The Hindu Business Line : `Pacific white shrimp imports illegal'

THE illegal import and cultivation of the exotic white shrimp, which is a native of the Pacific waters of Latin America, is posing a grave threat to Indian aquaculture.

Reacting to reports that the Pacific white shrimp (P Vannamei) was being cultivated in some pockets of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has termed all such practices illegal and brought the matter to the notice of the Union Ministry.

"No official permission has been given to import the species for cultivation and there are quarantine rules in place for any such import", Mr P. Bojan, Director of MPEDA, told Business Line.

However, reports indicate that some companies had applied and obtained one-time permission to import the brood stock of the species for carrying out trials. They were not permitted to carry out commercial production, the MPEDA clarified. But, the species is readily available for cultivation in some pockets of the country from other sources.

The species is widely cultivated in places such as China and Taiwan and of late has been taken up in parts of Thailand. Yet countries such as Malaysia and India are still averse to the import of these brood stocks and its cultivation. Scientists point to a series of dangers that extensive import and cultivation could pose to the Indian aquaculture.

The species is the principle aquaculture crop of South America accounting for over 90 per cent of the harvest. But outbreak of diseases such as the Taura Syndrome, white spot virus and yellow head virus, has been repeatedly decimating the crop in the recent past. Most of these diseases and their individual strains are endemic to these species and are not found in other species cultivated elsewhere.

But the scientists point out that there is an inherent danger that once the species is introduced into the country and cultivated extensively, these diseases could spread to the domestic species as well, sometimes more virulently than those found in the exotic species.

Mr Bojan did not discount this possibility. But he highlighted that most often the disease of one species was found to be restricted to that species alone. However, he could not totally dismiss the possibility of it spreading from one species to another.

One prime reason why the new species has not caught the fancy of the Indian aquaculture industry is that the major disease outbreaks of the nineties among the domestic species have been stemmed.

Secondly, the growth cycle is much slower than that of black tiger, the domestic species and so is the price. The third reason being that the Indian consumer does not have an inherent taste for this species of shrimp and hence there is no ready market. The only market that the cultivator can pursue is the export market.

The species fetched a price of $4.50-$5.50 per kg in the US markets in 2000, which dipped to $2.50-$3 per kg in 2001, much lower that what the Indian black tiger fetched in the international markets.

Despite its extensive cultivation in several Asian countries, the authorities are well aware of the risks involved. There are health risks involved, which the authorities in Taiwan are keeping a close watch on. They are also keeping a wary eye on cross disease transmission between the two species.

The Department of Fisheries of Malaysia maintains that despite the desire of the industry to cultivate the species purely for commercial reasons, there are several health risks involved. In India too, the MPEDA is adopting a wait and watch attitude.

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