heights in research and extension as per the
mandate of the institute and the ICAR.
As a prelude to the rapidly approaching Golden Jubilee, the CIFE has decided to organize a series of
symposiums that will home in on the issues that will help this university-institute to organize its teaching
and research programs better in the years to come.
There is no doubt that private sector has to play a major role in fisheries and aquaculture development.
But private investments must necessarily include the interest of the small and marginal farmers of the
country in their business models. This is truer in commercial aquaculture of high value shrimp and prawn
species. Data shows more than 90 percent of the countrys shrimp farms are less than 1 ha in area and
are farmed by small and marginal farmers. Nevertheless, the sector is again poised for a high growth
phase, the second coming, after its dizzy performance in the early nineties. High value aquaculture
includes L. vannamei which is management intensive. Local communities are knowledge intensive. They
have innate local understanding of the water, soil and farming practices which can play a major role in
scientific management of commercial farms. Their ITK can help sustain the environment and help realize
the industry to reap successive successful crops.
Similarly species like L. calcarifer or seabass has great potential. Despite the fact the seed production
technology is in place, the farming of seabass is still in its infancy. A long duration crop, the species as a
culturable one, is again management intensive. Can we develop a vertically integrated farming-
processing -marketing business model that can lead to involvement of local communities and generate
employment and income in rural areas? Can the model help mitigate urban migration and provide
opportunities for growth of employment for educated fishers and stakeholders in the coastal areas?
We have recorded significant success in seaweed farming in Tamil Nadu which is a peoples movement.
The success of the initiative lies in the private initiative backed by central research and development
organizations, state government, NABARD and commercial banks. The model looks replicable in other
states also. Orissa has taken the initiative in this direction.
Aquaculture itself is a rural initiative. The time is ripe for us to discuss and arrive at some form of
consensus to integrate rural population in commercial aquaculture. The ways and means to look at the
issue lies in the necessity to integrate human and local social capital in commercial ventures to avoid the
pitfalls of commercial aquaculture as practiced in the early nineties.
This symposium and the contributions of leading entrepreneurs whose contributions are in the following
pages, will we are sure, help us to throw some light on the ways and means of inclusive growth of
farmers as stakeholders in commercial aquaculture. We sincerely appreciate the efforts of the faculty and
students of the Division of Fisheries Economics, Extension and Statistics in particular and the institute at
large, who have helped to organize this symposium and compile the contributions of the invited speakers
and the faculty.
M.Krishnan, Ananthan, P.S., R.S.Biradar and W.S.Lakra

ii

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Farmers as Stakeholders in Commercial Aquaculture a Synthesis
M.Krishnan, P.S.Ananthan, R.S.Biradar, W.S.Lakra
1-5
2. Inclusive Shrimp Farming: Development Model For Marginal
Stakeholders In India (With Special Reference to Gujarat).
Manoj M. Sharma
6-14
3. Fishers First: Participatory Model in Seaweed Farming in India.
Abhiram Seth and Tanmaye Seth

15-32
4. High value aquaculture and marginal stake holders in India with special
reference to L. Vannamei
Saji Chacko

33-37
5. The impact of commercial shrimp farming in Andhra Pradesh on
Marginal farmers.
P. Elan Cheran

38-45
6. Integrating farmers as stakeholders in coastal commercial aquaculture.
M. Krishnan, R. S. Biradar, Swadesh Prakash, P. S. Ananthan, Vinod
Kumar Yadav and B. Nightingale Devi

46-57
7. Ensuring community participation for sustainable public-private-
partnership in aquaculture.
Ojha S.N., Sheela Immanuel, Ananthan P.S., Mishra, S.K and Nisha
Elezabeth Joshwa

58-77
8. Farmers focus strategies to enhance local availability of quality fish seed
for commercial Aquaculture.
Nalini Ranjan Kumar and M. Krishnan

78-88
9. Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) as local resource for sustainable
development: Study of cases in fisheries and aquaculture.
Arpita Sharma, Banti Debnath and S.K. Mishra

89-94
10. A study on the performance appraisal of Non-Governmental
Organizations in fisheries development in India.
S.K.Mishra, S.N.Ojha, Sheela Immanuel, Arpita Sharma,
Swadesh Prakash, Archana Sinha and Lipi Das

95-104
11. Proceedings of the Symposium on Farmers as Stakeholders in
Commercial Aquaculture

105-108
12. Programme Schedule of Symposium on Farmers as Stakeholders in
Commercial Aquaculture held on 30 April, 2011
109
iii
LIST OF TABLES

State wise details of shrimp farming in India 2
Overview of brackish water shrimp farming resources of India and their utilization
during 2005-2006.
7
District wise land allotment in Gujarat 7
Role of Stakeholders in the project 20
Project cost for 5 members in a group 21
Economics of Seaweed cultivation Operation & Economics 21
Yield data of crops sprayed with seaweed sap (data generated by CSMRI and our
licensee shared over the years)
32
Crop comparision between P. Monodon and L. Vannamei 35
Distribution of farmers in district wise detail 39
Unit cost of Contract Farming Oceanaa model scheme for shrimp culture 48
Supplementary features of the Oceanna model 52
Input-Output Relationships in Organic and Conventional Shrimp Farming Systems 54
Vicious Cycle of Exclusive Growth- Actors, Actions and Beneficiaries 59
State-wise Fish Seed Production in India 80
State-wise Production and requirement of carp seed in India during 2008-09 81
State wise production & requirement cold water Fish seed in India during 2008-09 82
State wise production & requirement brackish water fish seed in India during 2008-09 82
Movement of fish seed across different states of India 84
Fish Seed Production Infrastructure in India 86
Socio-Economic Profile of the Respondent Field Functionaries 97
Communication Profile of the Respondent Field Functionaries 97
Suggestions by the Respondent Field Functionaries for enhancing the Performance of
their NGOs
98
Socio-Economic Profile of the Respondent NGO Beneficiaries 99
Expectations and Needs met by beneficiaries from the NGOs 100
Assessment of Performance of the selected NGOs by non-beneficiary Stakeholders 101
iv

GJMS: Farmers as Stakeholders in Commercial Aquaculture 1

Farmers as Stakeholders In Commercial Aquaculture - A Synthesis
M. Krishnan, Anathan, P.S., R. S. Biradar and W. S. Lakra
Shrimp farming in India is comingof age. India has established the institutional framework
and organisational support for the development of the sector. The Department of Animal
Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries (DAHD&F), The Marine Products Exports Development
Authority (MPEDA), the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), the State Departments of
Fisheries, ICAR fisheries institutes supported by institutional finance and insurance have
enabled the formulation and implementation of various policy and development strategies.
Yet many gaps are still discernable in the geographical spread, direction and intensity of
growth of commercial aquaculture. It does appear that commercial aquaculture is developing
on a bits and pieces model. 70 percent of the cultured shrimp produced in the country comes
from Andhra Pradesh and just 5 percent from Gujarat (Manoj Sharma). The interesting
feature of this significantly skewed development is that shrimp farming in Andhra Pradesh is
completely a private investment initiative on privately owned lands and in Gujarat, it is on
public lands earmarked for shrimp farming.
Gujarat
Taking the numbers for 2009-10 into consideration, significantly an area of 33,754 ha
produced 39,537 tonnes of shrimp @ 1.17 tonnes per hectare in Andhra Pradesh. While in
Gujarat, 1,916 hectares produced 3,606 tonnes @ 1.88 tonnes per hectare (Table 1). Sharma
puts the figure at 6800 tonnes of shrimp from 2248 ha @ 3.02 tonnes per ha in 2010The
rapid metamorphosis and diversity in terms of species and policy in commercial aquaculture
does not empower us to ascribe any particular reason for significant strides beingmade by
this sector in a particular state and less so in others.
Onaway Industries, Surat has made significant strides in the farming of L. vannamei. Currently
only about 4000 hectares is developed and utilized for shrimp farming in Gujarat. The
production of shrimp during 2010was about 6000 tonnes of black tiger shrimp and about
1000tonnes of L. vannamei shrimp. It may be noted that it was the first year of production of
L. vannamei and it has already formed close to 15% of the total shrimp production in the
state (Saji Chacko).
Black tiger is still beautiful for Manoj Sharma. The niche international market for large sized
jumbo shrimps of 50 gm is beingsuccessfully farmed by M/s. Mayank Aquaculture, Surat. The
underlining message that comes through from the discussion on the success that the
respective aquapreneurs have been able achieve in each of the species is the importance of
the adoption of scientific shrimp farming and rigorous best management practices.
Significantly Gujarat appears to have adopted the inclusive growth model of group farming.


Table 1: State Wise Details of Shrimp Farming In India
Sr.
No
State
Estimated
potential
brackish
water
area

2
0
0
2
-
0
3

2
0
0
3
-
0
4

2
0
0
4
-
0
5

2
0
0
5
-
0
6

2
0
0
6
-
0
7

2
0
0
7
-
0
8

2
0
0
8
-
0
9

2
0
0
9
-
1
0

1 W. Bengal 4,05,000
AUC 49,050 49,925 50,215 50,474 50,915 48,236 47,488 47,488
EP 28,270 29,714 35,432 42,336 42,006 28,000 27,418 33,685
2 Orissa 31,600
AUC 9,000 12,116 7,030 8,172 11,453 6,286 5,362 4,769
EP 10,280 12,390 9,896 9,739 9,726 5,410 3,544 6,149
3
Andhra
Pradesh
1,50,000
AUC 71,420 69,638 61,429 57,712 65,234 50,396 36,395 33,754
EP 59,190 53,124 61,609 70,669 75,414 56,557 29,706 39,537
4
Tamil Nadu &
Pondicherry
56,800
AUC 3,620 3,133 3,684 4,916 3,712 2,730 4,673 2,381
EP 4,990 6,070 6,674 7,036 5,307 3,438 4,133 2,702
5 Kerala 65,000
AUC 13,680 14,029 10,797 13,871 11,691 7,598 8,290 9,545
EP 7,570 6,461 7,573 6,883 5,151 5,903 4,309 7,096
6 Karnataka 8,000
AUC 3,040 3,085 1,528 3,262 3,329 3,577 3,361 1,484
EP 2,620 1,828 1,328 1,843 1,883 2,119 2,138 1,581
7 Goa 18,500
AUC 930 963 295 331 828 840 803 272
EP 910 700 534 659 654 643 511 319
8 Maharashtra 80,000
AUC 460 615 524 647 848 756 882 651
EP 640 981 1,068 683 979 946 1,130 1,244
9 Gujarat 3,76,000
AUC 880 1,013 891 1,297 1,622 1,660 1,535 1,916
EP 1,050 1,510 1,500 3,322 3,227 3,149 3,107 3,606
Total 11,90,900
AUC 152,080 154,517 136,393 140,682 149,630 122,078 108,789 102,260
EP 115,520 112,778 125,668 143,170 144,347 106,165 75,997 95,919
AUC: Area under culture (Ha) EP: Estimated production (MT) Source: MPEDA
The Surat Aquaculture Farmers Association (SAFA), has taken the lead in organised shrimp
farmingamong200shrimp farmers in Gujarat. A turnover of Rs. 200crore is being generated
from 1500ha. Only about 5% of the potential area has been released for shrimp farming.
Hence there is an urgent need for allocation of classified land suitable for brackishwater
aquaculture to the shrimp farmers based on the principle of equity and social justice,
governed and managed by group farming approach. 700 man days of employment is
generated from a single shrimp crop (Sharma). Therefore the area under culture in Gujarat
has generated more than 21 lakhs man days of employment.
The Gujarat state government has initiated the action plan to develop 50 000 ha area of 38
talukas of coastal districts of the state. i.e. 15% of the potential land of state into shrimp


ponds, this plan can bring manifold increase in shrimp production from Gujarat. With 15% of
the potential identified area in under culture, Gujarat will be able to produce close to 70,000
tons of shrimp and can generate 2000 crores foreign exchange for the state and country
(Sharma).
Gujarat appears to be well oriented towards development of aquaculture in the state. Its
policy of growth with equity as described by Sharma could bring in the right balance of
commercial aquaculture with the involvement of primary stakeholders. The scope of farming
of L. Vannamei is also beingwell exploited, but by exercising great caution.
The statistics used in the two papers from Gujarat vary slightly with one another. Though this
maybe understandable in the initial phases of development, it is of utmost importance for the
government of Gujarat to maintain proper statistics in respect of area, production and
productivity of aquaculture in the state. It needs to be emphasised that the Department of
Fisheries must train in tandem with the Directorate of Economics and Statistics, the
Department of Revenue and Land records in the development and maintenance of such a
statistical database. Moreover topo sheets and remote sensing data also need to be
maintained meticulously in order to sustain the activity over a longperiod of time.
Andhra Pradesh
Fisheries sector in Andhra Pradesh is contributing 2.39% to the gross state domestic product
(2008-09). The quantity of fish and prawn produced is 12.52 lakh tons (102%) against the
target of 12.20 lakh tons for 2008-09. APs export earnings are at 2500 crores and that
represents 40 % of total marine export of India. In Andhra Pradesh, a total area of 79,660 ha
is distributed among 12,288 farmers in 73,343 farms. Out of all these only 18000 ha is under
active shrimp culture (Cheran). For L.vannamei, 192 farms have been licensed by Coastal
Aquaculture Authority with the farmingarea of 2425.59ha (1645.31ha WSA). 18 hatcheries
have been permitted by CAA to import brood stock and produce vannamei seeds for
commercial shrimp farming. The targeted production of L.vannamei in Andhra Pradesh by the
end of 2010 was around 35000 tonnes. Scampi farming had a significant production share till
recently and F.indicus is produced for to cater to minor domestic market.
Shrimp aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh is still a private initiative. Market forces drives the
direction of investment and farmers in AP have always been high risk takers. The role of feed
companies as technical managers and extension agents has been institutionalised in Andhra
Pradesh. Syndicate farmingwhere few farmers invest together to reap rich dividends with the
support of the feed companies is a new trend in distributing risk.
Corporate style farming had exited in the late nineties. Now since the local farmers do not sell
their lands to outsiders as a matter of policy, shrimp farming will remain with the local
people. Switchingbetween agriculture and aquaculture has also become quite popular and
has made the farming system more resilient (Cheran).


Labour, farm equipment and post harvest support systems are also privately owned and
business is a function of the market. The NaCSA model of aquaculture development is
catching on and the schemes of NFDB and MPEDA have provided immense opportunities for
growth of commercial shrimp farming in Andhra Pradesh.
Seaweed farming
Seaweed farmingis a sector that has been more sinned against than sinned in India. With the
development of a 10 ha water front area for seaweed farming in Mandapam in
Ramanathapuram district of Tamil Nadu, M/s. Aquagri Processing has demonstrated the
power of the SHG model of farming than never before. The unique nature of the model is that
the industry initiated model was well received by the state government of Tamil Nadu and
supported effectively byfunding and other institutional agencies, primarily the commercial
banks which have ably supported the funding and routing of SHG revenues and receipts.
The scope of seaweed farming in India is woefully underexploited in India. For India with its
vast coastline and large coastal community which is relatively poor and is in search of a
sustainable vocation especially as they faced with diminishingreturns from fishing, it can be a
major opportunity (Abhiram Seth). Seaweed cultivation project is being promoted with
support of local DRDA, State Fisheries and NGOs in view to create an alternative livelihood for
the coastal people/SHGs. It is now successfully going on in the Districts of Ramnad, Tuticorin,
Pudukkottai and Tanjore and about 1200 fishers in total are earningan attractive income
through the project. . The international buyers who visited the cultivation sites have opined
said that India will surpass the Kappaphycus cultivation of Philippines once full-fledged
cultivation is undertaken in Tamil Nadu. The corporate initiative taken up by PepsiCo and
equally well followed by Aquagri needs to be appreciated and is a clear case of how
responsible community inclusive corporate interventions in agriculture can bringabout a sea
change in the lives of local communities. Kappaphycus alvarezii has greatly benefited the
coastal communities and given them their livelihood, while also providing them an
opportunity to have access to a new livelihood rather than being dependent solely on fishing
or agriculture. In the financial year 2011-2012 it is expected the self help groups produce over
3000 MT dry mass up from 1500 MT in 2010-11.
Kappaphycus farming can be promoted in viable locations on the coast as a viable economic
self help group avocation that is essentially suited for women involvement as in Tamil Nadu.
As stated in the NAASpaper of 2002, it should be promoted on a mission mode programme.
Gujarat coast in the Kutch also offers some of the ideal sites that can be exploited fruitfully.
Coastal Orissa has also taken to seaweed farmingin the SHG mode lately. This low investment
high returns investment opportunity could play a major role in transforming the lives of the
rural folk especially in remote locations.


End notes
New Zealand aquaculture is also commercial. The government of New Zealand has restricted
aquaculture to salmon, oysters and mussels (New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, 2010).
The law of comparative advantage is practised to perfection. Water front is leased out @ NZD
200,000 per ha. of water space making it a highly competitive market. Only serious and
experienced firms that have well defined production and marketingstrategies can enter and
thrive in New Zealand aquaculture industry. Significantly New Zealand aquaculture industry
has remained disease free throughout, which itself is proof of its efficiency.
Resource use efficiency of private enterprise backed by resource conservation measures of
the government can ensure long run sustainability of aquaculture in India. Identification of
contiguous stretches of brackishwater area ( brackishwater aquaculture estates), developing
industry interest for local and foreign direct investment, development of long term leasing
policy incorporatinglocal stakeholders interests and their direct and indirect involvement,
ensuring sustainability and conservation, working in partnership with government, councils
and the public will ensure long term sustainable growth of the sector.


Inclusive Shrimp Farming: Development Model for Marginal Stakeholders in
India (with special reference to Gujarat)
Manoj M. Sharma
Aquaculture is the fastest growing food producingsector not only in India, but also in the
world. India has long tradition of aquaculture from time immemorial as a sustenance activity
and presently a leader in the world after China, contributingto about 6.62% of the total
global production in 2008 (FAO, 2010). Aquaculture technology has undergone considerable
advancement in the last three decades mainly because of the stagnation of fish supply from
the capture fisheries sector. Shrimps form a valuable component of capture fisheries. The
processing industry largely relies on shrimp landings since they constitute a major and most
valued export-worthy seafood commodity. As a result of indiscriminate exploitation of the
shrimp resources of the country, their catches appear to be declining in the recent years. At
the same time there is an ever-increasing demand for shrimp in international as well as
domestic markets. This situation has necessitated an immediate search for new resources
from unexploited areas and the generation of new (additional) biomass through shrimp
aquaculture.
The present level production of shrimp from India is close to 1 35 000 tones/year (Year 2010)
and mostly 70% of it comes from Andhra Pradesh. Gujarat contribution to the national
production is only 5%, though Gujarat has got 2
nd
largest land area, suitable for shrimp
farmingin India. Presently, the total seafood export from India is more than Rs. 10, 000
crores and shrimps contribute to 65%.
Gujarat scenario
In India, Gujarat state is blessed with second largest brackish water potential area (376 000
ha) next to West Bengal (4, 05,500 ha) in 14coastal districts that contains 1600 Km of coast
line. As per the preliminary survey conducted, 89341ha have been found to be suitable for
brackish water aquaculture. The district wise availability is given in Table 2 (Commissioner of
Fisheries, Gujarat, 2007). Out of these potential areas, only 4249.95 hectares have been
allotted to 801 numbers of farmers for culture and presently, 3116 hectares (0.83%) from
these potential areas has been developed and utilized for shrimp farming with water spread
area of 2 248hectors. In year 2010, the cultured shrimp production of Gujarat has touched to
a level of 6 800 tones from these 2 248 ha of water spread area with average production of
3.02 tones/ha/annum and a turnover of more than Rs.200 crores.
Brackish water aquaculture (shrimp farming) in Gujarat started with 4.5 ha in 1991 92 with
an average production of 377.80 kg / ha and the present production (in year 2010) has
touched to a level of 6800 tons from 2248 ha of water spread area with average production
of 3.02 tones/ha/annum and a turnover of Rs.200 crores plus.


Table 1: Overview of brackishwater shrimp farmingresources & utilization (2005-2006)
State Potential Area(ha) Area under use (ha) Percentage use (%)
West Bengal 405500 42067 10.39
Orissa 31600 8000 25.32
Andhra Pradesh 150000 71000 47.33
Tamil Nadu 56000 1087 01.94
Pondicherry 800 . 00.00
Kerela 65000 1426 22.62
Karnataka 8000 3564 44.55
Goa 18500 650 03.51
Maharashtra 80000 1426 01.78
Gujarat 3 76 000 3 116 00.83
Andaman & Nicobar 120000 ---- 00.00
Total 13 10 900 1 45 615 11.10

Table 2: District wise land allotment in Gujarat
Sr. No District
Brackish water
Land
(ha)
Suitable brackish
water land after
micro survey (ha)
Land allotted by the District
Collectors
No. of
Farmers
Area (ha)
1 Valsad 9 088 5 138.73 127 590.31
2 Navsari 23 152 12 037.18 185 1429.00
3 Surat 24 300 19 200.00 315 1145.50
4 Bharuch 57 500 33 208.00 134 806.00
5 Kheda 20 735 NA 00 00
6 Anand 26 000 NA 00 00
7 Ahmadabad 49 750 NA 00 00
8 Surendranagar 16 190 NA 00 00
9 Bhavnagar 15 200 1 125.00 11 51.14
10 Amreli 8 095 2 001.00 28 226.00
11 Junagadh 19 020 1 493.00 01 2.00
12 Rajkot 6 270 3 200.00 00 00
13 Jamnagar 22 300 4 104.00 00 00
14 Kutch 78 400 7 834.00 00 00
Total 3 76 000 89 340.91 801 4249.95
Source: DoF, Gujarat, 2010, NA: Not available


Blue revolution in Surat, Gujarat:
Surat is the economic capital of Gujarat state, which is famous for its diamond and textile
industry in India. This is one of the famous coastal districts that identified approximately to 24
300 hectares of potential brackish water area. Shrimp farmingin Surat started with 6 ponds at
village Dandi (Olpad) under the technical guidance of Dr. Manoj M. Sharma in year 1995-96.
Initially the production was not successful by virtue of viral outbreak of W.S.S.V. in the
country followed by the Supreme Court stay-order. However, the culture practice was
reattempted in year 2000 and production was very successful. The total production was 8
tons from these 6 ponds. This enlightened result has attracted the local community and
entrepreneurs to push this industry towards massive scale. Presently, Surat is having 1500
culture ponds producing 3 500 tons of shrimp with international repute annually. Some
developed sites of shrimp farming in Surat, Gujarat are given in the followingfigures.
In comparison with the national shrimp production from aquaculture, the state of Gujarat
(India) is contributingonly near to 5% of the countrys production but with more standard
and biosecured culture practice with average count grade of 26/30 against the national
average count grade of 35and average production per unit area of this state is more than
double than the national production with international repute adhering to better
management practices (BMP) with all food safety protocols. However, some selected photos
of these successful shrimp farmingin Surat, Gujarat are given in the following figures.

Fig1: A well developed site at Olpad, Surat, Gujarat Fig 2: Most successful cooperative shrimpfarm at Dandi,
Surat,

Fig 12.Strong biosecurity of shrimp farm maintained in Surat


Recently the author with his team has proved that the black tiger is still beautiful compared
to all other commercial shrimp species from his recent studies that done in his farm in Surat
(Info fish International-March 2011) after producing16/ 20 counts of black tiger shrimp (figure
18& 19) by this strong BMP protocol and from his case study the result may be a role model
for the world shrimp farmers for future practice and to restore back their faith in black tiger
shrimp farmingspecially in India. To make this industry more sustainable, the major shrimp
farmers and entrepreneurs joined hand to hand under one roof named Surat Aquaculture
Farmers Association (SAFA). SAFA took birth in year 2005 with primary motive to carry out
sustainable shrimp farming with eco-friendly approach. Presently, SAFA is having 200
member farmers under this united roof.
SAFA- The most successful BMP model in India:
All Surat based aqua farmers united to form a group named Surat Aquaculture Framers
Association shortly called SAFA in year 2005.
Primary motive to carry out sustainable shrimp farmingwith eco-friendly approach under
BMP protocol.
Presently, more than 200 member farmers & still increasing.
One of the most practical and successful group/club/cluster farmingin India with more
than 95% successful crops.
SAFA- A collaborative effort in Surat:
SAFA-Primary objective is to carry out sustainable shrimp farmingactivity in Surat area for
food and profit.
To provide all members best available seed, feed & other inputs and its information with
all necessary guidelines for successful shrimp farming.
To make group marketingfor better farm gate shrimp price.
Developed more then 1500 ha of shrimp farms and producing3 500 tones of high quality
shrimp per annum with international repute from last decade.
Providing direct employment to 500 families, indirect employment to thousand others
with an annual shrimp production worth of Rs.200 Crores+.
Benefits of shrimp farming development
1. Shrimp farming development is a coastal activity which can convert the non fertile waste
kharland into productive use by producing shrimp. (Pink Gold from Wastelands).
2. Shrimp farming is a land based activity requiring huge manpower, opening lot of
employment and self employment opportunities to lakhs of rural people.
3. Presently the shrimp farming is export oriented activity and the shrimps beinga delicacy
with good demand in the international market fetchinghigh price. This activity can bring
the foreign currency to state in tune of Indian Rs. 2 000 crores at only 15% development
of the potential land.


4. Large scale shrimp farming development can open domestic market, providing good
quality protein food to the common men. The domestic market can also create lots of job
opportunities and self employment to people.
5. This will increase the state fisheries production and ultimately will increase the national
aquaculture production in the country.
6. This will help in improving livelihood opportunities and reduction in poverty among
fishers and farmers especially in coastal areas.
7. This high value aqua industry will increase the other ancillary infrastructures in the
country like hatcheries, feed mills, processingplants, aqua-laboratories, pharmaceuticals.

Highlights of Shrimp Farming Development in Surat, Gujarat:
Wasteland converted to Best land- Gujarat is having large section of salt affected Khar
land, which is not suitable for anythingexcept salt manufacture. Shrimp farminghas given
a life to such non-fertile land and immense opportunity to coastal fishers to make the best
out of waste land.
Self-employment opportunity- Land lease policy of the Gujarat govt. has changed the
face of coastal community by providingself-employment opportunity at their door step.
This has transformed the living standard of coastal fishers. Shrimp farming development
has brought tremendous socio-economic benefits to coastal parts of the state changing
lives of millions. For example, an average earningof a common fisherman was not even
Rs. 100 per day has changed to a sizable income from 5 ha shrimp farmingdevelopment.
Today a common shrimp farmer can sufficiently provide a self-reliant life to his family
members. The shrimp farming has emerged out as the only attraction to the coastal
migrants to come back to their roots and start a healthy business amongtheir door steps.
Infrastructure development- Shrimp farming requires good capital investment and in
terms it has brought considerable amount of infrastructure developments of coastal
villages. Group/club of farmers with their basic requirement of farming like approach
road, electricity, potable water, residence and other has benefited many ways to the
coastal community by commonly sharingthe infrastructures.
Labor intensive employment- Shrimp farming requires good amount of labors for
intensive livestock rearing. 1 ha of shrimp farm can generate 700man days work/crop
giving immense opportunity of job for coastal dwellers. Presently, the development of
3000 ha has opened the gate for 21lakhs man days per crop. With this anybody can judge
and understand the power of aquaculture development and how it can transform the
coastal lives.
Food and Safety- The shrimp is one of the most prominent protein producinganimal of
livestock component. The aquaculture can lead the chart as quality animal protein
producing system and can support a great way to combat malnutrition among the world.

By virtue of this reason the quality shrimp produced in Gujarat is at great demand in
European nation and other parts of the world.
Foreign revenue earner- The aquaculture products specially shrimp has great demand in
the international market and 95% of countrys shrimp farmingis exported to the whole
world generating export worth Rs. 6 500 crores. The present level of Gujarat production is
bringingin worth Rs. 250 crores to the state.

Conclusion:
Lookinginto the success story of shrimp farming and inclination of coastal people towards
this business as the only way out for their livelihood, the state govt. has initiated action plan
to develop 50 000 ha area of 38Talukas from coastal part of the state. The vision 2010 plan
of Gujarat govt. can change the entire scenario of shrimp farming development in Gujarat.
The govt. has decided to develop more than 50,000ha i.e. 15% of the potential land of state
into shrimp ponds, this plan can bring manifold increase in shrimp production from Gujarat.
After 15% development of the total potential land, Gujarat will be able to produce close to
70,000 tons of shrimp and can generate 2000 crores foreign exchange for the state and
country. In addition the vision 2010 plan can bring considerable opportunities for the
coastal people in the field of self employment. The development plan can bring in
employment opportunity to more than 2 lakhs people and can benefit lakhs of people in
indirect effect.

Name : Dr. Manoj Sharma
Educational background
with institutional affiliation
:
M.F.Sc. (Fisheries Management), CIFE, Mumbai
Ph.D Fisheries Science (shrimp farming), Swami Ramanand
Teerth University, Nanded, Maharashtra
Position : DIRECTOR
Name of the company :
M/S Mayank Aquaculture Pvt. Ltd, 204/205, Suryadarshan
Complex, Beside CNG GasStation, Jahingirpura, Rander Road,
Surat, Gujarat, Pin 395 009
Product profile of the
company
: shrimp farming, training and development
Mobile(s) : +91 9824112856/9825412857
Email id : mapl.shrimp@gmail.com


Fishers First: Participatory Model in Seaweed Farming in India
Abhiram Seth and Tanmaye Seth

Background
Seaweeds: Until recently seaweeds were described as simple plants that grew in the sea, but
scientists now consider that the structure and chemistry of seaweeds is so distinctive that
they warrant their own classification. They are simple in structure, usually consistingof a
holdfast that anchors them to a surface, and a blade which may be divided into fronds. Some
of the larger seaweeds have a flexible stalk or stripe connectingthe blade to the holdfast.
Unlike plants, seaweeds do not have roots or internal tissues to conduct water. They absorb
minerals and gases directly from sea water through the surface of their blades.
Seaweeds can be grouped into three types, based on colour green, red or brown. They all
contain the light-absorbing pigment chlorophyll, which is necessary for photosynthesis.
Brown and red seaweeds have additional pigments that enable them to photosynthesise at
depths where little light penetrates. These extra pigments mask the green colour of
chlorophyll. Brown seaweeds can be yellow-brown to dark olive. Red seaweeds have the
greatest range of tone pink to purple, red, and brown to nearly black.
Beneficial properties of sea weed have been known and have historically been harvested
from their natural habitat. However harvesting from nature is neither scalable nor
sustainable. The real revolution in seaweed cultivation and processing now generally referred
to as The Blue Revolution was ushered by two pioneering scientists; Tseng Cheng Kui (C.K.
Tseng) and Maxwell S. Doty, who are amongst the most important contributors to algal
mariculture in the twentieth century. Tseng, a professor of marine botany at the Institute of
Oceanology in Qingdao, pioneered the cultivation of brown marine alga Laminaria japonica in
China. Doty, a professor of marine botany at the University of Hawaii, started large scale
cultivation of the red marine algae Eucheuma and Kappaphycus in the Philippines.
Commercial Cultivation of Kappaphycus Alvarezii
The fact that Kappaphycus alvarezii are propagated from the selected cuttings and not
through spores lent themselves well for adaption by the poor coastal communities in search
of viable livelihood options. The development of commerce based on seaplants is an
outstanding instance of how widespread farmingof a group of useful plants has evolved from
very simple methods that have been refined mainly by farmers in the field. Farming of the
Kappaphycus seaplants is a continuous process of screeningand selection for fast-growing
propagules. The farmers tend to plant and harvest crops on a short cycle of 4-6 weeks. They
replant cuttings from the most vigorously growing plants. Any reproductive plants are
probably culled out because they would tend to be slow-growing and mottled in appearance.


The commercial significance of Kappaphycus seaplants is largely based on their role as raw
material for production of the marine biopolymer known as carrageenan. Betaphycus spp.,
Eucheuma spp. and Kappaphycus spp. produce carrageenan commercially known,
respectively, as beta, iota and kappa. The development of commercial cultivation for
Kappaphycus and Eucheuma since the mid 1970s has been the major source of expansion for
the carrageenan industry and current combined production for these seaplants probably
exceeds 150,000 dry tons per annum at commercial moisture standards of 30-40%. This
translates to about 100 M USD worth of dried sea plants and over 30,000 tons of carrageenan
with a value on the order of 250 M USD per annum.
The annual world production of this alga is 1,50,000 MT and its value added product i.e.
carrageenan (gel) is 50,000 MT. The gel is used as a thickening agent in more than 250
applications including food, medicine, cosmetics etc. Every year there is 10% increase in
demand for this gel worldwide.
Commercial production of cottonii of the trade is currently on the order of 1,20,000
perhaps more than 1,50,000 dry tons per year at a commercial standard of 38% moisture
content. The available figures indicate that about 99% of cottonii is commercially cultivated in
four countries, with the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and Tanzania. Rest of the countries
like India, Fiji, Kirabati etc. contribute less than 1%. For India with its vast coastline and large
coastal community which is relatively poor and is in search of a sustainable vocation
especially as they faced with diminishing returns from fishing, it can be a major opportunity.
This fact was duly recognised by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and they
produced a policy paper No. 22 in which it was recommended that Sea weed cultivation
should be taken up on a mission mode.
The Beginning of Seaweed Cultivation in India
Pepsis Involvement
Pepsi Co through their Export business had a strong relationship with Mars as they were
regularly supplying a range of products to them. Mars are one of the worlds largest users of
Carrageenan in their pet food business. RecognisingPepsi Cos strength and involvement with
contract farming, Mars suggested they explore possibility of promotingsea weed cultivation.
To support this effort which had the possibility of creatinglivelihood options for the coastal
communities they made available the services of a global expert.
The search for technology and the planting material led to Central Salt and Marine Chemicals
Institute (Bhavnagar) an affiliate of CSIR. This was the beginning of a long, enduring and
fruitful relationship.


The first steps of initiation?
Partneringthe Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) in Bhavnagar,
PepsiCo conducted extensive cultivation trials in coastal Tamil Nadu, with a view to
determiningprime cultivation locations. Such criteria are based both on seawater conditions
required for the cultivation & the socio economic environment, where communities of people
willing and able to work on seaweed cultivation are essential, to succeed. Tamil Nadu with its
fishing & seafaring traditions was found to be an eminently suitable as a location for the
project.
Test plots at select locations with the permission of the state govt. were put in place over 10
hectares in district Ramanathapuram in Tamil Nadu. Clearance from the Dept of Environment
was taken, in order to proceed with project commercialisation. Cultivation of Kappaphycus
alvarezii is environmentally friendly and involves no use of chemicals pesticides or any
inorganic inputs.
Kappaphycus alvarezii cultivation can be taken up by the coastal communities irrespective of
their income status and land holding, as it requires very limited capital outlay and is largely
dependent upon human effort. Whatever infrastructure is required can be funded by the
bank and the seed capital needs are available from various Central and State Government
schemes. In Tamil Nadu the endeavour has been strongly supported by the fisheries
department, DRDA and their efforts have been supplemented by DBT from the centre. The
market for the output is huge and given our factor price advantage, India can become a
significant participant in the international seaweed trade in the years to come. Given our
huge propensity for cultivation, it is tragic that the entire hydrocolloid need which is derived
from this seaweed-carrageenan is entirely met thru imports. Goingforward India will earn
significant foreign exchange from this sector rather than being dependent upon imports.
Kappaphycus Cultivation: Current Status
Seaweed cultivation project is beingpromoted with support of local DRDA, State Fisheries
and NGOs in view to create an alternative livelihood for the coastal people/SHGs. It is now
successfully goingon in the Districts of Ramnad, Tuticorin, Pudukkottai and Tanjore and about
1200 fishers in total are earning an attractive income through the project. At this juncture
when fishingis becoming uneconomic with unpredictable income, seaweed farming provides
an assured income, which will no doubt revolutionize (can be called Blue-green revolution)
the rural economy of the coastal districts of Tamil Nadu and other maritime states. The
initiative in India was pioneered by PepsiCo but in 2008 after havingproven the business
model for the farmer they decided to withdraw and transferred the project to Aquagri
Processing Private Ltd. Since then Aquagri has been the only sponsor of this project in India.

Fig 3. Different stages for the cultivation of seaweed
Fig2. Women SHG engaged in seaweed farming Fig1. Kappaphycus alvarezii

Fig 4. Cultivation of seaweed


Economic Model for Cultivation:
In order to succeed the model requires the support and participation of various stake holders.
The role of converging the actions of the various stake holders is provided by the private
sector. Still their role is critical in ensuringthe success of the venture.
Table 1. Role of Stakeholdersin the project
S.
No.
Name of stakeholders Role
1
NGO (Aquaculture
Foundation of India,
Chennai, TRRM Ramnad)
Survey and selection of suitable sites for
seaweed cultivation
Coordinating Self Help Groups (SHGs) to procure
the infrastructure
Mobilizing subsidy & facilitatingbank loan
Providingon-the-job trainingon seaweed
cultivation
Ensuring marketingtie-up with buyers
Monitoringthe project activity
2 Bankers
Financial assistance to SHGs in terms of loan
Coordinating with NGOs & buyers in procuringin
infrastructures
Clearing payments on the time after deducting
loan amount
3
DRDA (district Rural
Development Agency)
Subsidy for the seaweed farmers
4
Private Sector
(AquaAgri Processing
Private Ltd.)

Selection of the site
Farmers Training& Education
Supporting the sourcingof the infrastructure by
bringing the economies of scale.
Constant technical inputs to SHGs
Buy back guarantee. Dry weed price is Rs. 21/kg
and fresh weed is Rs. 2.50/kg
Makingpayments to the farmers on time


Table 2. Project cost for 5 members in a group
S. no. Descriptions
Individual
cultivator
1 Total person in a group (No.) 5
2 Total no. of rafts per cultivator (No.) 45
3 Total rafts per group of 5 member (No.) 225
4 Total cost of one raft (33 x 3m) (Rs) 800
5 Total cost for 225 rafts of 5 members (Rs.) 1,80,000
6 Subsidy from Govt. agencies (50% of total project cost) (Rs.) 90,000
7 Bank loan (50% of total project cost) (Rs.) 90,000

Table 3. Economics of Seaweed cultivation Operation & Economics
(a) Cultivation Operation
S. no. Descriptions
Individual
cultivator
1 Total no. of rafts per cultivator(No.) 45
2 Harvest cycle (Days) 45
3 No. of rafts handling per day (harvest & replantation) 1
4 Total seaweed after 45 days harvest/raft fresh wt. (Kg) 270
5 Total seed required for re-plantation fresh wt. (Kg) 60
6 Net produce available / day fresh weight (Kg) 210
7
Net produce available in a month (24x25 days operation
fresh weight) (Kg)
5250
8
Dry weed available from 240kg fresh weed (10:1 dry ratio)
(Kg/day)
21
9
Dry produce available in a month (24 X 25 days operation)
(Kg)
525

(b) Economics
S. No. Descriptions
Individual
Cultivator
1 Cost of one kgdry weed (Rs.) 21.0
2 Cost of one kgfresh weed (Rs.) 2.50
3
Monthly income of a person through fresh weed
sales
(5250kg x 2.50) (Rs.)
13,125
4
Monthly income of a person through dry weed sales
(525kg x 21) (Rs.)
11,025


Impact of Seaweed Cultivation
Socio-Economic Impact
Seaweed farming is a supplementary activity to existingfishingand its ancillary activities. It
can provide regular and sustainable income source by leveraging local entrepreneurial talent
and it could translate into an additional annual income of about Rs. 50,000 per person.
One of the major socio-economic benefits of seaweed cultivation apart from the continued
generation of employment opportunities is that, it provides employment opportunities for
women. Much of the cultivation work like seedlings preparation, harvest, drying, cleaning,
packing etc. are done by women thereby providing them a source of income. Unlike
industrial projects, workers do not need to migrate or re-locate leading to issues of
urbanization. Seaweed farms can be located in clusters close to villages thereby ensuringease
of access and safety of farm and produce. It is an incremental employment opportunity to
fishing and other related activities. In fact, raft cultivation does not hamper the fishinglane
access and on the contrary can aid in instilling a controlled fishingdiscipline in the coastal
communities.
Tamil Nadu has a long coastal area and covers 13 districts. The fisher folks and other
community people livingon the shore earn their livelihood mainly through fishingactivities
and by doingwild collection of naturally grown seaweeds. This wild collection often damages
the substratum of the seabed and other organisms. The international buyers who visited the
cultivation sites have opined said that India will surpass the Kappaphycus cultivation of
Philippines once full-fledged cultivation is undertaken in Tamil Nadu.
Alternative livelihood:
While fish catch is going down every day, seaweed cultivation would be alternative livelihood
to the coastal poor.
Social status
Seaweed cultivation has demonstrated a monthly income of Rs 6000-7500 per person;
therefore their social status has improved. Some cultivators have also constructed good
houses; some have got TV and other important house hold items. 75% of seaweed cultivators
now own mobile phones.
Women Empowerment
It provides continued generation of employment opportunities mainly to women. The income
earned by women will reach the family directly unlike in the case of men.


Education to the children
Seaweed farmers now feed good food to their children and give good education. While
fishers were doing fishing, they also used to engage their children for fishing, but after they
chose seaweed cultivation as alternative income, they put their children back to the school
Health & welfare of seaweed farmers
Seaweed farmers are takingbetter nutritious food now-a-days. They have also developed the
habit of saving their income tomorrows betterment.
Socio-Economic impact of seaweedscultivation- Who isthe beneficiary?
The claim that the benefits of cultivation are accruing to multinationals and middlemen is
beingadvanced to leverage the fact that the sea weed cultivation initiative was originally
pioneered by PepsiCo in India as a part of their social outreach initiative for creating
livelihood options. The fact that PepsiCo withdrew cultivation support in March 2008 is not
recognised. The role played by PepsiCo and later by Aquagri to bring the technology
developed by CSMCRI, Bhavnagar and the impact it has had on the beneficiaries is
documented in depth by a study released by CMFRI Cochin.
The socio-economic impact of sea weed cultivation was investigated in depth as a part of the
study sponsored by FAO; they evaluated inter-country models of engagement and have
clearly established the impact on the beneficiaries. The report finds that the lifestyle of the
cultivators has undergone a substantial change for the better.
The socio-economic impact of seaweed farming was examined by means of a series of
questions asked to participants in the study. Evaluation revealed that 68and 48per cent of
the respondents in Mandapam and Rameshwaram were able to purchase or renovate their
existinghouse using the income earned from seaweed cultivation. In Rameshwaram, about
four percent of the respondents were able to purchase agricultural land with their earned
income.
Seaweed farminghas also had a large positive impact on the ability of the respondents to
purchase livestock, quality clothing and consumer durables. Respondents in Rameshwaram
also reported a large positive impact of seaweed farming on their ability to celebrate
marriages in the family. Seaweed culture has also allowed respondents to engage more
frequently in social and religious travelling.
The foreword written by the DG ICAR Dr. SAyyappan sums this up brilliantly and is the real
testimony of the impact A livelihood becomes business enterprise with the right mix of
financial, institutional and policy support. The seaweed sector has emerged as the trail blazer
for other sectors. A typical example of demand driven development, the right mix of financial
and institutional support in tandem with private investments have made the prospects of the
development of the sea weed sector bright.


The CMFRI study in the section Conclusions, insights and development strategies states :
The corporate initiative taken up by PepsiCo and equally well followed by Aquagri needs to be
appreciated and is a clear case of how responsible community inclusive corporate
interventions in agriculture can bringabout a sea change in the lives of local communities.

Environmental Concerns: Myth VsReality
Fundamental reason for the success achieved by seaweed cultivation is that, it had clear
institutional and financial support of the Government of India and the Tamil Nadu
Government through the development agencies and research establishments. It also was
backed by private partnership which imparted market focus. Attempts are now being made
by the detractors to derail this initiative.
The groups opposed to sea weed cultivation and other alarmists have used the following
three arguments in support of their contention. These are being used to run a tirade against
the cultivation.
1) It is alleged that Kappaphycus, the sea-weed being cultivated has invaded Gulf of
Mannar and is stifling the corals. It is being termed Bio-Invasion.
2) The weed has travelled to the Gulf of Mannar from Palk Bay where it is being
cultivated.
And more recently a new absurd allegation has been added to this list, by plantingan article
in a lesser known Tamil publication- that this weed gives rise to poisonous substances and is
life threatening.
Bio-Invasion fact or fiction
The first and most potent allegation is a bit like the blind men and the elephant story. The
first man touches the tail and concludes that elephant is like a snake. Only factual element in
the published reports which are beingused to substantiate the allegations is the fact that
Kappaphycus is found growing at two spots near Krusedai Island in Gulf of Mannar and the
area of coverage is a mere 76.7square meters. The adverse reports point to this area and
also state that other areas need to be surveyed but yet concludes, Kappaphycus must have
spread to other areas also which have not been surveyed.
However now the findings of the latest study carried out in the region are available and the
report is published in reputed international journal Algae. This report is based on a
comprehensive survey carried out in both the areas- Palk Bay (where the cultivation is being
done by the self help groups) and the Gulf of Mannar (where the cultivation is not permitted
as it is a protected area). As the GIS data failed to reveal the presence of Kappaphycus
alvarezii, the whole area was divided into 27 blocks and each block has been surveyed and
studied in detail.


It is reported No K. alvarezii was found at any of the 27 randomly sampled locations
surveyed (Table 1). In contrast, the grid samplingat Kurusadai Island revealed the presence of
this alga. However, of 275 sub-sampling grids surveyed at Kurusadai Island, only three grids
showed small patches of K. alvarezzi on corals in the south-eastern part of the island
(Galaxuria point) where the corals were most abundant. The total coral area associated with
K. alvarezzi was estimated to be 105m x 55m area in this location. Additionally, another patch
(8m x 9m) of K. alvarezii was found on Acropora corals, in the 2008 survey near the location
where CSMCRI had maintained the germ plasm of this alga until 2003 (Fig 2). The actual
extent of the K. alvarezii coverage amounts to only 0.0035% of the total coral reef area of the
island (Table 2&3).
The block in which it has been reported, is the same block which has been used in the other
studies. However the articles allegingbio-invasion and the objectors have used data from this
less than 100Square metre plot and extrapolated it to the rest of the Gulf of Mannar area
without carrying out even a random survey of the other areas. This coverage when looked at
in the context of the entire Gulf of Mannar area; would be considered to be ZERO, as
Kurusadai island is only a small part of the area. The report concludes K. alvarezii was not
observed in the coral reef area of the adjoiningPullivasal and Poomarichan Islands or the Palk
Bay area cultivation sites. The lack of functional reproductive cycle, low spore viability, and
the absence of microscopic phases in the life cycle of this alga coupled with the abundance
presence of herbivores may restrict the further spread of this alga, so its invasive potential at
Kurusadai Island is considered remote.
The disaster theory is being built up by repeatedly taking all the visitors to this small area of
less than 100 square metres to provide credibility to these malicious allegations. One of the
leadingfigures of this tirade leads all the visitors to show them this elephants tail and takes
photographs from the same spot and releases various stories in the news papers. Detractors
gives scant regard to reputed institutes like Central Salt and Marine Chemical Research
Institute (CSMCRI) and Central Marine Fisheries Research institute (CMFRI), scientific
institutions of CSIR and ICAR systems and believes only the stories of such vested interests.
Some objectors also allege that Kappaphycus is invasive as fishes dont feed on it. They should
ask the cultivators who lose their crop due to fish grazing and also look at their own
photographs which they use to see signs of grazing which completely makes their claim
redundant.

Flower Testure
Kappaphycus inside the raft
with net cover under the raft
is intact with fine branches
Fig 3. Ungrazed healthy
Kappaphycus
Fig 4.Grazed Kappaphycus sp
Fig 5.Major grazers
Tip-nipping by fishes
Growing tips out-side the raft
are bitten off. Tip nipping is
commonly seen and often
attributed to fish such as rabbit
and juvenile surgeon fish or



Where has the weed come from? Can it be removed?
The second allegation is based on the belief that Kappaphycus has travelled from Palk Bay
where it is cultivated and settled on the corals in the Gulf of Mannar. If this were to be a fact
then it should be present at the single island which is closest to the connecting point of Palk
Bay and the Gulf of Mannar and also in many other locations in the Gulf of Mannar. Why does
it not cover the coral beds on Palk Bay side where it is being cultivated and abundant bio-
mass is available?
Why is the weed only close to Kurusadai Island? The fact is that this was the R&D site of
CSMCRI trials for many years; till they were asked to stop one day, this fact is often forgotten.
They always make reference to Kappaphycus presence in Hawaii, which also is another
abandoned site of cultivation but do not want to acknowledge that its presence has only been
reported from the abandoned sites. It persists due to left over debris which was not cleared
at the time of stoppingcultivation.
In fact in Hawaii where a site used for trials was abandoned it has been reported that a
proper clean up requires systematic removal on a repeated basis and it is the only way to
ensure its complete elimination. The advantage in India is, that given our wage costs and the
price the weed commands; it is an economically viable option to clear abandoned sites.
Unlike in Hawaii where external funding is necessary for removal and poses a challenge, given
wage expectation of over US$ 200 per day.
For the last three years Aquaculture Foundation of India has requested, that they be allowed
to remove the weed from the Gulf of Mannar, but has evoked no response from the officials.
CSMCRI and Aquagri have also offered to remove Kappaphycus fromthe small area in the
Gulf of Mannar under the supervision of the concerned officials; even the self help groups
many of them are divers, have offered their services for the removal and yet no response has
been received.
May be this site is being preserved to give credence to the anti sea weed cultivation
campaign. The successful cultivation on the Palk Bay side is inconvenient for the detractors as
the objective of promotingalgal cultivation in the Gulf of Mannar, a stated objective of the
GOM trust to date has yielded no results. A successful venture on the other side raises
questions on the lack of any success of GOM trust, in spite of huge spending.
Is Kappaphycus poisonous?
The latest allegation is so absurd that it really merits no refutation. Kappaphycus is an edible
sea weed and the raw material for producing Carrageenan, which for years both globally and
in India has been used as a gelling, emulsifying, binding agent in foods, pet foods, tooth paste,
toiletries and cosmetics. It is often used in ice creams, puddings and processed meat
products. Close to 30% of the Kappaphycus produced in Philippines is consumed by the
coastal communities as a protein supplement. It plays a significant role in home remedies,


used in Indonesia. Trials done in India with poultry feed as a nutritional supplement, has
demonstrated numerical weight gain and has led to improved immuno modulation response
in chickens.
Apart from this the liquid extract of seaweed (Sap) derived from Kappaphycus increases crop
productivity across all crops ranging from 15 to 40%.
The recently planted article in Dinamalar a Tamil publication is a clear case of slander and
part of the misinformation being spread.
The cultivation was also reviewed by the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAAS)
and after deliberation byall the major subject matter experts a policy paper no. 22 was issued
in which it is recommended that that, Sea weed cultivation should be taken up on a mission
mode. Also Kappaphycus cultivation is the corner stone of global strategy being pursued by
UNDP, IFC and FAO in Indonesia for preserving the coral habitat as it takes the local
community away from destructive fishing and other environmentally damagingactivities.
Kappaphycus alvarezii has greatly benefited the coastal communities and alleviated their
livelihood, while providingthem an opportunity to have access to a new livelihood vertical
rather than beingdependent solely on fishing or agriculture.
Role of AquAgri:
AQUAGRI PROCESSING PVT LTD is engaged in promotingsea plant or Algal cultivation through
self help groups currently in coastal Tamil Nadu. We took over this project from PepsiCo who
originally initiated it by sourcing the technology and the planting material from CSMCRI
Bhavnagar, as a livelihood and export initiative. Our company Aquagri took over this business
from PepsiCo, in July 2008.
The sea algae is cultivated by self help groups and Aquagri provides extension services to
them and provides assured buy back. Today close to thousand landless coastal people who
hitherto had limited or no livelihood opportunity are earning over Rs.5,000 per month. Of
these more than 50% are women, who before this had no steady vocation. It has taken close
to ten years to reach this point as there was no clarity on regulations governing Algal
cultivation. Only in end of 2005 Government of Tamil Nadu issued a G.O. permitting
cultivation outside the Gulf of Mannar. In the financial year 2011-2012 we expect the self
help groups produce over 3000 MT dry mass up from 1500 MT this year.
Now it is globally recognised that algal cultivation helps in sequestering carbon and can help
reduce the green house gases load on the environment, as 25to 30% of dry weight ofalgae is
carbon. Algae is also seen as a promising renewable source of energy, which doesnt compete
with food crops as it uses no land and water for cultivation. All global efforts on energy from
algae have focussed on micro algae cultivation which is both capital and energy intensive and
have not explored Macro algae as an option, which apart from being source of carbon


sequestration and energy, can also provide a sustainable livelihood option to the coastal
communities and fishermen.
We are the first company in the country and still the only one which is promoting cultivation
of sea algae and are now setting up manufacturingfacilities to manufacture natural nutrient
for crop application and animal nutrition along with hydrocolloid Carrageenan. The
technology for this coproduction has been licensed by Central Salt and Marine Chemicals
Research Institute a constituent of CSIR who have obtained a global patent for the same.
Processing of Kappaphycus alvarezii A New Approach
The practice worldwide has been to use dry weed (Kappaphycus alvarezii) for manufacture
and extraction of carrageenan, which is both water and energy intensive. Given the concerns
that exist in regards to water availability in coastal areas, PepsiCo partnered with CSMCRI in
developing a completely new approach of processing fresh weed.
During the journey of developing this process to reduce water and energy consumption by
processing fresh weed, and accidental discovery of Aquasap was made. Aquasap (Liquid
seaweed extract) is an organic fertilizer rich in micro nutrients, vitamins, amino acids and
plant growth hormones. Since then over the past 10 years this has been applied and tested
on a range of crops (sugarcane, paddy, wheat, onion, corn, potato etc. and has consistently
given yield increase in the range of 15-40%. This technological innovation-for which CSMCRI
obtained a global patent was licensed to PepsiCo and now Aquagri. The development was
singled out by former President Dr. Abdul Kalam in his National Technology Day broadcast to
the nation in 2006.
Seaweed for Animals
Seaweed contains all major and minor nutrients, trace minerals, alginic acid, vitamins,
naturally occurring plant growth hormones and antibiotics all chelated making them
100% absorbable. The rich mineral content of seaweed makes the material very
palatable to stock. Assists nutrient absorption, healthy growth and animal
performance
Seaweed is a natural source of Iodine; Iodine also acts as an antibiotic to kill germs,
increasing growth rate, feed efficiency and helps regulate the metabolic function
It can also be used at times of animal stress, low quality pasture feed or poor animal
health..
Seaweeds nutritional constituents cannot be easily oxidised is hard to be oxidated, can
be easily absorbed and replaces partial nutrients ingredients of the diet.
Seaweed supplements acts as a receptor blocker for many pathogens including
salmonella.


Builds resistance to disease by ensuring a complete balance of micronutrients.
Reduced blood spots.
Seaweed is known as a great promoter of glandular health, especially for the pituitary,
adrenal and thyroid glands.
Advantages of Seaweed as Poultry Feed
Seaweed has been used as poultry feed supplements since 1960s. Egg producers
benefit from improved yolk colour, eggshell strength and lay, with no adverse effect on
the storability, flavour or odour of eggs.
Seaweed provides essential iodine (most animals require 0.2-0.6 mg/kg feed dried
weight) and in so far as it assists the absorption of nutrients it can improve feed
conversion and live weight gain in broilers.
Seaweed supplement can also increase hatchability of eggs with more uniform shell
texture and less breakage. It also increases laying period in older hens
Fucoxanthin A, producing a xanthophyll in the gut (90-250mg/kg) improves egg yolk
colour.
Carotenoids (30-60 mg/kg) and rich trace elements improve egg shell strength.
Low energy-high fibre improves intestinal function; combats feather picking and
cannibalism.
Farmer trials have shown a decrease in mortality rate by approximately 5% and an
increase in weight of 10% as compared to control when 5% granules were added to
the feed.
Advantages of Seaweed for Cattle
Builds resistance to disease (immunobooster) by ensuring a complete balance
omicronutrients. Also helps reduce the incidence of Mastitis and cow fever (due to its
biological active ingredients)
Improves feed utilization
Organic trace elements more readily assimilated than in synthetic form
Increases the availability of nutrients; improves milk yield, fertility and health
Improves fat level and iodine content in milk
Improves the rate of conception in dairy and helps to prevent goiter & worm load.
Provides essential roughage maintaining healthy intestinal function
Need to research and do trials on seaweed supplements for mariculture.

Name : ABHIRAM SETH
Educational background : MBA, Jamnalal Institute of Management Studies,
Mumbai
Position : Managing Director
Name of the company : AquaAgri Processing (P) Ltd, 18, Anand Lok, New Delhi-49
Product profile of company : Seaweed farming processing & exports
Phone : 011-46061541
Mobile : 91-9810182441
Email id. : abhiram.seth@aquagri.in


High Value Aquaculture and Marginal Stake Holders in India with Special
Reference to L. vannamei
Saji Chacko
Introduction
Seafood trade is one of the worlds largest and fastest growingcommodity industries, worth
more than 100billion US $. Most of the developed countries import vast majority of their
seafood. In the US, seafood trade deficit is second largest, after petroleum, for any natural
product. The past decade has shown a consistent growth in worldwide marine catches,
representingan increase over 30% in the supply of food from the sea for the worlds people.
The global demand for food fish has also continued to rise, but despite improved landings in
some regions, supply could not keep up with the demand.
Aquaculture has emerged as a consequence of this increasing gap between supply and
demand, taking advantage of technological break-through in hatchery and farming systems,
disease control, fish nutrition, genetics and bio-technology. Due to the introduction of
scientific prawn farming, the export of frozen value added shrimp is continuing as the major
foreign exchange earner amongmarine products. During2010the volume of marine products
exported was about 6lakh MT valued at US$2.1billion. Export of shrimp contributed 48.6%
in value to the total export revenue; the increase is 12.54 % in quantity, 40.72 % in value.
Marine products have created a sensation in the world market because of their high health
attributes. With the high unit value, seafood has been acclaimed as one of the fastest moving
commodity in the world market. The world market for seafood has doubled within the last
decade reaching US $49.32 billion mark Indias share is 2.4%.
Export of frozen shrimp to the U.S. registered a growth of 88.12 per cent in volume and
149.05 per cent in terms of U.S. dollars. Frozen shrimp export to Japan too showed an
increase of 23.55per cent; 42.74 per cent and 50.74 per cent in volume, rupee value and US
dollar value respectively.
Indias aquaculture is dominated by fresh water fish like Indian carps which are essentially
consumed within the country. Beginningfrom the late eighties, brackish water aquaculture
has steadily expanded in the country and this activity is concentrated mainly in the coastal
region. Today India produces about 100000 MT of shrimp from a brackish water area of about
140,000 hectares. Although India has over 1.2million hectares available for shrimp farming
the current exploitation is only 16% of this. 90% of the shrimp farms in the country are
owned by small and marginal farmers. The major species cultured is the Black Tiger shrimp
(Penaeus monodon). Presently the recently permitted species of shrimp, L. vannamei is
rapidly makinginroads in the Indian aquaculture sector.
It may be noted that the shrimp aquaculture production in India has been stagnatingaround
100,000 MT duringthe last decade. Now, with the introduction of L. vannamei, the shrimp


production in the country is likely to boom. This was the scenario world over as evident from
the chart below.

The maritime state of Gujarat, with its longcoastline of 1600 kms, which is 1/5
th
of Indias
coastline and vast estuarine systems formed by the perennial rivers like Narmada, Tapti,
Purna and Ambika and several seasonal rivers has about 3,76,000 ha of potential area
suitable for brackish water aquaculture. The Gulf of Kutch and the Gulf of Khambat have river
systems, with rivulets, surrounding swamps and marshes, which provide good scope for the
large scale development of shrimp culture.
Currently only about 4000 hectares is developed and utilized for shrimp farming. The
production of shrimp during 2010 was about 6000 MT of Black Tiger Shrimp and about 1000
MT of L. vannamei shrimp. It may be noted that it was the first year of production of L.
vannamei and it has already formed close to 15 % of the total shrimp production in the state.
AsianShrimpProduction(1985-2008)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Year
P
r
o
d
u
c
t
io
n
(
1
,
0
0
0

m
t
)
China
Thailand
Vietnam
Indonesia
India
Bangladesh
Philippines
Malaysia
0.0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2.0
2.4
2.8
199019911992199319941995 1996 1997 1998199920002001 2002 2003 2004200520062007 2008
L. vannamei P. monodon Other Marine Shrimp M. rosenbergi i
Mi l li o n MT
World Shrimp Aquaculture by Species:1990-2008
Sour ces: FAO (2006) an d GSOL (2006)
1 2%
1 9%
30%
Percent ag es in dic at e t he sh ar e o f L. vannamei
1980-20 02 da ta: FISHSTAT (2006).
2003-20 08 da ta: GSOL es timates .
5
Intro. of
vannamei
into Asia


The following data is from Onaway Industries Ltd, the first and largest shrimp farming
company in Gujarat which started shrimp farmingin the state during1993. During 2010, total
production of L. vannamei form the farm of Onaway Industries Ltd was 682 MT, which is close
to 10% of the total production of Gujarat.
Table: Crop Comparison between P. monodon and L. vannamei
2009 2009/10 2010
Crop Period Feb - Aug Sept - Feb Feb - Aug
Species P. monodon L. vannamei L. vannamei
Area under Culture (Ha) 31.20 7.65 26.13
No. of Ponds 33 9 30
Qty. Stocked (Lakhs) 29.78 39.24 137.25
Stocking Density (Nos/Sq.M) 9.50 51.30 52.53
Days of Culture 140 - 180 140 - 164 100 - 158
Size at Harvest (gms) 26 14 -21 16 - 28
Qty. Harvested (MT) 62.16 56.57 278.14
Production per Ha (MT) 1.99 7.40 10.65
Survival % 80 82 93.56
FCR 1.56 1.32 1.28
Salinity Range 15 - 46 10 - 38 33 - 52
Temperature Range 29 - 31 19 - 29 29 - 31
Source: Onaway Indistries, bilimora
It may be noted that the crop has gone through extreme climatic conditions and despite that
the unit production of L. vannamei was on the higher side. L. vannamei scores over P.
monodon on two counts, one, steady growth, high survival rates, shorter crop period and
efficient FCR at high saline and low temperature conditions, two, Specific Pathogen Free (SPF)
status of the seed.
These attributes translates into the followingadvantage for many states includingGujarat:
L. vannamei can be successfully cultured in high saline coastal areas. In Gujarat, the
lions share of the coastal lands suitable for shrimp farming is high saline and is
subjected to severe winter conditions. Except for a few pockets in Surat, Bharuch and
Navsari where low saline water is available through out, the remaining areas
developed fall in high saline areas as that of Onaway Industries Ltd.


Fig 1. Shrimp farm and innovative system for harvesting

The shorter crop duration for L. vannamei also results in two crops per annum.
Currently majority of the shrimp farmers in Gujarat take only one crop per annum.
SPF status of L. vannamei results in definite crop success if the biosecurity measures
are in place.
Higher unit production of L. vannamei helps the farmers by economies of scale. For
example, Onaway industries used to have an annual production of just about 200MT
of P. monodon from 60 ha water spread area, this was scaled up to 700 MT duringthe
first year of L. vannamei farming from the same facility. This quantum increase in
production gives scope for the company to take up own processing facilities.
All these translates into direct and indirect employment generation.
Our own experience shows an increase in manpower by more than 100 %.

L. vannamei farming taken up with all precautions would be a catalyst to the Indian
aquaculture sector in terms of growth, employment generation, rural development and the
Blue Revolution growingPink Gold from wastelands.

Name
:
Saji Chacko
Educational background with
institutional affiliation
:
M.Sc (Mariculture)
CMFRI, Cochin
Position
:
Vice President
Name of the company
:
Onaway Industries Ltd, Surat
Product profile of the company
:
Shrimp Farms
Phone/Fax
:
02634-290033
Mobile(s)
:
9825136102
Email id. chacko.saji@gmail.com

The Impact of Commercial Shrimp Farming in Andhra Pradesh on
Marginal Farmers
P. Elan Cheran
Introduction
Aquaculture has developed rapidly over the last two decades to become an important activity
in India. Especially the development of commercial shrimp farmingin Andhra Pradesh has
been confronted with many other developmental activities, with over growth, sector
competition, concerns over environmental and socio economic impacts. Here, we will discuss
the impact of commercial shrimp farmingon the small and marginal farmers.
Andhra Pradesh occupies an area of 275,068 Sq Km and has a coast line of 974 km extended
in nine coastal districts. A phenomenal growth of commercial shrimp farmingoccurred during
1990-1996. Initially in 1990 a total of 6000 ha was under shrimp farming, which had grown to
78702 ha in 2001, which represents more than 50 % of available potential brackish water area
in Andhra Pradesh. Of this farming area developed, 75 % is owned by small farmers with less
than 2.0 ha of farm holding(59175ha), 8% of area is in the farm holdings of 2.0- 5.0 ha
(5811 ha) 17 % area is in the farm holdings larger than 5.0ha (13716 ha)
1
When it comes to number of farmers, 96.19% (69738) farm an area <2.0ha, 3.02% (2190)
farm an area 2.0 5.0ha, 0.46% (336) farmers farm area that lies between 5.0 10.0 Ha and
only 0.17% or 13farmers farm areas that are >10.0 Ha. In all, there are 72502farmers who
are engaged in commercial shrimp farming
2

Fig 1. Map showing the districts of Andhra Pradesh


Table 1. Distribution of farmers in district wise detail
District No of farmers No of farms Land area in Ha
Srikakulam 168 211 647
Vijayanagaram 2 8 101
Vishakapatnam 40 230 2830
East Godavari 1856 4814 7821
West Godavari 2901 16159 14374
Krishna 3346 37495 32856
Guntur 1430 10669 8821
Ongole 1208 1707 5105
Nellore 1337 2050 7105
Total 12288 73343 79660
Source: AP Assembly notes 9th December, 2009
The total area of 79,660ha is distributed among12,288 farmers in 73,343farms. Out of all
these only 18000 ha is under active shrimp culture
3
.
Different speciesfarmed in commercial shrimp farming
1. Penaeus monodon
Till now tiger shrimp is the major species, and is the only species which has dominated 2
decades of Indian shrimp culture. Large sized tiger shrimp of 50 gm size enjoys a niche market
in the international market and in 2012 it may be over taken by Litopenaeus vannamei in
Andra Pradesh.
Leptopenaeus vannamei
Recently introduced in Indian shrimp farming, commonly known as white shrimp, white leg
shrimp, Pacific white and Mexican white, because of its disease free status (SPF, better
performance, better disease resistant, higher survival and higher meat yield.
So far 192farms have been licensed by Coastal Aquaculture Authority with the farmingarea
of 2425.59ha (1645.31 ha WSA). 18 hatcheries have been permitted by CAA to import brood
stock and produce vannamei seeds for our commercial shrimp farming. By the end of 2010
around 35000 MT of L.vannamei is expected to be produced.
Macrobrachium rosenbergii
Scampi farming was taking a momentum around 1999 and the total Andhra Pradesh
production was 6,000 MT(84%) out of 7,140 MT of total production in the country and it has
peaked in 2002-2003 to 27,020 MT(89%) out of 30450 MT(total production).

Fig 5. Leptopeneaus. vannamei
culture pond pond
Fig 2. Peneaus monodon
pond
Fig 3. Leptopeneaus vannamei
pond
Fig 4. Scampi pond


Initially more than 10,000 ha were developed and at present only 5400 ha are under active
farming. The unit production had drastically reduced due to inbreeding , White tail diseases
and nodavirus infections are also present. In the peak year almost 40 % of hatcheries were
producingscampi seeds. In the year 2009-2010 Andhra Pradeshs contribution of scampi was
1,759 MT of the total of 6568 MT.
Penaeus indicus
Indian white shrimp was once a cash crop before WSSV out-breaks in Andhra Pradesh coast.
No SPF and disease free seeds are available now. At present 1 or 2 hatcheries produce 5-10
million seeds in one cycle per annum and sell to few specific farmers who rear them up to 7-
12gm and sell in the local market. There are still some coastal farmers who stock wild indicus
seed (1-2paise per seed) and grow them in raw water farms up to 4-5gm minimum and sell
to the local market and it is seasonal and possible once in a year.
Significant contribution of small and marginal farmers
Andhra Pradesh stands first in aquaculture among all other states of India. It also stands first
in brackishwater shrimp production, fresh water prawn production, second in fresh water fish
production, second in total value of fish and shrimp production and fifth in marine fish
production.
Fisheries sector in Andhra Pradesh is contributing2.39% to the Gross state Domestic product
2008-09. The quantity of fish and prawn produced is 12.52 lakh tons (102%) against the target
of 12.20 lakh tons for 2008-09. APs export earnings is at 2500 crores and that represents 40
% of total marine export of India.
3
Socio Economic Benefitsof marginal farmers
Shrimp culture development has led to lot of developmental activities through out the coastal
villages. Many villages have got good road facility, small business establishments, like farmer
owned shrimp feed shops, aqua-chemicals shops, purchase sheds are all developed in many
coastal villages. Shrimp feed dealers and other farm input shop owners make money and
every year go on a foreign trip sponsored by the feed or chemical company. Many farmers,
my own clients, every year take holiday tours to hill stations, all India sight seeing, boat house
trips, ayurvedic treatment, yearly visit to Sabarimala and Lord Venkateshwara etc., Every
other shrimp farmer made lot of investments in real estates in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Hyderabad properties are mostly owed by coastal communities.
Many rural areas have got banks in the recent years, number of farmers take loan every year
from these banks by givingcollateral securities, either land documents or houses/commercial
places and then pay back after the crop. Some clever farmers form a syndicate of 3 or 4 and
farm shrimps with minimum input of 3-5 lakhs /head. This amount will take care of seed and
monthly maintenance of shrimp farms. Later, the feed dealer/company give them credits on


the standingcrop and up to harvest. In this way, with an investment of only Rs.10-15 lakh, the
farmers make not less than a crore turn over.
Initially in early 1990s, when corporate farms entered the industry, small and marginal
farmers, mostly owner of the agricultural lands were dislocated. Corporate houses were
buying large tracts of land for their farms and allied facilities. After 1994, once the WSSV
affected the standing crop, many of the corporates could not survive in shrimp farming and
wound up their operations.
Later on no such displacemene of farmers has ever happened. Major farming areas of
Kandaleru creek, Thungabadra canal, Pandilapalli creek and Chinnaganjam creek farms are
mosly owned by local farmers only and almost every body are also engaged in other
activities like agriculture, coconut, mango and lemon crop and even in real estate
business.When they are economically comfortable they will indulge in shrimp culture,
otherwise they will give their farm on lease and still make money. Sale of farm lands is
restricted to within the local community and land is not sold to outsiders or companies..
Abandoned and idle shrimp farms were brought to life in the last two years because of
introduction of L.vannamei. Since then, shrimp culture has become a continuous activity in
coastal Andhra Pradesh. Stocking and harvestings are being done throughout the year and all
are employed. Prior to the introduction of L. Vannamei, farm labour were unemployed for
almost4-5months and farm equipment and machinery lay in a state of disuse and rusted.
Reviving these equipment and machinery was a challengingtask.
More and more new farms have been dug out recently and to my knowledge, no pond has
been kept idle except disputed ones.
In East and West Godavari districts, fish culture was in vogue, particularly, the fresh water
catfish, Pangasius pagasius. Last year the prices have crashed down due to over production
and hence huge loses were incurred by the farmers. They have now turned towards shrimp
farmingand some have taken to tiger shrimp and others to L.vannamei. 10 -15 acre ponds
were stocked with 5-7pieces of tiger shrimp and 15-20 pieces of vannamei per sq m and they
are harvestinggood crops. When the prices are good, farmers suddenly digout more and
more ponds for shrimp culture and even if they are unable to do farmingthemselves, they
will give their ponds on lease and make good money. If the market crashes too low they will
revert their ponds back to agriculture crops without disturbingthe drain structure and drain
canal. Whenever there is an uptrend in farm gate prices of shrimp, the fields are converted to
ponds. Some farmers in certain areas, where lot of fresh water facilities are available, do crop
rotation. In summer, they farm black tiger and in winter, go for paddy culture: in another
module they do 2year scampi and one year paddy and these people are always successful in
both paddy and shrimp farming. Use of irrigation water for shrimp farming has not resulted in
any conflicts amongthe farmers. Agriculture and aquaculture coexists.


Kota vakadu area of Nellore district has become a vannamei hub. Earlier they were all doing
monodon and few were farming scampi without much success. Most of them just broke
even, and some failed too. Once vannamei entered, that area has again become the most
successful commercial shrimp farmingarea. Land prices have increased at least 5fold in a
short period of 4-5 years. Lease amount for 1 acre pond has increased from Rs. 40,000 Rs 1.0
1.5lakh at present. Socio-economic status of farmers have increased a lot. All farmers has
bought luxury cars and sophisticated mobile phones. Many of them have even two in hand.
Internet, international market prices and all other information is in their palms now. Many
farmers have sent their children to hill station convent schools and good colleges in and
outside the country also.
Kandaleru creek is about 50 km length with 2500 ha of farming area. Shrimp was very
successful for quite a few years, status of the farmers improved, thatched roofs were
converted to pucca buildings and few bungalows were built, roads laid, water tanks
constructed, schools came in. But now they are not happy as earlier, because some want to
do vannamei and some want to remain with black tiger. There is lot of confusion and failures.
The disadvantage with the Kandeleru creek is that the intake canal and the drain are the
same.
Since the introduction of vannamei, the requirement of man power is growing. Farmers bring
feed boys from West Bengal, Orissa and hilly districts of Andhra Pradesh. Owing to
intensification in vannamei culture, many ice factories have made a comeback, the feed
companies are also doing good business. Many containers are transhipped from processing
plants and all these activities has created lot of employment opportunities to the local and
migrants. Lot of earth work have been done for vannmei pond conversion and new pond
excavation. Bulldozers, excavators and lot of Rajasthan tractors are on the job. Pond
preparation, pond cleaning, algae removal, harvestinghave been taken care of by utilizing the
local village people.
Currently the farmers are payingwages for ladies at the rate of Rs.150-200 and for men at Rs.
250-300 for 8 hours work and monthly salaries are around Rs. 4500 per head. Shrimp farmers
employ them throughout the year where as in agriculture they have hardly have 2 -3 months
work only. Commercial shrimp farmers are getting Rs. 1-1.2 lakh / ha / annum when
compared to agriculture where they get Rs.10000 12000 / ha / annum.
MPEDA Schemes
1. Subsidy for new farm development @ 25 % capital cost up to Rs.2.5 lakh for 5 ha
2. Small scale hatchery @ 25 % of capital cost not exceeding Rs.3.0 lakh per beneficiary
3. Subsidy for ETP and ETS @ 50% of cost maximum Rs. 1.5 lakh or the WSA of 5.0 ha and up
to Rs. 6.0 lakh for a beneficiary.

Fig 6. Paddy and shrimp pond
Fig 7. Coconut and shrimp pond
Fig 8. Pond view
Fig 9: Farmer with shrimp


NaCSA
Shrimp farmers Societies have been formed by National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture
(NaCSA), Kakinada in various shrimp farming villages. These societies have improved the
socio economic conditions of marginal farmers by ensuring sustainable production through
adoption of Better Management Practices(BMP) to reduce the risk of diseases and improve
production and productivity.
The role of marginal farmers in commercial shrimp farming is very important in the
development of Andhra Pradeshs and Indian shrimp sector since they are the primary
beneficiaries of high value shrimp aquaculture.
References:
1. Government of Andrapradesh January 2001.
2. MPEDA 1998-99 Percentage of total farmers in the state
3. Assembly notes 9 th December 2009 submitted by DOF on the status of fisheries activities
4. M.Kumaran et al ( 2003) shrimp farming practices and its socio economic Consequences in
east Godavari dt, Aquaculture Asia vol. VIII no 3.
5. Shrimp aquaculture and the environment(2001) EIA Assessment report submitted to the
Supreme court by Aquaculture Authority.

Name : Dr.P.E.Cheran
Educational
background
: Msc. Marine Biology & Oceanography, Annamalai University
Ph.D in Fisheries Science, CIFE, Mumbai
Position : Consultant in Shrimp Farming Industry
Name of the company : Super ShrimpsConsultants
Product profile of the
company
: Consultancy for farming of Tiger shrimp, L.vannamei, Scampi and
Fishes; Feed, Probiotic and other neutraceuticals Evaluation.
Phones : 08643-224226
Mobile : 09490246716
Email id : pecheran28@gmail.com


Integrating Farmers as Stakeholders in Coastal Commercial Aquaculture
M. Krishnan, R. S. Biradar, Swadesh Prakash, Ananthan, P.S., Vinod Kumar Yadav and B.
Nightingale Devi
Central Institute of Fisheries Education, Mumbai
I. Background
Global shrimp farminghas been growing at 5% in the last 5years. Of the global production of
3.5million metric tonnes of shrimp, 85% is produced in China and South East Asia. Indias
share is just 3.5% while 12-13% is produced in Western hemisphere and other countries
(Sarada et al., 2006)
Shrimp always has been an export commodity for India. The shrimp export trade in India
started in 1953 when the first consignments of canned shrimps were exported. Traditional
shrimp aquaculture had been in vogue in certain parts of the country like Kerala, West
Bengal, Orissa and limited parts of Karnataka and Goa. Commercial shrimp farmingstarted
with culture of F.indicus in late 1980s. But it was with the adoption of the New Economic
Policy in 1991 and emphasis on export oriented growth that commercial shrimp farmingof
P.monodon started in earnest in 1990s and enjoyed a boom period till 1995.
Despite the fact that shrimp enjoyed the numero uno position in terms of value amongall
agricultural commodities exported, the shrimp sector slumped during the late nineties.
Besotted by multiple problems like battlingshrimp diseases, facingtrade barriers and low
productivity resulting in flight of capital, shrimp was fighting a losingbattle as a cultivable
species. But with the establishment of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority, the pro-active role
of Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) in both culture and trade,
institutionalisation of accredited PCR laboratories and the decision of the government to
import SPF broodstock and introduce L. vannamei seed production and culture in the country,
Indian aquaculture is set for another bull run.
II. Institutionalising shrimp aquaculture
The initial failure of the shrimp aquaculture sector to sustain its take off and sustain its
growth can be traced to a number of factors. The non-institutionalised and exclusive
development strategies were the primary causes of its failure. Absence of land and water use
policies, absence of inclusive growth strategies and poor enforcement and policing were
inherent system bugs that accelerated the decline.
Shrimp farmingis a small farmer activity. 90% of the farmers are small and marginal. Shrimp
culture is also a rural remote area activity. The welfare measures of the State Departments of
Fisheries (DoF) have appropriately taken the opportunity offered by growth of shrimp sector
for distribution of fallow, derelict and unproductive lands for shrimp culture and enable
economic growth and rural prosperity.


But unfortunately, commercial shrimp aquaculture in its first coming, had not adopted an
inclusive growth approach. It had excluded the local communities as partners in the growth
process, treating them as a source of cheap local labour. The loss in this process was
enormous for the shrimp sector. Monetary losses was compounded by loss of traditional
knowledge and practices and practically irreparable community trust and involvement
(Anderson et al., 1987)
With the shrimp sector in the launch pad for the second commercial growth phase, the need
to institutionalise shrimp sector growth is paramount. Thusthis paper looks at the various
aspects that could provide critical inclusive growth strategies.
We look at the existing development strategies and business models, identify gaps and
suggest possible integrating strategies that could carry the next growth phase of shrimp
sector development on a sustained and sustainable growth trajectory.
III. Institutional arrangements for coastal aquaculture development
Central Agencies
The Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), Chennai is the authorised nodal aquaculture
regulatory government agency. The CAA in conjunction with the Departments of Fisheries
(DoF) of the various state governments focus on approval of licenses for aquaculture in
approved sites. A clear hierarchy has been developed for this approval process. The CAA
approval is essential for availing loans and subsidies of other central and state government
departments and agencies
The National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB), Hyderabad funds various projects for
aquaculture and marine fisheries development. NFDB also funds research and has venture
capital on offer.
The Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) has emerged the biggest
player in aquaculture basically because seafood is primarily an export item. Having its roots in
international trade, MPEDA has also been very active in the area of seafood exports and
aquaculture development, directly funding culture activities through various subsidy
schemes, establishment, maintenance and commercial operations of SPF broodstock and
hatcheries. The MPEDA has a wide network of offices across India that is engaged in
development of aquaculture in various states.
Commercial banks led by the State Bank of India (SBI) and others have started funding
aquaculture projects that have been approved by CAA. The commercial banks are still licking
their wounds from the bad loans committed in the nineties and hence are still wary of
fundingshrimp aquaculture. The banks do pre-sanction inspection. They sanction a maximum
of cash credit limit of Rs. 3,20,000/ha for AA approved projects.


Institutional insurance has also emerged from the shadows and are underwritingshrimp
aquaculture projects again, restricting themselves to those approved by CAA. The rate of
insurance premium for natural calamities and diseases of shrimps is @4.5% of total input
cost. Insurance for input cost of Rs. 3,75,139 / ha @4.5% and includingservice tax@10.3%
amounts to Rs. 16,154/-. For natural calamities, premium amount @2.5% for the same input
cost is Rs. 9378 +Rs. 966 (service tax) which adds upto Rs. 10,344.
Central research and development institutes which include the ICAR fisheries institutes and
institutes governed by the Ministry of Agriculture and few CSIR institutes are engaged in
fisheries and aquaculture research, teachingand training. Extension work by way of training
DoF personnel and other direct stakeholders are also a responsibility of these central
research and development institutes.
Table 1: Unit cost Contract FarmingOceanaa model scheme for shrimp culture
Area 1 ha WSA
Culture period 140 days (4-5 months)
Stocking density 10PL/ Sqm
Total no. 1,00,000
Cost of seed Rs. 22,000
Survival rate 70%
ABW 33g (30count)
Feed consumed 3927 kg
FCR 1.7
Feed @ Rs. 55 /kg 2,15,985
Cow dung application (Rs.) 500
Pond preparation (Rs.) 5000
Fertilizers (Rs.) 1500
Crab fencingcharges (Rs.) 6,000
Cost of chemicals (Rs.) 18,000
Labour (Rs.) 40,000
Electricity (Rs.) 35,000
Harvesting (Rs.) 5,000
Misc. charges (Rs.) 10,000
Insurance@4.5% (Rs.)+Serv. Tax
10.3%
16,154
Total op. cost (Rs.) 3,75,139
Less 15%margin (Rs.) 56,271
Bank loan (Rs.) 3,18,868 (R/o.3,20lakh )
State Agencies
State Departments of Fisheries
The State Departments of Fisheries (DoF) are the directly responsible for development and
execution of welfare schemes that include the allotment of land for aquaculture to the
socially marginalised sections of the society. Most DoFs also have Freshwater Fish Farmers
Development Agency (FFDA) and most maritime states have Brackishwater Fish Farmers


Development Agency (BFFDA) that have clear mandate for development of the designated
sub sectors. The DoFs are also directly responsible for transfer of technology and organising
outreach activities that relate directly to the stakeholders. Some DoF also have active R&D
wings that concern themselves with local operational and management issues in culture
activities.
Universitiesand other related state departments
Universities and other related state departments like those designated for Panchayat / block
level development, women empowerment and skills and market development are also
engaged in fisheries and aquaculture development and extension work.
Fisheries universities and colleges are also working independently and in tandem with central
research and development organisations and institutes in teaching, training, research and
extension.
Responsible and committed NGOs may also be included as agencies that address fisheries
and development issues.
IV. Development via shortage of Social Overhead Capital
As can be seen from the existing framework of institutional arrangements established for the
development of fisheries and aquaculture, we can observe that institutions maybe working
towards the same end from different directions not necessarily in tandem with one another.
There does appear to be some overlappingof responsibilities and tasks performed. There is
also a gap in the smooth flow of information across institutions and mechanisms.
Proper implementation of land and water use policies, concerted development efforts and
most importantly, the direct involvement of local population who are the beneficiaries of
welfare schemes, in private investment in commercial aquaculture needs to be improved
significantly (Samal Suman Sekhar, 2010).
Development via shortage of social overhead capital (SoC) seems to be the rule rather than
planned establishment of directly productive activities (DPA) for aquaculture. The indirect
engagement of local communities and improvement in social and economic quality of life is
more incidental than planned. This also appears to be in contrast to aquaculture development
strategies adopted in other shrimp countries like Thailand.
V. Current successful replicable business models
a. Contract farming model
Chennai-based Oceanaa group is doingcontract farming for tiger shrimp culture from 2008
with financial assistance from Indian Overseas Bank (IOB). Oceanaa currently has 450
hectares under tiger shrimp cultivation from 200 farmers from Chennai and Puducherry.


The company has now signed a pact with IOB for doing white shrimp (L.vannamei species)
culture through contract farming. According to the pact, Oceanic Bio-harvests (part of
Oceanaa group) will identify farmers having a minimum of one hectare of cultivable land with
licence from the Coastal Aquaculture Authority and recommend them to the bank for
sanction of loans.
The total cost of cultivation will be a little over Rs 4,75,000a hectare a crop. The farmer will
invest 15 per cent and the rest (Rs 4,00,000) will be extended by the bank as cash credit
repayable in six months. There will be two crops a year.
Oceanaa will supplyseed, feed and actual health products to farmers against invoices to the
bank. The company has its own shrimp hatchery with a capacity to produce 350million seed a
year. Besides, the company will also provide free technical assistance to shrimp farmers and
will buy back shrimps at market prices prevailing at the time of harvest, based on weight,
count and quality.
The group also has a processingunit at Marakkanam about 100 km from here, where it will
process shrimps and sell them in the domestic and export markets. The sale proceeds will be
routed through the bank. This will facilitate repayment of loans and leave surplus in the hands
of farmers. Besides, shrimps will also be insured against white spot disease and ponds insured
against natural calamities by New India Assurance Company.
Some of the existing farmers have expressed interest to cultivate L.Vannamei shrimp as the
yield on a hectare will be much more than in the case of former. Another 300 farmers will be
identified in 2011 to cultivate white shrimp as there is a great demand for this in both
domestic and international markets. Oceanaa planned to start shrimp exportingfrom March
2011.


It planned to export at least 500 tonnes of shrimp to European and Japanese markets during
the last quarter of 2010. For 2011, the target is to export at least 5,000 tonnes. International
buyers were scornful of Indian shrimps because of their muddy tangand a lingering smell of
antibiotics. The company claims to have a technology that eliminates the disagreeable tang
a factor that helped it get the bank loan.
This contract farmingmodel will ensure traceability and more transparency to the export
market right from the purchase of brood-stock, hatchery, farmingand processing (Hatch and
Engle, 1987). With the help of a new software developed, Oceanaa will ensure availability of
all traceability records to the buyer.
It also has a chain of nine retail outlets under the brand Fish N Fresh in Chennai and plans to
expand its horizon with 16 more outlets in other cities too.
b. Elitist- Changing Lifestyles Model
Since 2007, MPEDA has initiated organic aquaculture in India by availing the consultancy and
technical collaboration from the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) Zurich,
Switzerland. The project implemented by MPEDA with the approval of the Ministry of
Commerce & Industry, Govt of India, initially envisages the organic aquaculture production
for brackish water shrimp Penaeus monodon (tiger shrimp) and the fresh water giant prawn,
Macrobrachium rosenbergii (scampi), in the States of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. Farmers,
hatcheries, feed mill and processors have been motivated for organic conversion to produce
organic products for exports from India and as a result a hatchery each for producing the
organic seeds of scampi and black tiger shrimp, a feed mill for producing organic feed for the
culture of organic scampi and black tiger shrimp and two organic processors have been
established in India. MPEDA is implementing a financial assistance programme to assist the
farmers to adopt organic farming. Under this, the farmers are given subsidy assistance @ 50%
on organic feed cost and inspection/certification charges subject to a maximum of Rs.
25,000/- per ha. This assistance will be provided to the farmer for three consecutive crops of
scampi/black tiger shrimp. One beneficiary can avail the subsidy for a maximum area of 6 ha
subject to a financial ceiling of Rs. 1.50lakh. In the case of farm cluster, the upper limit will
be Rs. 7.50 lakh for 30 ha.
Organic shrimp farming offers one of the best opportunities for involvingsmall and marginal
farmers engaged in traditional and improved extensive shrimp farming systems. Development
of a network business model initiated by private investment monitored by MPEDA and CAA
will be ideal for ensuring an end to end sustainable and sustained organic shrimp farming
business.
Basic production data of organic and conventional shrimp farming in Kakdwip Research
Centre of CIBA is given in Table 4.


Table 3: Supplementary features of the Oceanna model
Role of Bank

Will do pre-sanction inspection
Sanction cash credit (Rs. 3,20,000/ha)
Shall insure the shrimps, ponds
Disburse the loan to farmers against invoices
Carry out post sanction inspection
Renew the limit once loan amount is repaid
Benefits to farmers
Availability of cheaper credit at the required time
Availability of quality inputs at farmgate at competitive
price (seed, feed, chemicals)
Free technical services
Buyback guarantee by Oceaanic @attractive market prices
Net income Rs.3.00 lakh/ha/crop
WIN WIN Situation
for all stakeholders

Farmers cheaper and timely credit
Banks enhanced quality credit deployment- improved
recovery of loans
Oceanna availability of quality shrimps for its processing
unit and retail outlets
Traceability
Oceanna initiatives
for govt intervention

Subsidy for premium
Interest subvention @7 % p.a. upto Rs. 3.00 lakh
Subsidy for pond renovation @ Rs.15,000/ha
Feed subsidy
Educational tours
Business Plans for
2010

To cover 500 ha in Nagapattinam, Sirgazhi, Pattukottai,
Marakkanam, Cuddalore, Chidambaram, Ponneri, Tamil
Nadu


Table 4: Input-Output Relationshipsin Organic and Conventional Shrimp FarmingSystems.
Organic Shrimp Farming Conventional Shrimp Farming
Operational Costs Total WSA: 1 ha Total WSA: 1 ha
0.65 lakh seeds@ 0.05
ps./PL
Rs.30,000 Rs.30,000
Pond Preparation incl.
manure and other
organic inputs
Rs. 25,000 Rs. 28,000
Feed cost 1.5 tonnes
(FCR: 1.2) @Rs. 32/-
Rs. 25,000
1.43 tonnes
(FCR: 1.25) @
Rs.42/-
Rs.60,000
Lime and other inputs Rs. 25,000 Rs,30,000
Labour and other
management costs
Rs.27,000 Rs.27,000
Harvestingand related
expenditure
Rs.15,000 Rs.15,000
Total Operational Cost Rs. 1,70,000 Rs.1,90,000
Cost of production (Kg) Rs. 136 Rs. 165
Returns
Production 1.20-1.30 tonnes 1.10 1.20 tonnes
Gross Returns (Rs.
240/kg)
Rs.3,00,000 Rs. 2,76,000
Rate of return over
operational cost
70% 45%
Source: Kakdwip Research Centre, CIBA.
c. Mariculture - livelihood and scalable business models
Mariculture production from India was 19.300tonnes @ Rs. 111 million, mussel production
was 16,000 tonnes @ Rs. 85million, oyster 2500 tonnes @Rs.16 million, clams 800 tonnes
@10 million, negligible production of crabs and lobsters through fattening (CMFRI, 2009).


Box2: New Zealand Mussel Industry
Improved techniques in New Zealand mussel
culture industry have led to rapid production
increases, and bulk handling methods have
been introduced to meet growing demand for
export to more than 60 countries. By 2006
there were over 900 mussel farms in New
Zealand covering about 6500 hectares, and
worth about $224 million in annual sales.
About $180 million were exports, usually sold
as frozen mussels in half shells, patented with
the trade name NZ Greenshell Mussels
Box 3: Oysters in New Zealand
By 2006 there were over 230 oyster
farms in New Zealand using over
900 hectares, and worth about $32
million in annual sales. About $18
million were exports.
Mariculture is still in its infancy in India. There is tremendous scope for enhancingprivate
investments in mariculture. Instances of bigbusiness in Barramundi culture, processing and
marketing, mussel and oyster culture and others are abundant. The following gives a brief
overview of the scope and extent of culture opportunities of mariculturable species.

Mussel culture
World mussel production during 2006 was 1.89 million tonnes valued at USD 1.2 billion. Of
which Perna viridis was 305,321 tonnes valued at USD 2.74 million. Mussel culture is
popular as a group farmingactivity. Production in
India increased from zero in 1996 to 16,000
tonnes in 2008. 1800 families have started
mussel culture in Kerala, Karnataka and
Maharashtra. 5500 families have benefited
through ancillary job opportunities like seed
collection and marketing. They earn Rs. 150
200/- day during seeding and harvesting
season. Kerala produced 10,060 tonnes of
mussel in 2005-06. They comprised of
independent, SHG and family categories of
farms. There were 875 farms in 3 districts of
Kasargod, Malapuram and Kozhikode districts.
Mussel culture is upscalable (Box 2). A well
organised industry with a strong policy backup
involving local communities has made mussel culture a sustainable and technology
driven avocation that has yielded high returns to the stakeholders and trade in New Zealand.
Oyster Farming
Oyster farmingis another seasonal group farming activity in Kerala. Small scale aquaculture
units are of 20 to 24 sq.m. The enterprise benefits more than 500 families. There
are part time labour opportunities for making oyster
rens and shucking of oyster meat. There is good demand
in domestic markets for smoked oysters and oysters in
brine. BFFDA provides Rs 1500 per farmer for putting
500 rens. Production from 300 sq m. farm is 4.25 tonnes.
Total cost of production works out to Rs. 14,000 and net
returns, Rs. 8000.


Box 4. The Case of Finfish as a Mariculture Investment Opportunity
Finfish culture is inclined to mariculture. It isperhaps more suitable for mariculture than
land based aquaculture for various reasons, since the opportunity cost of the use of a
given area of open water resource could be substantially less than that for the same land
area. Mariculture of finfishes is also capital and management intensive and that will
generate good local employment and put to best use the indigenous technical
knowledge of the local fisher communities. The social benefits of finfish mariculture
include reduction in fishing pressure resulting in gains in carbon credits
Constraints in Mussel and Oyster farming
Methods suitable for seed collection from open sea are yet to be developed in India. Social
conflict between common resource users like fishers and farmers are also a deterrent to
consistent performance of mussel and oyster farming. Lack of depuration facilities in villages,
and cold storage facilities for holding harvested mussels for a short period in villages,
appropriate leasingpolicy for water bodies, land and poaching of farm stock in open sea
farmingare other constraints.
Sustaininglocal interest and containing social conflicts is directly related to organisational
structure of the production system, more so in community based production systems.
Experienced and committed private investments offer the ideal solution for exploitingsuch
scalable near shore mariculture opportunities.
Finfish culture
Finfish culture is insignificant in India. The constraints include inherent culture glitches with
finfish species compounded by the requirement of huge capital investment in terms of land
and other resources. Since finfish culture in ideally located sites will be management
intensive, it offers great scope for employment of local communities in culture activities. Such
investments are not only capital intensive but also knowledge and technology intensive.
Finfish culture is perhaps the typical case that should be taken up with foreign direct
investment (FDI) of companies that has longstanding experience in finfish culture in different
parts of the world.
VI. Innovative Institutions
There is a need for developing innovative integrated institutions that can actually serve as a
single window system for development of commercial aquaculture and mariculture
integrating local communities in the scheme of investment, production, management and
profit sharing (Csavas, 1994).
Self help group (SHG) model has acted as a catalyst for bringing private investment into
seaweed farmingin Tamil Nadu successfully. The win-win situation has substantially improved


the quality of life both economically and socially among the fisher communities in
Ramanathapuram district.
Marketingarrangements based on corporate social responsibility has also proved to be a big
success and has integrated local women SHGs in the supply of fresh fish directly to star hotels.
The scalability of such models is directly related to the investments made by private capital.
VII. Conclusions
A sector develops either by deficiency of Social Overhead Capital (SOC) or availability of
Directly Productive Activities (DPA) or vice-a-versa. Either of these development strategies or
business models in a macro sense is suitable dependingupon current stage of development
of a sector.
In a typical model that warrants the development of forward linkages, it is most crucial that
support infrastructure and policy are available to the entrepreneurs for furthering the growth
of the sector. The shortage of overhead capital offers an investment opportunity for
specialists. Like, the shortage of cold storage facilities in production locations is an investment
opportunity for a company like Dole Food Company of the US that has set up cold chain
facilities and backward linkages and contract-farming facilities across the country in
agriculture. Its incursions into fisheries and aquaculture in India may have been restricted by
lack of proper information on investment opportunities. Cold storage investments in remote
locations cateringto mussel and oyster farmers must be backed by investments in production
by equally experienced specialists like the green mussel companies in New Zealand which are
not only specialists in mussel production but since mussel and oyster culture is a community
enterprise, are equally adept in human resource management.
Therefore the integration of local communities in commercial aquaculture is not only a
function of public-private investment partnership but also will involve institutional structural
changes that will enable comprehensive information on opportunities, liabilities and
challenges including scalability and vulnerability to potential investors both within and
outside the country (Ali and Byerlee,1991).
Lessons need to be learnt from policies in place for New Zealand aquaculture development. A
hectare of water area is leased at NZ$200,000. This could keep weak firms from entering the
market. The Government of New Zealand has a 10 point policy plan which has helped the
countrys aquaculture to reach new heights. New Zealand aquaculture, though restricted to
mussels, oysters and salmon, has had a disease free track record.
Modified version of such measures which promotes inclusive growth of stakeholders at all
levels of the local community needs to be charted out for the development of the
aquaculture sector. Based on track record of multi-national aquaculture companies, contract
farmingthrough Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) may also be examined. This would make the
field more competitive and spur movement towards a perfectly competitive market structure.


References
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market. Southern Journal of Agricultural Economics, 19: 103-111.
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Indian Agriculture, 102-105
Csavas, I. (1994) Important factors in the success of shrimp farming. World Aquaculture, 25:
34-56
Hatch, U. and Engle, C. (1987) Economic analysis of aquaculture as a component of integrated
agro-aquaculture systems; some evidence from Panama. Journal of Aquaculture in the
Tropics, 2: 93-105
Katiha, P. K., Vass, K. K., Sharma, V. K., Shrivastava, N. P. and Sarkar, S. (2007b), Socio-
Institutional Aspects EffectingReservoir Fisheries in Rajasthan, Presented at VIII Asian
Fisheries Forum at Kochi November, 20 to 23, 2007 p.404
Krishnan, M (2008) Trends in Agricultural and Rural Marketing- Lessons from Fisheries and
Aquaculture,, MarketingExtension and its Linkages in the Development of the Indian
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Coimbatore, December 12, 2008.
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Market Led FarmingSystems in Brackishwater Aquaculture, presented in Institutional
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18 March.
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issues of instability, commodity concentration and geographical spread, Indian Journal
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India Critical Evaluation of Policies, Regulation And Programs Ph.D Thesis
(Unpublished) Central Institute of Fisheries Education (Deemed University), Mumbai
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http://www.doc.govt.nz/publications/conservation/marine-and-coastal/new-zealand-
coastal-policy-statement/new-zealand-coastal-policy-statement-2010/, accessed 15
April, 2011


Ensuring Community Participation for Sustainable Public-Private-Partnership
in Aquaculture
Ojha S.N., Sheela Immanuel, Ananthan P.S., Mishra, S.K and Nisha Elezabeth Joshwa

I. Conceptual Framework
As per Reserve Bank of India, Investment in agriculture is undertaken by both public as well
as by private sectors. While public sector investment in agriculture is undertaken for building
necessary infrastructure, private investment in agriculture is made either for augmenting
productivity of natural resources or for undertakingsuch activities, which supplement income
sources of farmers. Private sector investment includes investments made by private
corporate and households. The corporate sector investment includes investment by
organized corporate bodies like big private companies and unorganized entities like sugar co-
operatives and milk co-operatives. The household sector investment comprises investment
on farm equipments, machinery, irrigation, land improvement and land reclamation. With
about 90 per cent share, households dominate the private investment scene. These
investments enable farmers to grow existingcrops more productively and intensively and
take up non-conventional/high value crops
i
.
According to the above interpretations, private sector investment includes corporate and
household investment, of which household sector is 90%. Therefore corporate have 10%
share in private investment. Since investment of household sector is very high, it may be
further divided into resource-rich and resource-poor communities to get a better picture.
Public Investment
Since the mid 1990s private investment in agriculture has stagnated while public investment
has continued to decline (since 1980). It is essential to reverse these trends, especially for
public investment in irrigation and water resource management. It is also essential to
increase public investment in rural roads and rural electrification. Success in these areas will
stimulate private investment and contribute to a revival of growth momentum in
agriculture
ii
. However, this requires corruption-mitigation strategy to get the results. High
corruption is associated with: (i) low operation and maintenance expenditure; and (ii) poor
quality of infrastructure. This may manifest into Vicious Cycle of Exclusive Growth (Table 1).
Public investment projects have frequently lent themselves to acts of high-level corruption
or rent seeking. Because of the discretion that some high-level public officials have over
decisions regarding public investment projects, this type of public spending can become
distorted, both in size and in composition, by corruption and rent seeking. Public projects
have, at times, been carried out specifically to provide some individuals or political groups
with opportunities to receive commissions from the project implementers, or to benefit


particular areas or individuals. This has reduced the efficiency of such expenditures and has
resulted in projects that would not have otherwise been justified on the basis of objective
criteria of investment selection such as cost-benefit analysis.
iii

Table 1: Vicious Cycle of Exclusive Growth- Actors, Actions and Beneficiaries
Actions Beneficiaries
Actors Technical Managerial
Public Provides
subsidized and
welfare schemes
for better
adoption by
resource poor
beneficiary.
Inefficient
- Public actors have bio-
physical background and
lack social skills.
-Poor political
commitment for
development.
It is believed that poor
vote for cash money
needed for urgent short
term needs, while
development works for
relatively medium and
longterm goals.
-May forge development
benefits and re- distributed
them between the illicit-
controller of the poor (to
fulfill their long term needs)
and the poor (to fulfill their
short term needs), may be
80:20 basis.
-Such illicit-controller may
even block the corporate to
prosper in the area as their
unproductive-rate- of-return
may be higher than the
productive-rate-of return of
the corporate.
Corporate High Profit & cost
driven-
technically-
efficient.
Profit & cost driven-
managerially efficient,
mainly to support
backward and forward
linkages and for value
addition.
May exclude poor as
individually resource-poor
provide less cost and profit
opportunities to the
corporate.
Resource-
Rich-
Community
Seed, fertilizers,
irrigation,
instruments and
production
related
investments.
Modern production
management tools
Benefits from enhanced
marketing
Resource-
Poor-
Community
Low cost and
profit driven
technology
Traditional Management Benefits very less through
enhanced household
consumption and may get
displaced.
Vicious
Cycle of
Exclusive
Growth
More displacement of the poor and productive investors by unproductive
investors, less purchasingpower, and poor governance, law and order.


If corruption affects investment, it must also affect growth. Rigidity of public-investment
regulation breeds corruption. However abuse of public power produces private benefits is
corruption. Or it is Illegal-Public-Power-Private-Profit-Partnership (IP5).
Corporate Investment
Center of Concern, Washington, DC, USA
iv
opines Large-scale corporate agriculture is
unsustainable over the medium- and long-term because it:
1. Concentrates market share amonga small handful of firms, removing price discipline
alongthe supply chain through vertical integration, resulting in uncompetitive markets
that ultimately hurt consumers and producers alike
2. Creates environmental disaster through excessive pesticide use, soil erosion, genetic
engineering, monoculture, and concentration of animal waste
3. Threatens the intellectual property rights of local producers through biopiracy and the
patentingof indigenous crop varieties
4. Eliminates the livelihoods of small producers in the U.S. and developing countries,
usinggovernment subsidies and monopoly power to price sustainable products out of
the market
5. Jeopardizes food security and food sovereignty in developing countries
6. Endangers the public health of communities and consumers through food-borne
diseases, chemical residues and the potential effects of irradiation
7. Exploits migrant farm workers whose labor rights are not protected, and uses their
artificially cheap labor to undercut domestic small and medium producers
8. Destroys the fabric of rural communities
9. Empowers lobbyists to shape the U.S. farm policy in favor of large-scale agro-industry
10. Guarantees agribusiness privileged access to the negotiation of trade agreements and
export credits which favor U.S. and European firms at the expense of producers in
developing countries.
Private investment is also inversely related to corruption. Foreign direct investment,
especially, reacts very negatively to corruption. This is particularly so for more irreversible
forms of foreign direct investment such as investment in farming. By pushing firms outside
the formal regulatory process and obliging managers to spend time and money with
government officials, corruption raises transaction costs. If the top officials are monopolist
rent seekers, the private sector can be forced into a prisoner's dilemma where the dominant
strategy is to bribe
v
and they may be displaced. A corrupt equilibriumis reached but at high
social cost. If Public-Investment is corruption-driven and private-investment is profit driven,
both can not be pro-poor, as resource-poor can neither negotiate above-table nor under-

table. They continue to be displaced from one place to the other (Table 1). If public and
private join together or develop partnership under such situation, it is likely that poor will be
displaced faster. This may result into a vicious cycle More displacement of the poor, more
displacement of productive investors by unproductive investors, less purchasing power, and
poor governance, law and order.
VirtuousCycle of Inclusive Growth
Kautilya believed that institutions are a prerequisite to economic growth. He believed that
knowledge, ethical conduct and economic growth are interdependent in the virtuous cycle of
economic growth
vi
. The participatory process also has implications for the processes typical of
the other two sectors (Public and Private sectors). For the government, it means a grassroots-
up approach to decision-making and the presence of a watchdog, which provides an
additional level of corruption control. For the private player, it implies that its customers will
have better knowledge of the services they pay for, as well as the presence of monitoring for
fair (rather than excessive) profits
vii
. This may help to exclude unproductive leaders from the
institutions by productive leaders.
II. Commercial Aquaculture
However, the success of commercial aquaculture in India is claimed to the availability of vast
untapped surface water resources, standardisation of many new production and associated
techniques of input and output subsystems, extension of technology and practical knowledge
to the farmers through the State/Central Government agencies/organisations (i.e. FFDAs,
ICAR research institutes, KVKs etc.), setting up of norms for institutional finance for
aquaculture and refinance to banks by NABARD, provision of adequate credit by financial
institutions, etc
viii
(Fig 1 &2).

Fig1. Formsof Aquaculture
Aquaculture Traditional Modern
Type Subsistence Commercial
Capital Low High (Intensive)
Fig2. Levelsof Aquaculture
Aquaculture
Non-animal farming
Algaculture Pearl farming
Animal farming
Aquatic animal farming


Commercial Aquaculture is Fish farming operations whose goal is to maximize profits, where
profits are defined as revenues minus costs (perhaps discounted). Commercial aquaculture
supplies aquatic products for consumption, generate business profits, create jobs, pay labour
incomes, including wages and salaries, and provide tax revenues.
ix
For commercial
aquaculture to be sustainable the potential for risk-adjusted profitability must exist.
Cultivation must be biologically and technically feasible, and the returns after transport
sufficient to compensate for risks. If inputs are unavailable or at too high a cost, there are
incentives that governments can provide. Cultivation techniques should also be known
without considerable research expendituresSubsidies are often not available and when they
are, they constitute a serious drain from public funds.
x
. Therefore Aquaculture Governance is
needed to sustain its commerciality.
As intensive, commercial aquaculture is very costly, only those who have enough capital to
invest in commercial aquaculture actually benefit from it; Poorer farmers do not have
sufficient capital. Wealthy companies and commercial farmers benefit from aquaculture.
Commercial companies buy poor farmers land cheaply. Poor subsistence farmers did not
benefit as they relied on small ponds for local consumption commercial farming destroyed
thousands of hectares of mangrove forests.
Appreciations and Apprehensionsof Commercial Aquaculture
Appreciations
xi

1. Commercial aquaculture has offered economic benefits to producing countries
through the production of aquaculture products for food, and/or the generation of
income (through job creation) by which to purchase food, commercial aquaculture
contributes to increasingfood security.
2. By paying taxes, can generate government revenues and indirectly support
government funding for rural aquaculture.
3. Through export and/or import substitution, commercial aquaculture can be a source
of hard currency. However, there have also been costs.
4. By generating its own funds, commercial aquaculture offers the prospect of financial
self-sufficiency.
5. Commercial aquaculture, if is bio-technical feasible and economic viable, it is a
success.
6. Regulations, economic incentives and self-policing, are instruments that can promote
the sector; they can also reduce adverse effects of commercial aquaculture.
Apprehensions
xii

1. Aquaculture operations sometimes make the poor worse off. while some types of
aquaculture can make a positive contribution to local nutritional needs, most modern,


'intensive' aquaculture operations are directed at export markets and do not provide
increased food supplies for local poor.
2. In some cases fingerlings which previously had been consumed by the poor are now
fattened in aquaculture operations which cater to upscale markets.
3. Coastal shrimp mariculture has displaced many traditional coastal fisheries, and has
damaged or destroyed mangrove ecosystems which had served as breeding grounds
for these fisheries.
4. Many commercial aquaculture operations for export use large amounts of low-cost
protein sources, including meal made from fish, as feed to produce high value
products like shrimp. Such operations are net consumers of protein -- more goes in
than comes out the other end. Although investors get rich, in nutritional terms it is
highly inefficient. The capital and other resources could be used to produce much
more food for many more people.
5. What is more, communities are often dispossessed by intensive aquaculture farms of
several vital resources over which they have held traditional rights based on long-
standing patters of land use
6. In India, for instance, there is growing concern that conversion of rice paddies to
shrimp ponds may adversely affect local rice production. In the Indian state of Tamil
Nadu, where 60% of the population is landless, thousands of hectares of land have
been set aside for shrimp farms despite concerns over threats to the livelihoods of
25,000 families.
7. While a one-hectare salt-water fish pond produces a profit of US$ 32,000 for investors
in shrimp and prawn exports to Japan and North America, if that same shrimp pond
were devoted instead to small-scale agriculture, some 300people could obtain some
form of employment in small-scale agricultural methods.
8. Aquaculture production has destroyed over one-million hectares (2.5million acres) of
coastal wetlands and mangrove forests despite the crucial ecological functions that
are lost when they are cleared, and the significant economic and social impacts.
PPP in Aquaculture
World Fish Center
xiii
has suggested for opportunities to use PPPs in support of fisheries and
aquaculture and they are listed below as such:
1. Improving access to national and international markets. Small and medium-sized
fisheries and aquaculture enterprises often struggle to market their products as
demand for product quantity and quality increase. Serving national or international
markets often requires improved supply chain arrangements and effective marketing
campaigns. Small and medium-sized enterprises often have limited contacts with the


larger international food supply and marketing system. They need support to enter
these global supply chains. This support may include help with competitor analysis,
export regulations, customs arrangements and logistics infrastructure. PPP can often
be an effective way to meet such needs. For example, a partnership between Chinese
and German private exhibition companies, and their governments , helped provide
organic farmers from Asian countries with access to national and international traders
and retail chains, BioFach China.
2. Improvingfood safety and quality. Small-scale farmers who want to export find it
increasingly difficult to clear food safety and quality hurdles. Food safety and quality
standards can act as barriers to trade, but they can also catalyze improvements that
will position products competitively in high-value markets. Service contracts, awarded
by governments to private companies under PPP arrangements, can help with this.
Helping small-scale fishers and fish farmers to meet production standards and
operating certification, as well as auditing or traceability requirements, may all be
done more efficiently by the private sector with oversight and regulation by
government partners. Vietnam provides an example of success with this approach.
Here, certifying small-scale catfish producers and their products to Euro-Retailer
Produce WorkingGroup Good Agricultural Practices (now GLOBALGAP) standards and
International Food Standards has helped improve access to international markets.
3. Developing niche markets. Experience from marketing organic products suggests that
diversification into niche markets can create higher revenues and competitive
advantages for farmers. Entrepreneurs that produce new aquaculture species are
exposed to higher risks because of uncertainties in production management and
markets. PPPs that, for example, support the clusteringof companies in aquaculture
parks or help with marketing efforts for niche products can help to distribute risk and
thereby reduce the risk to a single entity to a manageable level.
4. Improvingsector-specific infrastructure services. In fisheries and aquaculture, the
main infrastructural needs are improvements in seed-dissemination systems, feed
production and supply networks, and the postharvest handlingand transportation of
products from fisheries and fish farms to processors or markets. Effectively producing
quality seed in adequate amounts and disseminating it to producers, who are often in
remote areas, demands an efficient organizational structure. Arrangements that link
publicly run genetic improvement programs supplying superior broodstock with
networks of private hatcheries serving as seed multipliers offers one of the most
promising models to achieve this. Feed cost, quality and supply are central
determinants of the economic viability and environmental footprint of aquaculture
enterprises. Using local feed sources to replace fishmeal and improving feeding
regimes are key technological goals for many aquaculture enterprises. A partnership
of the Chilean and Peruvian governments with Nutreco, the worlds largest feed


producer, and with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, reduced
fishmeal content in fish feeds (Nutreco Annual Report 2006). This provides a good
example of how PPPs can help in this area. Postharvest losses of wild-caught fish are
high in many developingcountries. Researchers estimate that up to a quarter of fish
landed in Africa is lost to spoilage. The lack of elementary processing or cold chain
facilities causes much of this waste. PPPs that support decentralized fish collection
and transport systems could improve matters in many regions. An example of such an
approach comes from Bangladesh, where the public and private sectors have
collaborated to install icingfacilities at shrimp-collection points and marketing centers
5. Improvingfinancial services. The lack of access to credit remains a problem for many
small-scale enterprises. Those operating in the fisheries and aquaculture sector are no
exception. Rural banks are perhaps the most likely institutions for microcredit start-up
support to entrepreneurs wishing to develop fishery and aquaculture enterprises.
Government-backed credit and risk guarantees for rural banks are important public
interventions for rural microfinance initiatives. A good example of a PPP arrangement
in financial services is the Global Commercial Microfinance Consortium, which
promotes private sector investments in developing countries. Supported by USAID
fundingand credit guarantees, and managed by Deutsche Bank, the consortium is a
PPP of governments and international bankinginstitutions.
6. Technology development and research. Partnerships between publicly funded
national agriculture research institutes and the private sector are key drivers of
technological progress. Institutional collaboration through PPP arrangements can
mitigate risks for the private sector that would otherwise prevent them from
proceeding and provide financial support to the public sector to help cover costs.
Public-private investments in researching and developing genetically improved fish
strains have the potential to provide attractive economic returns to the private sector
and to meet a public need for improved seed quality.
7. Improvinginformation and communication. Market information systems, transaction
platforms and information service provision are possible fields for PPP, as access to
timely and reliable market information is increasingly important for small-scale
entrepreneurs and fishers and farmers associations. In Bangladesh the e-Krishok
initiative, a partnership between Grameen Phone and WIN is disseminating
agricultural information via community information centers to farmers (e-agriculture
2008). The dissemination of fish market prices through cell phones to fishingvillages
in Kerala provided extensive rural benefits at low cost in India . The volatility of fish
prices fell dramatically, the wastage of unsold fish was ended and the security and
income of fishermen was increased (Jensen 2007). A partnership of the Syngenta
Foundation for Sustainable Agriculture, Uganda National Farmers. Federation, and
Information Communication Technology for African Rural Development improved the


exchange of customized health and agro-related information between district farmers
associations and farmers, by installing village telephones.
8. Improvingphysical and technical infrastructure. Building and managing infrastructure
such as roads, power supplies, or potable or irrigation water systems are typical fields
for public-private collaboration. A good example of PPP-supported infrastructure
improvement in the fishery sector comes from the Andaman Nicobar region of India.
Here a PPP arrangement allowed the construction of a new harbor that is now
managed by a private concern. PPP arrangements may also provide and manage
mariculture parks, aquaculture investment zones, or one-stop service centers with
marketingand processing facilities for small-scale fishers and fish farmers.
9. Improving capacity building and extension services. There is great potential for
private companies to form partnerships with public institutions to support education
and training. Demonstration plants, national or regional trainingcenters, vocational
training programs, and e-learning courses for entrepreneurs and government
employees may all be cost-effectively provided under such arrangements. Privately
run extension services working under PPP arrangements, with government setting the
regulatory framework and monitoring standards, may serve farmers and fishers more
efficiently and effectively than public services.
10. Privatizinggovernment-owned facilities and services. Public facilities and services
may suffer because of budget problems or ineffective management. Long-term
concession and divestiture contracts enable governments to engage private
companies to improve efficiency and effectiveness. Areas where governments may
consider the merits of such transfers include public hatcheries or fish farms, research
infrastructure, and services that assess fish stocks. PPP arrangements offer many
opportunities to improve fisheries and aquaculture in support of human development.
They are not, however, a general solution for all challenges. Rather, they are among
many possible choices for harnessing the development potential of fisheries and
aquaculture to meet the needs of developing countries.
Aquaculture Governance
The concept of governance has gained increasing significance in development approaches,
in recognition that formal and informal institutions need to be carefully understood and
selectively supported or promoted if positive development objectives are to be realised. In
fisheries development and resource management, governance derives both from the
wider context of national policies and their implementation, and from the more local
environment of government presence and action, social process and traditional
understanding. Under governance the issues that need attention are nature and impact of
existing governance processes, important areas of development concern, widening
economic opportunity, improving access and empowerment, reducing vulnerability,
deliveringinformation and services, and resolving conflicts
xiv
.


A. Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
xv

CCRF provides guidelines that satisfy many of the criteria for good governance.
ARTICLE 9- AQUACULTUREDEVELOPMENT
9.1Responsible Development of Aquaculture, includingculture-based fisheries, in areas
under national jurisdiction
9.1.1 States should establish, maintain and develop an appropriate legal and administrative
framework which facilitates the development of responsible aquaculture.
9.1.2 States should promote responsible development and management of aquaculture,
including an advance evaluation of the effects of aquaculture development on genetic
diversity and ecosystem integrity, based on the best available scientific information.
9.1.3 States should produce and regularly update aquaculture development strategies and
plans, as required, to ensure that aquaculture development is ecologically sustainable and to
allow the rational use of resources shared by aquaculture and other activities.
9.1.4 States should ensure that the livelihoods of local communities, and their access to
fishing grounds, are not negatively affected by aquaculture developments.
9.1.5 States should establish effective procedures specific to aquaculture to undertake
appropriate environmental assessment and monitoringwith the aim of minimizing adverse
ecological changes and related economic and social consequences resulting from water
extraction, land use, discharge of effluents, use of drugs and chemicals, and other
aquaculture activities.

9.2 Responsible development of aquaculture including culture-based fisheries within
transboundary aquatic ecosystems
9.2.1 States should protect transboundary aquatic ecosystems by supportingresponsible
aquaculture practices within their national jurisdiction and by cooperation in the promotion
of sustainable aquaculture practices.
9.2.2 States should, with due respect to their neighbouringStates and in accordance with.
international law, ensure responsible choice of species, siting and management of
aquaculture activities which could affect transboundary aquatic ecosystems.
9.2.3 States should consult with their neighbouring States, as appropriate, before
introducingnon-indigenous species into transboundary aquatic ecosystems.
9.2.4 States should establish appropriate mechanisms, such as databases and information
networks to collect, share and disseminate data related to their aquaculture activities to
facilitate cooperation on planning for aquaculture development at the national, subregional,
regional and global level.


9.2.5 States should cooperate in the development of appropriate mechanisms, when
required, to monitor the impacts of inputs used in aquaculture.
B. Why doesgovernance matters
xvi
?
1. it is the collection of laws, institutions, and government policies that make up the
economic environment.
2. good governance provide an enabling environment for the accumulation of capital,
both human and physical, which in turn enhances their rate of economic growth
compared with those jurisdictions with weak governance.
3. Unless property rights are secure and enforceable, commercial aquaculture will not
develop;without themthere would be no incentive to invest time and resources, and
poaching would be a rational strategy.
4. without respect for the rule of law and enforcement of contracts, farmers would have
difficulty marketingproducts and obtaining inputs from suppliers.
5. the dissemination of new research and technology, and hence long-run factor
productivity, depends on administrative and institutional frameworks.
6. Aquaculture governance should therefore aimto replicate a virtuous cycle in which
an effective administrative and regulatory framework not only encourages
investment, but also increases the efficiency of public services.
7. This should induce investment in backward and forward linked activities.
8. At the farm level, secure property rights and long leases encourage adoption of best
practices, and self-regulating management codes.
9. Regulations and economic measures can eliminate practices that are ecologically and
socially harmful without destroying entrepreneurial motivation.
10. Sustainability(in governance) incorporates the usual four aspects; technical feasibility,
economic viability,environmental integrity and social licence.
11. There is now a consensus that modern aquaculture depends on the private sector and
the profit motive.
12. In the absence of effective governance there will be misallocation, influence peddling
or stagnation.
C. Social Licence to Operate
xvii

1. Social License at any time is Rejection, Acceptance, Approval and Co-ownership of the
project by the affected community. Social License is rooted in the beliefs, perceptions
and opinions held by the local population and other stakeholders about the project it
is dynamic and non-permanent because beliefs, opinions and perceptions are subject
to change as new information is acquired. Hence the Social License has to be earned
and then maintained.
2. Community is frequently used in a way that suggests a singleness and purpose that
does not always exits.


3. Most communities are really aggregations of communities, kinships or interest
groups that operate as a network.
4. However, the concept of the Social License to Operate presupposes that all of the
families, clans, interest groups and institutions in a geographic area have arrived at a
shared vision and attitude towards a resource development project. This kind of
cohesion is often absent, and therefore may have to be built.
5. That is why earninga Social License to Operate often involves building social capital in
a process that is also known as community building, capacity building and
institutional strengthening, among others.
III. Community Participation and Commercial Aquaculture: An Alternative Aquaculture
Administration Approach for Aquaculture Extension
Since the centralized, government-led system of protectingand managingfisheries resources
is not working effectively in most cases, alternative approaches are necessary
xviii
. Minimising
the effect of Vicious Cycle of Exclusive Growth and maximizing the scope of Virtuous Cycle
of Inclusive Growth should be the internal strategy of Aquaculture Governance and should
not be left out as external factor that cannot be addressed by such governance. While the
vicious cycle will eliminate both the corporate/entrepreneur and small farmers, the virtuous
cycle will eliminate/weed out the unproductive brokers and rent seekers. To make the
unproductive-rent seekers powerless there is a need to empower the growers and
entrepreneurs in the system. Community should be involved in the growout technology,
private should be encouraged in manage the backward forward linkages and production of
value added products and government agencies should regulate and facilitate the
coordination between the community and the private agencies for better aquaculture
governance. There are a few private agencies like SCAPA
xix
is workingfor the development
and support of community-based outgrower farmers in eastern Uganda, which may be
encouraged to take up such work under overall supervision of public and community
organization.
For ensuring Community Participation for Sustainable Public-Private-Partnership in
Aquaculture two Aquaculture Extension Approaches are suggested. They are:
Entrepreneurship Driven Approach
Community Empowerment-cum-Assistance Driven Approaches
a. Entrepreneurship Driven Approach
Business Entrepreneurship Approach
Seed production, commercial aquaculture, ornamental fisheries, and cage culture that are
knowledge-capital-risk-profit-intensive attracts entrepreneurship in aquaculture. The
profitability of shrimp farming has been relatively high as the entrepreneurs have been able
to realize their investment in a couple of years. Lack of clarity in Government policies are the


major problems. It is very difficult for the Fisheries Department to help all the entrepreneurs
for preparing the project report and poor linkages amongentrepreneurs, traders, exporters,
research organizations and government as their important problems. To achieve the
objectives of a productive and sustainable aquaculture, infrastructure for processing and
value addition at the level of industry and support services in terms of production and
investment credit, extension, input supply and training at the farm level should be
strengthened
xx
.
Social Entrepreneurship Approach
Social entrepreneurs apply business practices to solve societal problems such as pollution,
poor nutrition, and poverty. Cleanfish, a company in USA that connects small-scale fish
suppliers with distributors to get sustainable seafood to restaurant kitchens and
supermarkets is in an effort to build a market for sustainable aquaculture
xxi
.
Contract Fish Farming Approach
Contract farmingin aquaculture is less common, partly due to the high cost of entry into the
farmingoperation itself. KUALA TERENGGANU: An aquaculture companys move to introduce
contract farming is expected to boost the income of young entrepreneurs here, particularly
those in Kuala Berang, Malaysia
xxii
. The promotion of Contract Farming in riverine aquaculture
with companies promising farmers guaranteed prices, financial support and convenient
technologies, started in 1997in Thailand. In the case of riverine aquaculture, local stores
selling agricultural and aquaculture products often act as representatives of companies.
Instead of directly employing the farmers, they sub-contract the production to individual
farmers. Thus farmers become themselves responsible to invest in settingup the farm and to
bear all the risks associated with the production
xxiii
.
Corporate Social Responsibility Approach
In Assam, India Tata Tea has already launched a pilot project in a couple of its estates to
initiate cultivation of spices, vegetables, apart from fisheries
xxiv
. In Maharashtra, India, Tata
Power has devised a flow through system of hatching for production of Mahseer seed.
Mahseer population in some regions of the country is decliningrapidly and would get extinct
unless protected and rejuvenated
xxv
.
b. Community Empowerment-cum-Assistance Driven Approaches
Participatory Approach
The Community Building approaches applied in aquaculture extension are, Participatory
Technology Development , Participatory Farmer to Farmer Extension through establishing
local institutions for information dissemination, idea sharing, input supply and integrated
services (4I strategy), Community-Based Extension Services through Resource and Learning
Centres, etc.
xxvi


Farmer-to-Farmer Diffusion Approach
Farmer-to-farmer diffusion of information is the major source of fish farming information for
farmers. This source reached most farmers, including the disadvantaged rural based farmers,
resource poor, less educated and women. In addition, this source was mentioned by most
farmers as of high quality and easily accessible. Similarly, farmer-to-farmer extension visited
most farmers more often than other sources of information, and was consulted by most
farmers when faced with problems. Regionally, government extension system and reading
materials also played a significant role in the diffusion of aquaculture information to peri-
urban farmers, and were considered to be of high quality and very accessible
xxvii
. Thompson,
Paul M., 2006
xxviii
, has documented the approaches in Aquaculture Extension, revealing the
increased role of farmer-to farmer approach. Fish Farmer Friend and Fish Farmers Field
School may be Farmer-to-Farmer Approaches.
Fish Farmers Friends Approach
India has initiated Farmers Friend Approach. Extension Support at the village level would be
provided to the farmers through a Farmer Friend (FF) for every 500farmers or one FF in every
village, whichever is higher. This would be very useful in extending the reach of the
agriculture extension system up to the farmer level. Many states have since institutionalized
the system of FF with different nomenclature suited to local usage and acceptability. The FF
should be given a suitable designation in the local language e.g. Kisan Mitra, etc
xxix
.
Amongst them those who are Fish Farmers Friends (FFF) may be trained on Aquaculture
Extension Approaches at the District/Block level. FFFs can be encouraged to develop nursery
ponds and can be encouraged to develop partnership arrangements with seed/input
suppliers and marketing agents. Those who get skilled on Aquaculture Extension Approaches
may be registered to start a village level Fish Farmers Field School.
Fish Farmer Field School Approach
FFSs have spread rapidly to all continents since their first introduction in 1989 in Indonesia,
where Integrated Pest Management FFSs were developed to help farmers deal with the
pesticide-induced problem of rice brown plant hoppers in irrigated rice. As the concept has
spread, it has been adapted for a wide range of crops (including tree crops such as bananas,
various high value crops such as vegetables and fruits, industrial crops such as cotton, cocoa).
FFSs curricula and learning processes also have been developed for the livestock sector
(dairying, veterinary care, poultry and integrated rice-duck systems, goat husbandry,
aquaculture and fishing), for land productivity issues (land and water management, soil
fertility, land degradation), for a range of social and health issues, such as food security,
HIV/AIDS and vector-born diseases, and environmental issues, such as water quality. These
innovations have brought new types of participants within its ambit, including school
children
xxx
.


Ever Green Group (EGG)
xxxi
followed a farmer field school approach to working with the fish
farmers that involves training and communal learning through regular experience-sharing
opportunities. Field sessions involved test netting and technology demonstration and are
facilitatingdiscussion of the performance of carp and tilapia fish culture systems, as depicted
below.
Activities
Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb
1 2 3 4. 5 6 7 8 9
Formation of fish farmers group X
Trainingcourse on preparation
and stocking
X
Preparation of fish ponds
and verification
X
Purchase and stock of fingerlings X X
Trainingcourses and
farmer field schools
X X X X
Harvestingof fish begins X
Source: Edwards, P., 2010, Rural Aquaculture, Sustainable Aquaculture, Volume XV No. 2, ,
April-June 2010, p 5 http://library.enaca.org/AquacultureAsia/Articles/april-june-2010/ 2-
peter-edwards-april-2010.pdf
Livelihood /Pro-poor Approach
Pro-poor aquaculture is attributed to multiple uses of the water bodies, higher number of
users, improper management of the physical and biological resources, lower productivity and
profitability, conflicts over rights and interests among the users, violation of safety norms
threatening to sustainability, and so on. It is cultured in backyard ponds and ditches,
community water bodies such as oxbow lakes, canals, roadside ditches, drainage channels,
check dams etc. whether they are perennial or seasonal that does not matter. These water
resources, manmade or natural are the source of livelihood of wide range of stakeholders and
the primary stakeholders are the poor. Co-management approaches were followed with
different perspectives to achieve success in pro-poor aquaculture addressing the issues of
vulnerability to a great extent.
xxxii
Workingin partnership with the private and public sectors
and civil society the WorldFish Center is at the forefront of the development of pro-poor
sustainable aquaculture. Our approach considers not only the needs of farmers for productive
technologies, but also upstream and downstream activities, such as the supply of quality seed
and affordable feed, post harvest processingdistribution and marketing, and development of
sustainable business enterprises that benefit the poor. We are thus helpingmake it possible
for a growing number of the world's poorest people to better feed and support
themselves.
xxxiii


Community Based Approach
The potential for village tanks to help the poor is shown by their historical usage by
communities. The tanks are basically communally-owned rainwater harvestingdevices for
paddy cultivation and have helped successive generations achieve food security for over two
millennia. In addition to irrigation, tanks also provide water for domestic use: bathing,
washing and animal husbandry. Given such a time-tested record of collective action, here is
obviously great potential to develop Community Based Aquaculture (CBA) in these tanks. CBA
in village irrigation tanks has specific features that appeal strongly to policy makers. The
major policy advantages are: (a) the involvement of local resources and the direct contact
with the rural poor; (b) the obligatory need for community participation due to common
ownership of tanks; (c) the ability to cater to the needs of a large section of the population;
(d) the low cost nature of the technologies involved and their success in demonstration
projects; and (e) the potential to address the problems of poverty, malnutrition and
unemployment simultaneously
xxxiv
. Chhattisgarh Tribal Development Programme takes up
aquaculture through the formation of common interest groups interested in aquaculture and
provision of technical and financial support to them for aquaculture activities. They have
formed 310 Common Interest Groups (CIGs) in which 2646women are involved against only
612 males to produce 367000fingerlings and 175.5kgof fish fry
xxxv
. In Tripura many self-help
groups (SHGs) are today silently transforming the lives of several youngsters. They are helping
the local youth to develop self-reliance by personal initiatives to start new ventures putting
behind the turbulent past of the State
xxxvi
.
Gender Approach
Gender covers "the social roles of both men and women". In the aquaculture sector, which is
now emerging as a major activity, participation of women in all stages of aquaculture is
noticed.
xxxvii
Higher yields are obtained from fish ponds managed mainly by women because
of male migration to cities. Small-scale aquaculture development is increasingly considered as
a means by which the livelihoods of the poor, including women, could be improved, addition
to seed rearing, integrated fish farming, net making and its repair, pearl and oyster culture,
fresh water prawn farming, etc
xxxviii
.
Financial Assistance Approach
Subsidy implies grant and assistance from behind. It is money granted by State; public body
etc to keep up the prices of stationeries etc. It is creatinga lock between consumer prices and
producer costs. Expenditure on major subsidies in India has increased in nominal terms from
Rs. 9,581 crore in 1990-91 to Rs.40, 416 crore in 2002-03. Agriculture and rural development
and allied activities have the largest claim on total subsidy bill followed by irrigation and flood
control, energy, and industry and minerals. The main objective of supporting agriculture
should be to protect the farmers against excessive instability in incomes, and to support the
poorer farmers in terms of ensuring a minimum income, and credit support enabling the


purchase of inputs at the right time. However, their beneficial potential is at its best when
they are transparent, well targeted, and suitably designed for practical implementation
xxxix
.
In India principal tool currently in use is subsidies. Twenty two subsidies are identified against
specific capital investments such as pond construction, pumps, aerators, feed and seed units,
laboratories, etc. as well as initial operating expenditure, such as first season input costs.
Whilst subsidies are available to all categories of fish farmers, the Indian policy identifies
Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (communities that are explicitly recognized by the
Constitution of India as requiring special support to overcome centuries of discrimination) as
well as beneficiaries with small land holding (a proxi for poorer stakeholders) for slightly
higher financial incentives
xl
.
Government of India initiated establishment of Fish Farmers' Development Agencies (FFDA)
under the chairmanship of the District Collectors from 197475. In order to solve the chronic
seed shortage the FFDAShave also introduced the Minikit programme which provides the fish
farmers the equipment necessary for induced breeding of fish and training. By 2010there are
429 Fish Farmers Development Agencies (FFDAs), and 39 Brackishwater Fish Farmers
Development Agencies (BFDAs)
xli
. Subsidy should be treated as reward against performance
given in public in stages, that is, a) when the knowledge is gained, b) preliminary work
completed, c) completion of work and d) demonstrating the results.
Right-based Approach: Lease Settlement
As reported form Bangladesh, which may be true for other similar counties, mostly women
who seek to secure their legal rights to fish ponds face both family and social pressures due to
their lack of power in their traditional social system to lease in government lands (including
silted portion of lakes). The silted portions were usually occupied by those with adjacent
private lands or, more frequently, by those with power. Rights to government lands are only
user rights, i.e. the right to manage the resource and to enjoy the surplus from its use. The
silted portions were usually occupied by those with adjacent private lands or, more
frequently, by those with power. Frequent and often bloody conflicts occurred over the
possession of these government lands, and those who had the ability to mobilize force usually
held sway. Government may settle this by leasing out lakes to groups of poor people living
nearby
xlii
.
The majority of government-owned ponds are leased out to the local landlords. This was
actually to the disadvantage of the fishermen community and they ended up as labourers
with all the profits going to the landlords. Interventions made by corporate and NGO have
empowered the fishers by getting the ponds leased out them
xliii
. Corporate-Community-
Partnership may be encouraged to emancipate the poor by giving rights to fish ponds, if
government departments are influenced by local landlord and mafias and initiate micro-
enterprises in fisheries.
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Farmers focused strategies to enhance local availability of quality fish seed for
commercial Aquaculture
Nalini Ranjan Kumar and M. Krishnan
Introduction
India is second largest aquaculture producer only after China and contributes about 8.8 per cent
of global aquaculture production (FAO, 2010). Though India has made tremendous progress, still
huge potential exists for further increase in fish production from inland fisheries and aquaculture
resources which are available in the form of rivers & canals (1.95 lakh km), reservoirs (29.07 lakh
ha), tanks and ponds (24.14 lakh ha), flood plain, lakes and derelict water bodies (7.98 lakh ha),
and 12.40 lakh ha of area suitable for brackish water aquaculture (Govt. of India, 2009).
Harnessing full potential of these resources will also contribute to poverty reduction through
creation of sustainable rural livelihoods, besides adding to food and nutritional security.
However, the major limitation in harnessing the potential of fishery and aquaculture is the
paucity of quality fish seed which is one of the most critical inputs in fish production. As per
planning commission estimate there is a need of about 65 billion fish seed (fry) against the
production of only 31.5 billion fry during 2008-09 in the country (Govt. of India, 2010). Though
aquaculture and enhanced fisheries activities are common to most of the states, fish seed
production is concentrated mainly in three states: West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, and Assam.
They jointly contribute more than 75 per cent of total fish seed production and supply to most of
the seed deficient states in the country. Transportation of fish seed to distant location increases
the mortality and reduces survival of these seeds when stocked and also increases the cost of
seed several folds. Unlike seasonal agricultural crops, fish culture is a perennial activity and
hence the demand of fish seed is round the year. Several states have also taken the route of
participatory enhancement of fish seed resources through several externally funded
programnmes also. Therefore, local availability of fish seed should be ensured round the year for
enhancing the sustainable growth of aquaculture and enhanced fisheries. Keeping in view the
above mentioned fact, the present study is an attempt to assess the present status of fish seed
availability and to understand the constraints in fish seed production and round the year local
availability of quality seed in India and to suggest suitable measure to overcome the constraints
in fish seed production and to ensure sustainable growth in aquaculture.
Materials and methods
The study is based on secondary as well as primary data. Primary data for the study was collected
using well structured mailed schedule, specially designed for the study. The schedule was


developed comprising questions related to current fish production, available inland water
resources, fish seed production and requirement, constraints in fish seed production and
suggestions for improvement. The schedule was mailed to the Director/Commissioner of
Fisheries of every state government in the country. They were also persuaded to supply the
information keeping the ground reality in their respective states. The study was conducted
during the year 2009-10. The replies so obtained were analyzed to understand the current status
of fish seed production and its requirement, constraints in quality fish seed production and its
round the year local availability to fish farmers in India. Keeping in view the constraints and
suggestions made by state governments, some measures were suggested for ensuring local
availability of quality fish seed in the country.
Results and discussion
Status of Fish seed Production in different states
Fish seed is one of the critical inputs in determining the yield of fish in aquaculture. Though India
produced about 31.49 thousand million fry of fish seed against the requirement of about
47thousand million fry of carp fish seed, its distribution was much skewed. Its production is
concentrated mainly into 3 states namely West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Assam. They jointly
contribute about 80 percent of total fish seed production in the country (Table 1). West Bengal
ranked first in fish seed production contributing about 42 percent followed by Andhra Pradesh,
which witnessed a revolution in carp culture and seed production during the 1980s, is placed 2
nd

in fish seed production and contributes about 31 percent of national fish seed production. State-
wise data for production and requirement of fish seed during the year 2008-09 obtained from
Directorate of Fisheries of different state governments are presented in table 2, table 3 and table
4. Perusal of these table indicate that except four states, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Assam
and Tripura all other states are deficit in fish seed production of carps and hence they resort to
import from other states. In case of brackish water fish seed production, Tamil Nadu and Andhra
Pradesh are surplus while all other states are deficit and hence others import from these states.
In case of cold water fisheries, none of the states are surplus in fish seed production.

The potential to obtain magur seed from natural sources has become low due to
the increasing use of pesticides in the paddy fields-which are the main breeding
grounds of this fish in Assam. Therefore, the College of Fisheries, Raha,
Nagaon, Assam conducted an experiment to develop a farmer-proven induced
breeding and seed production technology for magur using a low-cost hatching
device in Assam. The project was conducted under a farmer pa r t i c ipa tory
small-scale aquaculture project funded by the ARIASP (World Bank).
Aquaculture Asia, 2002, 7(2): 19-21


Table 1: State-wise Fish Seed Production in India
Sl. No. States
Year (No. in million) %age to
total 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07
1 A.P. 421 851.9 9912.7 31.28
2 Assam 2741.47 3207.99 2062 6.51
3 Bihar 318.31 344.94 330.46 1.04
4 Chhattisgarh 457.78 505.54 591.68 1.87
5 Gujarat 508.93 611.59 621.89 1.96
6 Haryana 249.57 282.08 331.14 1.05
7 Jharkhand 80 17.27 16.21 0.05
8 Karnataka 175.22 215.72 195.43 0.62
9 Kerala 12.17 12.48 12.7 0.04
10 M. P. 334.6 438.62 485.87 1.53
11 Maharashtra 47.45 182.14 549.73 1.73
12 Orissa 604.79 554.14 546.72 1.73
13 Punjab 133 139.03 153.38 0.48
14 Rajasthan 255 299 342 1.08
15 Tamil Nadu 529.28 529.28 529.28 1.67
16 Uttar Pradesh 1037.32 1085.75 1091.56 3.44
17 West Bengal 12200 12500 13200 41.66
18 NEH Regions 609.36 762.77 648.47 2.05
19 Others 111.51 105.50 95.00 0.29
20 India 20790.64 22614.72 31688.01 100
Source: Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India. & Indian Council of Agricultural Research
Movement of fish seed in India
Due to skewed distribution of fish seed production in the country, fish seed were marketed
across states to a long distance from the state of West Bengal up to Tamil Nadu in south and
Jammu and Kashmir in north and Manipur in north east. This does not mean that only the state
of West Bengal exports seed to other state and others import. The export and import of fish seed
by different states during 2008-09 has been presented in table 7. Export of fish seed from the
state of West Bengal was not destines to the Indian states only but even to neighbouring
countries like, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh. The fish seed was not being exported only by fish
seed surplus states to others but also by seed deficit states to take advantage of seasonal
availability and proximity of seed production centre to seed deficit area of other states. The
trades of fish seed takes place for all the categories of seed i.e. spawns, fry and fingerlings but


most of the states do not have category wise export or import data. Among all the states, West
Bengal was largest exporter of fish seed and also imports fish seed of P. Monodon from the
states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Kerala. The movement of fish seed has been
depicted in Table 5 and figure- 1.
Table 2: State-wise Production and requirement of carp seed in India during 2008-09
States
Production (million) Requirement (million) Surplus/ deficit (millions)
Fry Fingerling Fry Fingerling Fry Fingerling Total
Assam 2914.6 515.3 2631.3 600 283.3 -84.7 198.6
AP 1530 0 1255 0 275 NA 275
Bihar 250 200 1600 800 -1350 -600 -1950
Chhatishgarh 513.7 80.6 542.5 85.4 -28.8 -4.8 -33.6
Gujarat 47 21.2 47 79.8 0 -58.6 -58.6
Haryana 332.2 0 346 NA -13.8 NA -13.8
Jharkhand 540 34 800 80 -260 -46 -306
Karnataka 206.8 0 465 0 -258.2 0 -258.2
Kerala 12.17 2.4

40 NA -37.6 -25.43
MP 523.5 0 637.7 0 -114.2 0 -114.2
Maharashtra* 574.44 103.19 1181.79 999 -607.3 -895.81 -1503.2
Orissa 782.3 142.5 880 440 -97.7 -297.5 -395.2
Punjab 52.8 21.1 102.8 21.1 -50 0 -50
Rajasthan 340.1 0 576.6 0 -236.5 0 -236.5
Tamil Nadu 529 160 529 252 0 -92 -92
West Bengal 13370 8010 8050 4775 5320 3235 8555
UP 1297.6 6.5 1470 30 -172.4 -23.5 -195.9
Tripura 420 287 420 143.3 0 143.7 143.7
Other NEH
regions
251.2 126.611 281.5 138.4 -30.3 -11.8 -42.1
Others 73.02 10.4 124.7 28.2 -87.5 -17.8 -105.3
India 24560.4 9720.8 21940.9 8512.2 2571.6 1208.59 3792.3
Source: Based of information supplied by the Directorate of Fisheries Govt. of different states.

Notes: 1. *Data for the state of Maharashtra is based on data supplied from 4 regions (Nashik,
Nagpur, Aurangabad and Amravati) excepting Mumbai and Pune regions
2. Production figure for the state of Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Mizoram and Kerala were taken
from the figure for the year 2006-07 published by Department of Animal Husbandry,
Dairying and Fisheries, Govt. of India.


Table 3: State wise production and requirement cold water Fish seed in India during 2008-09

States
Production (million) Requirement (million) Surplus/deficit (millions)
Fry
Finger-
ling Total Fry
Finger-
ling Total Fry
Finger-
ling Total
Arunachal
Pradesh 0 0.9 0.9 2 1.2 3.2 -2 -0.3 -2.3
HP 0.4 0 0.4 5 0 5 -4.6 0 -4.6
J&K 21.2 10 31.2 35 20 55 -13.8 -10 -23.8
Sikkim 0.5 0.1 0.6 0.5 0.1 0.6 0 0 0
West Bengal 0.05 0.025 0.075 0.5 0.25 0.75 -0.45 -0.225 -0.68
India 22.15 11.03 33.17 43 21.55 64.55 -20.85 -10.53 -31.38
Source: Directorate of Fisheries Govt. of different states.
Table 4: State wise production & requirement brackish water fish seed in India during 2008-09
States
Production (million) Requirement (million)
Surplus/ deficit
(millions)
Post
larvae
Juvenile Total
Post
larvae
Juvenile Total
Post
larvae
Juvenile Total
Andhra
Pradesh
7500 0 7500 5000 0 5000 2500 0 2500
Goa 1.5 0 1.5 18 0 18 -16.5 0 -16.5
Gujarat 30 0 30 31.2 0 31.2 -1.2 0 -1.2
Karnataka 38.8 0 38.8 40 0 40 -1.2 0 -1.2
Kerala 0 1.31 1.31 0 216 216 0 -214.7 -214.7
Puducherry 0 0 0 0.75 0 0.75 -0.75 0 -0.75
Tamil Nadu 1000 0 1000 300 0 300 700 0 700
West Bengal 630 376 1006 1170 704 1874 -540 -328 -868
India 9200.3 378.1 9578.4 6559.9 920 7479.9 2640.4 -541.9 2098.5
Source: Directorate of Fisheries Govt. of different states
Seed production Infrastructure
Presently, hatcheries account for the lions share of Indias fish seed production. A quantum
jump in fish seed production in India from the 1980s is attributed mainly to the introduction of
the technology of the Chinese type of carp hatchery and refinement of the technology of induced
breeding, coupled with usage of ready-to-use fish spawning agents like ovaprim. Fish hatchery
was earlier used as a facility for hatching of fish eggs collected from rivers and bundhs. At that
time, rivers and bundhs were the main sources of carp seed. Over the years, the development


and refinement of the technique of induced breeding of carps has been enlarged. Hence, more
emphasis is being given to hatcheries for large scale production of fish fry. Details on the number
of hatcheries (both public and private sector) and spawn production are presented in Table-9.
Chinese type of circular hatchery is the most widely used hatchery for large scale seed
production all over the country. Double walled hatching happa are used for medium or small-
scale operation in some parts of the country. At present, there are about 1700 chines/circular
hatcheries and about 1200 hatcheries using happa. With 573 chinese/circular hatcheries, state of
West Bengal is leader in number of hatcheries in the country followed by states of Assam (227),
Uttar Pradesh (198), Orissa (107) and others. This indicates that fish seed production
infrastructure is also concentrated in only few states.

Even though the seed of the major cultivated species are now produced in large quantities in
hatcheries, poor quality is still perceived as a major constraint to expansion of aquaculture in
India. The availability of quality fish seed at the right time and at the right location is a
prerequisite for sustainable aquaculture. A number of agencies (both government and private)
are involved in fish seed production and distribution networks. In addition, seed production by
farmers themselves is now widely practiced in India. However, there is still a shortage of quality
fish seed. In genetic terms, quality seed may be defined as those having better food conversion
efficiency, high growth rate potential, better ability to changing environmental conditions and


resist diseases (Padhi and Mandal, 1999). While the ease of production of fish seed in India has
revolutionized farming, now a major problem, supply of poor or substandard seed to farmers and
entrepreneurs has appeared. The quality and management of brood fish and hatchery practices
that lead to inbreeding or contamination, in addition to poor husbandry during nursing, handling
or transportation may be the reason for poor quality of fish seed. Prevalence of pathogens and
parasites may also result in poor performance of fish seed.
Table 5: Movement of fish seed across different states of India
State of
Origin
Species
Spawn Fry
Fingerli
ng Destination states
million 1000 1000
Bihar
IMC 190 11400 7600 UP, Nepal, Jharkhand
Exotic
carp
10 600 400 UP, Nepal, Jharkhand
Chhattisgarh IMC 174100 MP Orissa Maharashtra
Goa IMC &EC 0 0 50 Maharashtra
Gujarat IMC 100 0 0 Maharashtra, Rajasthan
Jharkhand
IMC 10 10000 0 Chhattisgarh
Exotic
carp
0 15000 0 Orissa
Punjab IMC &EC 0 5000 0 Haryana, Rajasthan, HP and J&K
Rajasthan IMC &EC 0 175 0 Haryana, Punjab
Tripura IMC 0 0 143.62 NEH
U. P. IMC 0 55000 0 Bihar, MP, Haryana, HP

Including all spawn, fry and
fingerlings (million)

Assam IMC & EC 283.3 NEH region
A. P. IMC & EC 300
Maharashtra, TN, Karnataka, Orissa, West
Bengal
J&K 90 Sikkim, Bhutan, Uttarakhand
West Bengal IMC
5190

AP, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat,
Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Orissa,
Rajasthan, TN, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Nepal,
Karnataka, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Tamil Nadu
P.
Monodon
700 million PL stage
AP, Kerala, Gujarat, West Bengal,
Maharashtra
Source: Directorate of Fisheries, Govt. of different states of Indian Union to CIFE, Mumbai.


Fig.1: Movement of Fish Seed in India
Flow of Fish seed from
one state to another


Table 9: Fish Seed Production Infrastructure in India
States
Chinese
hatcheries
Spawn
(million)
Hatcheries
using
happa
Spawn
(million)
Seed
rearing
ponds
Assam 227 9226 400 4415 500
Andhra Pradesh 86 6000 0 0 1241
Bihar 37 259 553 3.8 0
Chhattisgarh 50 24151 0 0 379
Gujarat 10 58.57 0 0 25
Haryana 15 4982 10 NA NA
Jharkhand 22 400 0 0 1500
Karnataka 50 400 21 60 77
Kerala 20 20 0 0 0
MP 53 1895.7 0 0 479
Maharashtra 28 1897.57 53 356 1540
Orissa 107 2992.5 0 1105
Punjab 81 90 92 9 308
Rajasthan 7 90 0 0 60
Tamil Nadu 28 900 0 0
West Bengal 573 28130 0 70000
UP 198 2190.1 0 0 113
Tripura 7 1400 6 0 7472
Other NEH states 9 634 36 0.5 155
Others 7 41.5 3 21.61 22
India 1,615 85,758 1,174 4,866 84,976
Source: Directorate of Fisheries, of state Govt.
Notes: * Data for state of Maharashtra is based on data supplied from 5 regions excepting
Mumbai region.
Constraints in fish seed production in India
On the basis of feedback received from the Department of Fisheries of various state
governments, following major bottlenecks were identified in production of quality fish seeds:
i. Lack of proper fish seed policy in country
ii. Inadequate availability of genetically pure brood stock.
iii. Deterioration in genetic quality of fish seed due to inbreeding
iv. Lack of proper infrastructure facilities for seed rearing, and its marketing.


v. High cost of power (Commercial power tariff) for aquaculture and fish seed production.
vi. Extreme summer and winter season affects the maturity of brood fish particularly in
north and central western states
vii. Land prices are very high which works as deterrent for farmers to come forward to
establish fish seed hatchery.
viii. Consistent and sustained involvement of farmers in fish seed production
Strategies to Enhance local availability of quality fish seed in India
Based on feedback received from different state governments and scientific findings following
measures are suggested to improve the round the year local availability of fish seed in the
country.
i. Establishment of a gene bank for production and supply of quality fish seed of major
cultivated species to the hatcheries may go a long way in improving the quality of fish
seed. The quality of fish seeds produced in several hatcheries are reportedly not
satisfactory due to continuous inbreeding
ii. In order to avoid inbreeding, a mechanism of registering hatcheries and seed certification
should be developed on priority basis.
iii. Capacity building of hatchery operator and young fish Farmers: Existing Fish hatchery
operators should be trained on better brood stock management, hatchery management
and nursery management to produce quality fish seed. This will also help in preventing
mixed spawning and protect the genetic purity of our precious carps gene pools. Imparting
training to young fish farmers in different aspects of hatchery management and seed
rearing along with easy availability of credit from financial institutions and technical
support from Department of Fisheries in seed deficit area will encourage them to establish
fish seed production unit.
iv. More emphasis should be laid on development of nursery ponds which can rear
fingerlings/yearlings that can be made available round the year for stocking to grow table
size fishes.
v. Apart from the routine production of carp seed, emphasis needs to be given also to
produce seed of valuable species like catfish and murrels, which command a good price in
several parts of the country.
vi. Special programmes must be developed to involve the women folk in the locality and
provide a opportunity for empowerment and gender binding.


vii. Electricity should also be provided for fish seed hatcheries and nursery ponds on par with
agriculture sector that will reduce the cost as well as ensure round the year water
availability in nursery ponds for fish seed rearing.
viii. Provision for appropriate fish crop insurance should be made

References
1. Govt. of India. 2010. Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Department of Agriculture and
Cooperation, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India (downloaded from website
http://dacnet.nic.in/eands/latest_2006.htm).
2. Padhi, B.K. & Mandal, R.K. 1999. Fisheries Genetics. New Delhi, Oxford-IBH
3. Govt. of India, 2010. Annual Report. 2009-10, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairy and
Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Govt. of India, New Delhi.
4. FAO (2011) Food and Agriculture Organization FAO Fishstat. (www.fao. Fishstat.com)
5. Govt. of India (2006) XI Five year Plan on Fisheries. Planning Commission GOI.


Indigenous Technical Knowledge (ITK) as Local Resource for Sustainable
Development: Study of Cases in Fisheries and Aquaculture
Arpita Sharma, Banti Debnath and S.K. Mishra
Introduction
All over world and mostly in traditional civilisations, ITK is a way of life and has been existent in
agriculture, fisheries, dairy, animal husbandry or any other field. ITKs have originated with the
advent of humankind and evolved as civilisations grew. As they helped humans in various ways,
this knowledge became an integral component of communities. ITKs have existed since
generations but there is a concern that these will cease to exist if they are not documented,
preserved. Another concern is that this knowledge will be exploited commercially without
sharing the benefits with the community. Are these real concerns? The critiques however may
say that the knowledge gets preserved if the community sees benefit out of it. Moreover, if there
is a chance of commercial exploitation it will get exploited by someone and the benefits may or
may not be shared.
The documentation of ITKs becomes a priority so that this information is not lost and also in the
Intellectual property Right (IPR) regime, it is all the more imperative to document and protect
our valuable ITKs. The draft text on intellectual property and traditional knowledge by World
Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is awaited in this regard. Established by the WIPO
General Assembly in October 2000, WIPO Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property
and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (IGC) is undertaking text-based
negotiations with the objective of reaching agreement on a text of an international legal
instrument (or instruments) which will ensure the effective protection of traditional knowledge
(TK), traditional cultural expressions (TCEs)/folklore and genetic resources. The
Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional
Knowledge and Folklore Intersessional Working Group - Third session was held in Feb 28 to
March 2011.
It is encouraging that in recent times academicians and researchers are realising the importance
of it. It is gaining increasing attention by academia and development institutions. But this has
not yet led to a unanimous perception of the concept of indigenous knowledge. There are a
number of definitions existing in literature but there is not one uniform definition.
Regarding documentation of ITKs in agriculture it is noteworthy to appreciate that under
National Agricultural Technology Project (NATP), a World Bank aided project, implemented by
Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) and Department of Agriculture and Co-operation


(DAC) in 1998, a project was undertaken on documenting of ITKs in agriculture which resulted in
7 volumes of documentation. Few ITKs in fisheries sector were also documented.
As regards to fisheries, it is known that people have been fishing about as long as they have been
hunting. Fishing is an ancient practice. The rich and ancient Hindu knowledge of fish was first
documented during the period 600-300 B.C. Fishers have detailed knowledge and this knowledge
has evolved over many hundreds or thousands of years.
For fisheries management researchers, development workers and policy makers must
understand and appreciate the indigenous knowledge shared by fishing communities. As
indigenous knowledge is practiced since many generations it shows that this technology has
been adapted to environment. Fisher community has established a viable relationship with ITK
and environment. In recent times it is encouraging to see that traditional knowledge is
appreciated and often the development projects integrates ITKs to make the projects sustainable
both environmentally and sociologically. The ITKs from fisheries sector were documented but
there were many which were not documented. Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE),
Mumbai too took up a project on documenting ITKs in fisheries sector resulting in a number of
documented ITKs. Kumar et al (2010).
Methodology
This paper is based on the ITKs documented in the state of Tripura. For the documentation of
ITKs narrative enquiry method was used. Narrative methods has been applied in various research
projects and is unique in the sense that it lets the respondents to describe their views rather than
researcher ascribing meaning to what respondents have reported. In this study narrative enquiry
method was used with fewest assumptions or hypothesis. Narrative inquiry is a fairly recent
movement in social science qualitative research. Boje (2001) advocate the alternative nature of
this method of discourse analysis and present diverse methods for deploying it. Narrative Inquiry
challenges the philosophy behind data-gathering and questions the idea of objective data.
Researchers like Greenhalgh et al. (2005) have reviewed and critiqued the different approaches
to the use of narrative interviews in quality improvement research. Thus in the present study we
make the methodological case for narrative inquiry as a means to document ITKs which was self
directed. The scientists usually look for empirical answers to all the research questions and use
quantitative data gathering techniques but this method suited the context of the present study.
Their narrations were noted down and recorded. These were later written in a uniform way. It is
agreed that the analyzing unstructured text streams by narrative method was challenging.
A total of 8 cases which seemed to be local resources and pathways for sustainable fisheries
development are presented. Source of information and location and community practicing the
ITKs was recorded for each ITK so as to give credit to the information providers and also to stress


that the intellectual property of that ITK rests with the communities practicing the ITK. It is
possible that there may be more communities practicing a particular ITK. Thus not at any stage
we say that our study is conclusive. Even though we tend to agree that as these ITKs have been in
practice since many generations they are validated by the communities practicing it, but still
scientific research is needed to validate the documented ITKs. Thus this study reports what has
been narrated by the respondents/fishers. The field work was done in Tripura and a number of
ITKs were also documented other than those presented in this research paper.
Results
Case 1: ITK on restricting the entry of otter using egg shell and lime is an ITK was reported by Sri
Maran Das, Sri Nilu Paul and Sri Balai Saha of Village Bhabatoshpara, Sonatala, Khowai Block of
West Tripura Dist and Mr. Arup Nath, Fisheries Officer, Manu Block of Dhalai District, Tripura.
Otters (Lutrogale perspicillata) which are known as Udbiral in Tripura causes damage to fish stock
in the ponds. One of the methods to restrict the entry of otter is by using egg shell and lime.
When quicklime comes in contact with water; reaction occurs. Due to the vigorous reaction of
quicklime with water, quicklime causes severe irritation when inhaled or placed in contact with
moist skin or eyes. Inhalation may cause coughing, sneezing, heavy breathing. It may then evolve
into burns with perforation of the nasal septum, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. Its
reaction with water can release enough heat to ignite combustible materials. Fishers know that
otter likes eating duck/hen eggs. Employing this knowledge, empty egg shells are filled with lime
and placed around the pond embankment and under shallow water or in floating condition.
When the otter bites egg, its mouth would burn due to lime. Once an otter experience this it
does not comes back. The ITK is practiced by Bengali community of village Bhabatoshpara,
Sonatala, Khowai Block of West Tripura Dist. Debberma and Reang community of Chailengta
village. Manu block, Longtarai Sub-div. Of Dhalai District, Tripura. This is an ITK which prevents
the entry of otters in the pond. This is sustainable and cost effective.
Case 2: Balai Saha, Nibaran Debnath and Swapan Biswas of Khowai Sub-div of West Tripura
narrated that fishers practice unique ITK for preventing entry of frog from nursery pond using
ash. Fishers need to prevent the frogs from entering into the pond so that they cannot lay their
eggs there so they have devised an indigenous method so that frogs do not enter the fish pond,
specially the nursery ponds. This is because if frogs lay their eggs, then the tadpoles in the earlier
stage resemble the fish spawn. They compete with the fish spawns in the pond both for food and
space and the fishers are unable to separate the tadpole and fish spawn. It is very important to
take care of the fish spawns in the nursery pond. So the fishers have to save the stock from both
predator and competitor for maximum growth of spawns. Tadpoles are major competitor of fish
spawns for food and space. So it is necessary to prevent the entry of frog itself in the pond. In


order to restrict entry of frogs in nursery ponds; fishers have developed this technique. Fishers
make a canal in the periphery of pond. Then they keep ash in this canal. When it is raining, water
accumulates in that canal and the water becomes alkaline due to ash and if once the frog
experiences this alkaline water it does not comes back. Bengali community of village Bhabatosh
para, Sonatala, Khowai block, Khowai subdivision of West Tripura district, Tripura practice this
ITK.
Case 3: Kingfisher (Alcedo atthis) bird causes a great loss in the fish pond. It eats fish and valuable
stock is lost. But it is not easy to catch this bird. So fishers of Tripura have developed this
technique to catch and control the entry of this bird in ponds. ITK of catching Kingfisher bird with
Jackfruit gum was reported by Mr. Arup Nath, Fishery Officer, Manu block, North Tripura district.
In this case, fishers erect bamboo poles around the fish pond. Kingfisher birds attack the fish at
particular places. The places where attack of Kingfisher is high are identified and bamboo poles
are erected here. On the tip of these bamboo poles, gum of jackfruit is applied by the fishers.
Gum acts as an adhesive and if birds sit on these bamboo poles; birds get stuck to these poles.
Birds are caught and their entry to fish ponds is controlled. Bengali, Debbarma, Reang
communities of village Chailengta, Block Manu, Longtarai sub-division of Dhalai District, Tripura
practice this ITK.
Case 4: Use of Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) root powder as piscicide was narrated by Mr. Arup
Nath, Fishery Officer, Manu and Kouberi Nath, Fishery Officer, Kumarghat. It is very important to
clean fish pond from other unwanted fishes and also predatory fishes before any stocking is
done. To clean fish pond, if commercial poisons are used then the dead fishes do not remain in
consumable condition. So fishers of Tripura have developed an indigenous technique so that
dead fish remain in consumable condition. To kill unwanted fish in the pond, fishers apply dry
root powder of the plant Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) in pond. After some time, fish become
unconscious and subsequently die. Poisoning is due to the component known as saponin present
in Mahua plant root. The poison remains for 15 days. After 15 days interval fishers stock the
pond with desired fish species. Dead fish are consumable by humans. Bengali, Debbarma and
Reang community of Chailengta village of Manu block, Longtarai sub-division, in Dhalai district
and Bengali and Debbarma community of Kumarghat block of Kailasahar sub-division in North
Tripura district, Tripura practice this ITK.
Case 5: One of the major components of water quality parameters is pH. The pH must be
maintained neutral. Both acidic and alkaline is harmful for fish. It affects both health and growth
of fish in pond. So it is very important to control pH of pond water. Dissolved oxygen is also an
important water quality parameter for better growth. If dissolved oxygen is less, then fish
mortality may occur. So dissolved oxygen must be maintained in the pond. Commercial aerators


are very costly, so fishers of Tripura follow an age old method to increase the dissolved oxygen in
the pond. Sri Maran Das, Sri Nilu Paul, Sri Balai Saha of Khowai and Sri Amrit Lal Das, Sri Dilip
Das, Sri Dulan Mia Mirza of Udaipur district, Tripura reported that fishers use banana stem for pH
maintenance and increasing dissolved oxygen. Seeing the colour and condition of the pond
water if fishers feel that water quality of pond is not good for fish they cut banana stem into
pieces/whole stem is put in pond to control water quality and pH. Thus water quality and pH is
maintained. If water is acidic then banana stem turns the acidic water to alkaline. Putting banana
stem in ponds also increases dissolved oxygen of pond water. Bengali and Debbarma (fisher)
community of village Bhabatoshpara and other villages of Sonatala, Khowai Block of West
Tripura District. Bengali and Muslim community of village Kandi and Village East side of Amar
sagar of Matabari block of Udaipur sub-division of West Tripura district, Tripura practice this ITK.
Case 6: Fishers use Hibiscus (Rosa sinensis) petals to know pH of pond water. This was reported
by Sri Maran Das, Sri Nilu Paul and Sri Balai Saha of Village Bhabatoshpara, Sonatala, Khowai
Block of West Tripura District, Tripura. They narrated that it is very important for fishers to know
pH of pond water to take necessary and right action for better production. But usually fishers do
not have pH measurement kit. So they have developed this indigenous technique with readily
and locally available raw materials. Petal of red colored Hibiscus is rubbed on a white
paper/white blotting paper. The color of paper turns into reddish violet. Now this paper is dried
in sun. After drying, the paper is dipped in pond water. If color of paper turns dark red then it is
considered that water is acidic, and if it turns into dark blue then it is alkaline water. Bengali and
Debbarma (fisher) community of Village Bhabatoshpara and other villages of Sonatala, Khowai
Block Khowai Block of West Tripura District, Tripura practice this ITK.
Case 7: Sri Anjan Das, Sri Tamal Barman, Sri Sujan Das, Sri Bijan Das and Sri Ratan Barman of
Melaghar, Tripura narrated that it is very difficult for fishers to catch fish in bigger lakes or ponds.
So fish aggregating device is the solution for this problem. FADs are artificial device which are
designed to accumulate or aggregate the fish in a water body at a particular place. Thus it helps
the fishers to locate the fish very easily which minimizes the netting operation cost and also
saves time. In bigger lakes, fishers make this type of FADs. First a circular ring like frame is made
with bamboo. Then this structure is fixed in certain places of the lake with bamboo poles to make
it static. Then aquatic weeds mainly the water hyacinth are collected and transplanted inside the
frame. This structure is left for 15 to 30 days to grow. This structure is locally known as Jaak.
This works as FAD as it aggregates the fish. Fishers harvest fish according to their requirement by
using locally made nets called as Fellon Jaal and Koni Jaal. If fishers want to harvest the total
fish aggregated in the Jaak then they use drag net/ber jaal. Atleast five people are needed for
this operation. The fish aggregated inside the Jaak is harvested. Bengali community of village


Durlavnarayan and Kharchowmohani of Melaghar block in Sonamura Sub-division, West Tripura
district, Tripura practice this ITK.
Case 8: Use of Catechu (Khaer) and alum for proper hatching of fish eggs was reported by Mr.
Subrata Choudhury, Subject Matter Specialist, DKVK, Khowai, West Tripura, Tripura. Sometimes
fish eggs do not hatch properly. This results in a huge mortality of the eggs. Fishers use catechu
and alum for proper hatching of fish eggs. After breeding, if hatching is not proper, the eggs
hatch before maturation. In this case fishers apply alum or khaer (catechu) in the hatching pool.
Then the egg shell becomes hard and the egg hatches at the right time resulting in better survival
and better production. Bengali fisher community of Sonatala village, Khowai block, of Khowai
sub-division of West Tripura district, Tripura practice this ITK.
Conclusion
The cases presented in this paper depict that ITKs are local resources/pathways for sustainable
fisheries development. These are cost effective and environmental friendly. It is agreed that the
scientific principles underlying these ITKs needs to be revealed as well as documented. There is
also a need to design psychometric scales to assess the appropriateness of ITKs. If any
commercial gains are made from this knowledge the IPR should be shared with the community
and an appropriate benefit sharing mechanism with the community be adopted. The effective
way to achieve sustainable development and a healthy environment in fisheries is to utilize the
indigenous knowledge. If these indigenous practices vanish then these can have a negative effect
primarily on those who have developed them and who make a living through them. A greater
awareness of the importance of ITK can play in the development process is likely to help preserve
valuable skills, technologies, and problem solving strategies among the local communities. CIFEs
efforts to document ITKs in fisheries sector through innovative writeshop approach is a step in
this regard. Recently in March 2011 WIPO and India have partnered to protect traditional
knowledge from misappropriation.
References
1. Boje D.M, Narrative methods for organizational and communication research, (Thousand
Oaks, CA: Sage), 2001, 83, 98.
2. Dilip Kumar, Arpita Sharma, Rupam Sharma, S.P. Shukla and Suresh Babu (2010) ITKs in
Fisheries Sector of North East, Published by CIFE, Mumbai
3. Greenhalgh T, Russell J, Swinglehurst D, Narrative methods in quality improvement
research, Qual Saf Health Care 14 (2005) 443-449.
4. http://www.icar.org.in/files/digital-products-ICAR.pdf
5. http://www.wipo.int/tk/en/igc/index.html
6. http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/2011/wipo_tkdl_del_11/


A Study on the Performance Appraisal of Non-Governmental Organizations in
Fisheries Development in India
S.K. Mishra, S.N. Ojha, Sheela Immanuel, Arpita Sharma, Swadesh Prakash, Archana Sinha and
Lipi Das
Introduction
The pressure of changing role and additional responsibility on public extension has added to its
whole lot of existing problems like wide ratio between extension worker and fisher/fish farmer,
inadequate infrastructure and finance. Hence, the existing extension gap is expected to enlarge.
This gap is being filled by voluntary, community and private organizations. In development, the
roles of Governmental Organizations (GOs), Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), Private
Organizations (POs) and Community Organizations (COs) must be seen from different
perspectives. GOs mostly look after the regulatory and subsidy-driven welfare programmes, POs
are profit-driven and COs are limited within small geographical areas. Against this backdrop
NGOs have to play a determining role in bringing development at the grass root level. However,
most of the NGOs lack such perspectives and are not effective in delivering services. The
monitoring of NGOs is to be on very transparent parameters so that they stand as a trusted
partner to the funding agencies and the serving communities.
Many studies have revealed that in spite of several limitations of NGOs like limited area of
operation, limited infrastructure and staff strength, paucity of funds and sometimes absence of
dynamic leader/founder, they can play a very useful role in the transfer of technology. In the
recent years its role is increasingly being recognized in the process of generation, verification,
validation, refinement and promotion of fisheries technologies, especially for areas with harsher
environments and anthropological constraints. Normally, the NGOs adopt a multifunctional,
holistic and participatory approach, which arises from a deeper understanding of their clients;
because of a close physical proximity to the people they intend to serve. In their area of
operation, dedicated and disciplined personnel with a missionary zeal are some of the facets,
which have been responsible for their success.
The experiences documented and literature available on the roles and involvement of NGOs in
fisheries development is very limited. It is observed that few NGOs are working in fisheries
sector. Realizing the future information need, the present study was undertaken with the
following specific objectives.


Objectives of the Study
1. To study the personal profile of both field functionaries as well as the beneficiaries of the
selected NGOs working in fisheries sector.
2. To find out the expectations met and future needs by the selected beneficiaries from NGOs.
3. To assess the effectiveness of performance of selected NGOs by beneficiaries as well as non-
beneficiary stakeholders.
4. To develop a framework for improving the effectiveness of NGOs working in fisheries sector.
Research Methodology
The study was conducted by adopting Ex-Post-Facto research design. Twenty NGOs were
selected purposively, 2 each from 8 maritime states and 2 inland states who were working in
fisheries development programmes for at least during last 3-4 years. About 6-8 field
functionaries (technical and supervisory) staff as per availability in a block/Taluka level of the
selected NGOs, 30 beneficiaries of each selected NGO and about 10 other non-beneficiary stake
holders like academicians, panchayat members, school teachers, local leaders etc were selected
randomly. In this study, a total of 112 field functionaries, 600 beneficiaries and 200 non-
beneficiary stake holders constituted the sample for the study.
Data from following twenty selected NGOs were collected and analyzed. Gujarat: 1. Brackish
Water Research Centre, Surat; 2. Paryavaraniya Vikas Kendra, Rajkot; Kerala: 3. Erikkalavila
Vanitha Sangham, Trivandrum; 4. Gandhi Smaraka Grama Seva Kendram (GSGSK), Alapuzha,
Kerala; Tamil Nadu: 5. Fishworkers Development Society, Triruchembur; 6. Sugandhi Devadason
Trust, Tuticorin; West Bengal: 7. Paschim Banga Yuva Kalyan Manch, Kolkata; 8. Amaragori Yuva
Sangha, Joypur, Howarah; Orissa: 9. United Artists Association (UAA), Ganjam; 10. Bio-Village
Centre of MSSRF, Kendrapara; Bihar: 11. Sakhi, Madhubani; 12. Co-operative Fisheries Federation
(COFFED), Patna; Uttar Pradesh: 13. Action for Women and Rural Development, Kanpur; 14.
Sapna Seva Sansthan, Saharanpur; Maharashtra: 15. Parivartan, Chiplun, Ratnagiri; 16. National
Fishworkers Forum (NFF), Mahim, Mumbai; Karnatak: 17. Sahyadri Community Development &
Women Empowerment Society (SCODWES), Sirsi, Karnataka; 18. Snehakunja Trust, Kasarkod,
Karnataka; Andhra Pradesh: 19. District Fishermens Youth Welfare Association (DFYWA),
Visakhapatnam; and 20. Andhra Pradesh State Prawn Farmers Welfare Association (APSPFWA),
Nellore. Information were collected through personal interview with the help of three sets of
Interview schedules for the above three categories of respondents. Effectiveness of performance
of NGOs was appraised in terms of fulfilling the needs of fishing communities like technical
support, socio-economic self-sustenance, childrens education, family health & sanitation,
financial, infrastructural and marketing support provided to the beneficiaries.


Findings of the Study
Table1: Socio-Economic Profile of the Respondent Field Functionaries (N=112)
a. Age
Frequency Percentage
Young (Up to 40 years)
61 54.46
Middle-aged (41-60 years)
34 30.36
Old (Above 60 years)
17 15.18
b. Education
Up to Matriculate (b)
15 13.39
Up to Graduates :
a. Fisheries & allied
b. Non-fisheries
11
68
9.82
60.71
PG and above :
a. Fisheries & allied
b. Non-fisheries
5
13
4.46
11.61
Total: A. Professional subjects
(a+a)
16 14.29
B. Non-professional subjects
(b+b+b)
96 85.71
c. Occupation (Primary &
Secondary)
NGO service
84 (75.00)* 28 (25.00)*
Private Service 9 (8.04) 18 (16.07)
Farming 14 (12.50) 36 (32.14)
Business 5 (4.46) 30 (26.79)
Figures in parenthesis indicate % values of primary & secondary occupation respectively

Table 2: Communication Profile of the Respondent Field Functionaries (N=112)
Major Sources Fisheries
Information
Frequency of Contact (%in parentheses)
Often Some times Never Rank*
1. DoF Staff 42 (37.50) 56 (50.00) 14 (12.50) IV
2. Private Fish Farms 20 (17.86) 20 (17.86) 72 (64.29) V
3. Training/ Workshops 87 (77.68) 25 (22.32) 0 (0.00) II
4. NGO staff 93(83.04) 19 (16.96) 0 (0.00) I
5. Mass Media 51 (45.54) 61 (54.46) 0 (0.00) III


Table 3: Suggestions by the Respondent Field Functionaries for enhancing the Performance of
their NGOs (N=112)
Suggestions Very
Important
Moderately
Important
Not so
Important
Rank*
1. More number of field
functionaries are required to cover
the area of activities effectively
74
(66.07)
26
(23.21)
12
(10.71)
V
2. All newly recruited field
functionaries should undergo 3-6
months specialized courses else
where
67
(59.82)
31
(27.68)
14
(12.50)
VII
3. Salary of field functionaries need
to be at par or nearer to the
employees of state government
staff
95
(84.82)
17
(15.18)
0
(0.00)
III
4. Field functionaries must from the
local area and should have good
knowledge of the local culture
101
(90.18)
8
(7.14)
3
(2.68)
I
5. Mobility with POL to all field staff
must be provided
87
(77.68)
7
(6.25)
18
(16.07)
IV
6. Regular refresher training should
be imparted based on training
need assessment of staff
54
(48.21)
45
(40.18)
13
(11.61)
VIII
7. Continuous and healthy relation
with the government departments
is a pre-requisite for effective and
efficient programme
implementation (GO-NGO Linkage)
72
(64.29)
25
(22.32)
15
(13.39)
VI
8. Good workers should be paid
incentives based on his/her
performance
98
(87.50)
14
(12.50)
0
(0.00)
II
(Figures in the parentheses indicate percentages) (* As per Very Important responses)


Table-4: Socio-Economic Profile of the Respondent NGO Beneficiaries (N=600)
a. Age Frequency Percentage
Young (Up to 40 years) 205 34.17
Middle-aged (41-60 years) 328 54.67
Old (Above 60 years) 67 11.17
b. Education
Illiterate
88 14.67
Up to 7
th
(ME) 315 52.50
Up to 10
th
(Matriculate) 176 29.33
Up to Graduation 21 3.50
c. Family Occupation Major Subsidiary
Fishing 600 (100.0) 0 (0.00)
Farming 0 (0.00) 182 (30.33)
Business 0 (0.00) 45 (7.50)
Labour 0 (0.00) 205 (34.17)
No other occupation 0 (0.00) 168 (28.00)
(Figures in the parentheses indicate percentages)

Discussions
Based on the secondary information collected from the selected NGOs and interactions with
their executives, it was revealed that the selected NGOs were found working on multifarious
activities including fisheries developmental activities and fisheries projects based on the
obligations towards their funding agencies. They were found working in some selected villages in
some confined localities rather than wider coverage of all the villages of a block or district or
state depending upon their scarce staff strength and the objectives of their developmental
projects. Many NGO offices were found functioning from rented houses without having their
own building and infrastructures. They did not have any continuous sources of financing, rather
depend on the projects from different national and international funding agencies.


Table-5: Expectations and Needs met by beneficiaries from the NGOs (N=600)

Expectations and Needs Fully-met Partially-met Not met Rank*
1. Fish Technological need
435
(72.50)
107
(17.83)
58
(9.67)
I
2. Market infrastructure and
Marketing support
135
(22.50)
224
(40.83)
221
(36.83)
VI
3. Providing short term loans
98
(16..33)
137
(22.83)
365
(60.83)
VIII
4. Social Empowerment need
345
(57.50)
219
(36.50)
36
(6.00)
III
5. Economic Self-sustenance
88
(14.67)
325
(54.17)
187
(31.17)
IX
6. Land Rights & Housing
62
(10.33)
496
(82.67)
42
(7.00)
X
7. Children's Educational need
190
(31.67)
217
(36.16)
193
(32.17)
V
8. Family Heath & Hygiene
116
(19.33)
294
(49.00)
190
(31.67)
VII
9. Surplus Family Income
370
(61.67)
143
(23.83)
87
(14.50)
II
10. Family Safety need 315
(52.50)
186
(31.00)
99
(16.50)
IV
Overall Satisfaction of Performance
(Cumulative Need)
342
(57.00)
167
(27.83)
91
(15.17)
NA
(Figures in the parentheses indicate percentages) (* As per Fully-met responses)
It can be seen from the table-1 that although most of the NGO field functionaries were highly
qualified, only 14.29% were having professional degrees and diplomas in fisheries or allied
disciplines like zoology or marine biology. This was a serious drawback on their part as they were
supposed to educate and train the fishing communities. It put a question mark on the knowledge
and competencies they have to deliver to their clients. So far as their major sources of fisheries
information was concerned, the major source was found to be their own NGO colleagues
(83.04% got information very often) followed by attending trainings or workshops as per table-2.


Table6: Assessment of Performance of selected NGOs by non-beneficiary Stakeholders (N=200)
Area of Activities
Fully
Satisfactory
Partially
Satisfactory
Not
Satisfactory
Rank*
1. Agricultural Technology Transfer
105
(52.50)
68
(34.00)
27
(13.50)
IV
2. Fish Technology Transfer
162
(81.00)
29
(14.50)
9
(4.50)
I
3. Community Mobilization (SHGs)
161
(80.50)
21
(10.50)
18
(9.00)
II
4. Market infrastructure and
Marketing support
30
(15.00)
112
(56.00)
58
(29)
IX
5. Housing and Rehabilitation for the
poor
51
(25.50)
45
(22.50)
104
(52.00)
VII
6. Children's Educational needs
60
(30.00)
54
(27.00)
86
(43.00)
VI
7. Rural Health & Hygiene in the area
34
(17.00)
34
(17.00)
132
(66.00)
VIII
8. Income Generating activities
(micro-enterprises)
68
(34.00)
75
(37.50)
57
(28.50)
V
9. Honesty in Fund utilization
28
(14.00)
45
(22.50)
127
(63.50)
X
10. Social Safety networks
115
(57.50)
34
(17.00)
51
(25.50)
III
Overall Satisfaction of Performance
(Cumulative Performance)
109
(54.50)
66
(33.00)
25
(12.50)
NA
(Figures in the parentheses indicate percentages) (* As per Fully-satisfactory responses)
According to the findings in table-3, for enhancing the performance of the NGOs in fisheries
development, they suggested that field functionaries must be from local areas having good
knowledge of local culture (90.18%), good workers should be paid incentives based on their
performances (87.50%), and their salary should be equal or at least nearer to their
contemporaries in state government departments. 64.29 per cent also expressed that a healthy
GO-NGO linkage is very important for effective and efficient programme implementation. During
interaction, it was felt by all project investigators and local enumerators that NGOs mostly
planned and worked in isolation with a very weak professional linkage with government
organizations (GOs).


As per table-4, most (54.67%) of the respondent NGO beneficiaries were found to be middle aged
between 40-60 years of old, most were educated up to 7
th
class. As the beneficiaries were
purposively selected, all were having fisheries as their main source of family income, while 34.17
per cent were working as labourers and 30.33 per cent were doing farm activities for adding
additional income to their family.
So far as expectations and needs of the beneficiaries are concerned, NGOs were found fully met
in fish technological needs for 72.50 per cent beneficiaries, achieved in adding surplus family
income for 61.67 per cent, were successful in making the beneficiaries socially empowered
(57.50%) and their family felt more safe (52.50%) in being associated with NGOs. 57.00 per cent
of the beneficiaries expressed they were fully satisfied with the performance of the NGOs, while
27.83 per cent were partially satisfied and 15.15 per cent were not at all satisfied with the
performance of the NGOs, as per findings in table-5.
Efforts were made to assess the effectiveness of performances of the selected NGOs through the
participation and interactions with non-beneficiary stakeholders like local academicians, local
leaders, panchayat members, school teachers etc. As per findings in table-6, 81.00 per cent
expressed that they were fully satisfied with the efforts of the NGOs in transfer of fisheries
technologies, followed by community mobilization through self help groups (80.50%) and in
providing a social safety networks for the local fishing communities (57.50%). In overall, 54.50
per cent expressed fully satisfied, 33.50 per cent partially satisfied and 12.50 per cent were not
satisfied with the performance of the selected NGOs.
Suggestions and Policy implications
Based on the results of the study, observations made and experiences gathered by the
researchers during interactions with the NGO executive bodies, field functionaries, beneficiaries
and non-beneficiary other stake holders, officers of the Dept of Fisheries and available
literatures, following suggestions are made for improving the effectiveness of NGOs working in
fisheries sector.
1. Primary fisheries NGOs supported on a sustained basis: Only few NGOs are working
exclusively in fisheries sector including bio-diversity management. Most NGOs are working on
various fields like, agriculture, animal husbandry, fishery, health, literacy, poverty alleviation,
natural resources and coastal ecosystem management, land rights, women & child welfare
etc on project mode, varying from 3-5 years duration, based on the objectives and
programme of their funding agencies. Therefore, the sustainability of the fisheries related
programme is a big question. The funding agencies should thoroughly scrutinize and select
NGO working primarily on fisheries related activities and support them on a sustainable basis,
only then, the impact of the programme can be wider and stronger.


2. An exclusive Web Portal for Fisheries NGOs: For the information and knowledge of general
public, all NGOs/VOs (Voluntary Organizations) should be easily accessible through internet.
Presently, organizations like Planning Commission of India (www.ngo.india.gov.in) or the NGO
Partnership System of the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment are having links on the
list of NGOs/(VOs) in various fields. In all the cases, NGOs/VOs working on animal husbandry,
dairying and fisheries have been clubbed together, although both the sectors have their own
action plan and strategies in sectoral development. Many old NGOs/VOs are also not having
their own web page, those have, some are very update while other not at all. Therefore, it is
suggested that an exclusive portal on fisheries NGOs/VOs be opened and maintained by
developmental organization like Planning Commission or Ministry of Rural Development for
general public as well as for the monitoring of funding agencies.
3. Strengthening infrastructural facilities of NGOs: Many studied NGOs were found very sick
and had extremely poor infrastructural facilities without their own building, some operating
from a small room of their own residential house. Basic training equipments and tools,
vehicles for mobility, computer with internet facility etc were not available. It is quite difficult
for them and is not expected to deliver good things for the faster development of fishing
communities or clienteles. Therefore it is suggested both governmental departments as well
as international funding organizations should support the NGOs in establishing basic
infrastructural facilities.
4. Recruiting fisheries professionals in NGOs: How can one expect from a person, the latest
scientific fisheries and aquaculture technologies if he/she does not possess any professional
degrees in fisheries or allied disciplines? To understand the intricacies of any technology the
basics and fundamentals are a pre-requisite. But, as per the findings of the study on 14.29 per
cent of the field functionaries who deliver technologies possessed professional degrees.
Therefore, it is suggested that NGOs must recruit professional degree/diploma holders, in the
absence of which they should not be supported/ funded.
5. Updating knowledge and skill of NGO field functionaries: Only recruiting professionals at the
initial stage may not help them deliver the best unless they possess the skills required as per
demand of the particular job. Also they need to update the knowledge and skill with
advancement of technologies. Therefore, the NGO executives should send the field level
employees for some hands on training to reputed national as well as international training
institutions.
6. Providing performance based incentives to field functionaries: Many past studies on job
satisfaction and organizational climate have revealed salary/ incentives is the most important
parameter for any employee to be satisfied with his/her job and deliver the best to the


organization. The present study also revealed also revealed the same. They should be
provided good salary based on their qualifications & experiences and good workers should be
given incentives as a token encouragement as well as motivation for others to do better.
7. Healthy professional GO-NGO linkage: In the present era of Public-Private-Partnership (PPP),
where we have seen several success stories on PPP, there is a dire need of healthy
professional and functional linkage between GOs and NGOs in planning, monitoring and
implementation process for achieving true national development. But, unfortunately, it was
strongly felt by the investigators that both DoF (Department of Fisheries) of the states and
the NGOs plan and work in isolation. Even the senior functionaries in the state DoF do not
know much about the NGOs operating in their territorial region. It strongly suggested by the
investigators to have a mechanism at state government level for mandatory periodical
meetings between these two front runners of fisheries development.
8. More in-depth studies on NGOs: There were hardly any studies found on the role
performance of NGOs in fisheries sector. The present study covered only extensive aspects
twenty selected NGOs from ten states. Apart from more such extensive studies, there is need
for intensive and in depth studies taking few NGOs as cases to understand the functioning the
NGOs.


PROCEEDINGS
CIFE Golden Jubilee Mini Symposium on
Farmers as Stakeholders in Commercial Aquaculture
Organised by Fisheries Economics, Extension and Statistics Division
Date: 30
th
April, 2011 * Venue: Auditorium, CIFE

The Director and Vice-Chancellor Dr. W.S.Lakra welcomed the Chief Guest Dr. B. S. Bisht, Former
ADG, ICAR, New Delhi and Director CIPHET, Ludhiana, Bhopal and the present Vice-Chancellor,
G. B. Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar. He also welcomed the speakers
for the occasion, Shri Manoj Sharma, Mayank Aquaculture Pvt. Ltd., Surat; Shri Abhiram Seth,
AquAgri Processing Pvt. Ltd., New Delhi; Dr P. Elancheran, Farm Fed Ltd., Nellore and Shri Saji
Chacko, Onaway Industries Ltd., Surat. He mentioned that all the invited speakers were stalwarts
in their field and two of them were alumni of CIFE. They have done a great work in their
respective fields. He stressed the need of public private partnerships in commercial aquaculture
to achieve the aqua- production goals in XII Five Year Plan. He reiterated the importance of R&D
efforts in high value species to reach markets for earning adequate foreign exchange. He
mentioned that all students should learn how to develop integrated farming for development of
aquaculture, as this is very productive area.
Dr B. S. Bisht congratulated CIFE as a leading and most prestigious Institute in the country and
dwelt on the fact that its scope is tremendous in the coming years to lead the sustainable blue
revolution. Since our land based resources are shrinking day by day and are not available for the
farming operations to produce more food, aquaculture alone holds the key to produce quality
protein at a cheaper price. CIFE should undertake proactive R&D programmes to reach the goals.
He also added that the students should develop the attitude of to be an entrepreneur, as
creators of employment opportunities in the country. He summoned students to command the
sector as excellent entrepreneurs and learn from the symposium speakers for their future
endeavors. He stressed the importance of seaweed, its commercial scope and high nutritional
value in terms of minerals and vitamins present. He also informed about the activities of
Fisheries College, Pantnagar for the development of fisheries in the state. He congratulated the
Director and staff and students for arranging such a fruitful program.
Manoj Sharma, Director, Mayank Aquaculture Pvt. Ltd, initially thanked his alma mater for
inviting him as a speaker on a grand occasion as this. He said that he still felt like a student and
felt proud to be an alumni of CIFE. At present, Gujarat has the finest aquaculture production


system in the country and a successful investment destination in the nation. He indicated that
India ranks 6
th
in the global shrimp production scenario. He also stressed upon the fact that
earlier, the market dominated by tiger shrimp (P.monodon) is being captured gradually by white
leg shrimp (L.vannamei).
He briefed about his venture in millimora, a small aquafarming pocket near Surat. He mentioned
that initially, he met with lot of failures due to lack of proper technical expertise and factors such
as disease outbreaks, Supreme Court verdict etc., nevertheless, his perseverance and hard work
paid him rich dividends to be acknowledged as the best shrimp farmer in India today.
He also revealed the success of his farming and the overall development of shrimp aquaculture in
the region. High technical knowledge of the farmers, strict implementation of Best Management
Practices, were the keys behind success of the farming operations, he added.
This entrepreneurial attitude of the people made them diversify their operations and the support
from the government was also surmountable for the entire developmental process. Later, in
2005, all Surat based aqua farmers were united to form a group SAFA Surat Aqua Farmers
Association. The primary motive was to carry out sustainable shrimp farming with an eco-friendly
approach under BMP protocol. Presently, more than 200 farmers are members of the association
and the numbers are still increasing. This is the most practical and successful group/club/cluster
farming in India with more than 95% successful crops. With respect to the national shrimp
production from aquaculture, the state of Gujarat is contributing only near about 5% of the
countrys production but with standard and bio-secured culture practices with average count
grade of 26/30 against the national average count grade of 35. The average production per unit
area of the state is more than double the national production. The state has earned international
repute by adhering to better management in production.
He told that looking into the success story of shrimp farming and inclination of coastal people
towards this business, the State Government has initiated action plan to develop 50 000 ha area
of 38 talukas from coastal parts of the state. Finally, he concluded that the present success story
of shrimp farming development in Gujarat can be a role model for the marginal shrimp farming
stake holders of India for future practice and to restore back their faith in shrimp farming in the
country for a better tomorrow.
Shri Abiram Seth is the Director of AquAgri Processing Pvt. Ltd. and his lecture was on the current
status of seaweed farming and its benefits to coastal livelihoods in our country. He narrated the
history and the major milestones in seaweed farming in India. He told that initially, Pepsico
explored seaweed farming as an opportunity leveraging their contract farming experience in
India. Their search for technology and planting material led them to CSMCRI (Central Salt and
Marine Chemicals Research Institute) and an enduring relationship was established hence.


After a successful start in 2008, Pepsico transferred the project to AquAgri Pvt. Ltd. and at
present they are able to provide employment to more than 1200 fishers and produce 1500
tonnes of seaweed dry mass. They also came out with a product called Aquasap (Liquid seaweed
extract), an organic fertilizer rich in micro nutrients, vitamins, amino acids and plant growth
hormones. Aquasap gave excellent results with field trials of soyabean, sugarcane and even in
poultry. Tata Chemicals Ltd. a major fertilizer company launched Liquid Seaweed Extract and
Seaweed Granules for agricultural application on a pan-India basis under their flagship brand
TATA PARAS. They are actively working with EID Parry and Coromandel Fertilizers Ltd. on
development of new value added agri-products. CIPLA has been involved in trials of the product
globally.
He also shared about the experiences about the environmental related issues that the firm faced
and the way they approached to solve it. He also threw some good light on the debate over the
introduction of Kappaphycus sp. He also informed that their entire seaweed farming operation
was working in a participatory business model which includes important stakeholders such as
NGOs (Aquaculture Foundation of India, Chennai, TRRM Ramnad), Bankers, DRDA (District Rural
Development Agency), Private Sector (AquAgri Processing Private Ltd.). He informed that their
seaweed farming project has created considerable socio-economic impacts in their project
fishing villages. He also stressed that the students should come forward to with business
ventures in aquafarming.
Saji Chacho is the Vice President of Onaway Industries Ltd, Surat and an alumni of CMFRI,
Cochin. As a leading entrepreneur in shrimp aquaculture, he shared his experiences and
breakthrough moments in his career. He stated that Indias aquaculture was dominated by fresh
water fish like Indian major carps which were essentially consumed within the country. Beginning
from the late eighties, brackishwater aquaculture has been steadily expanding in the country and
this activity was concentrated mainly in the coastal region. Today, India produces about 100000
MT of shrimp from a brackish water area of about 140,000 hectares. Although India has over 1.2
million hectares available for shrimp farming, the current exploitation is only 16% of this. About
90% of the shrimp farms in the country were owned by small and marginal farmers. The major
species cultured was the Black Tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon). He noted that shrimp
aquaculture production in India has been stagnating around 100,000 MT during the last decade.
Now, with the introduction of L. vannamei, the shrimp production in the country is likely to
boom in a remarkable way. He informed the gathering that he was the first shrimp farmer to get
the license to import the vannamei seeds. He explained the various technical operations and the
better management practices adopted in his farms and their farm production as a comparative
with past performance. He also enumerated many positive points of the L. vannamei farming in
India.


Dr. Elancheran is a leading shrimp aquaculture consultant in Andhra Pradesh and alumni of CIFE,
Mumbai. He narrated the important milestones in the growth of Indian shrimp culture industry.
His lecture mainly focused on aquaculture / fisheries activities of Andhra Pradesh. He explained
practically about the bottlenecks in shrimp farming. He also elaborated about the disease
outbreaks and the difficult times the industry faced in the earlier days. He explained how disease
outbreaks promoted the corporate firms to quit shrimp farming and how the individual farmers
utilized the opportunity and sustained the same in Andhra Pradesh. He said that our Indian
shrimp culture industry is fully dominated by the marginal level farmers. The main species, the
tiger shrimp was earlier and now the trend has been changing towards the L. vannamei. He
stated that the sector was providing an array of support industries and as the farmers social
status has developed to a great extent. He mentioned that the shrimp farming has not only
improved the status of livelihood of farmers but also resulted in the overall societal development
and improved rural infrastructure. He informed that the unity and cooperation of the farmers
paid rich dividends to them. He also stressed the importance of the L. vannamei farming in
todays context and need of its further promotion for sustainable shrimp farming.
Finally, Dr. M.Krishnan thanked all the speakers and the Chief Guest for their esteemed presence
and for sharing their real experiences and success stories in a sparkling manner. He also thanked
the Director and Vice Chancellor, staff members, students and the supporting staff for making
the mini symposium a great success.


PROGRAMME SCHEDULE

CIFE GOLDEN JUBILEE MINI SYMPOSIUM SERIES

FARMERS AS STAKEHOLDERS IN COMMERCIAL AQUACULTURE

Organised by
Fisheries Economics, Extension and Statistics Division

Date: 30 April, 2011 Venue: AUDITORIUM, CIFE, New Campus
Invocation 10.30-10.32 AM Students
Welcome Address 10.32 to 10.40 AM Dr. W.S.Lakra,
ViceChancellor & Director, CIFE, Mumbai
Presidential Address 10.40-10.50 AM Dr. B.S.Bisht,
Vice Chancellor, G.B.Pant University of Agricultre
and Technology, Pantnagar.
Invited Lecture 1 11.00 to 11.30 AM Dr. Manoj Sharma,
Director, Mayank Aquaculture (P)., Ltd, Surat on
Inclusive Shrimp Farming: Development Model
for Marginal Stakeholders (with Special
Reference to Gujarat)
Invited Lecture 2 11.30 AM to 12.00
PM
Shri Abhiram Seth,
MD, AquAgri Proc. (P) Ltd., New Delhi on Fishers
First,: Participatory Model in Seaweed Farming in
India
Invited Lecture 3 12.00 to 12.30 PM Shri Saji Chacko,
Vice President, Onway Industries Ltd., Surat on
High Value Aquaculture and Marginal
Stakeholders in India
Invited Lecture 4 12.30 to 1.00 PM Dr. Elan Cheran,
Chief Consultant, Super Shrimps Consultants,
Nellore on Impact of Commercial Shrimp
Farming on Marginal Farmers in Andhra Pradesh
Discussion 1.00 to 1.25 PM
Vote of Thanks 1.25 to 1.30 PM Dr. M.Krishnan, HoD, FEES Division, CIFE
National Anthem

Anchors: Ms. Prathvi Rani & Ms. Bijayalaxmi Devi, M.F.Sc. (FBM), FEES Division.

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