The authorities of the state fisheries department as well as the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA) have cracked down on unauthorised shrimp hatcheries in the two mandals of Uppada Kothapalli and Thondangi in East Godavari district to prevent production of defective seed. Defective seed is leading to rejection of some export consignments by the European Union and the US, as traces of anti-biotic residues have been found in them.

Andhra Pradesh is the leading shrimp exporting state in the country, of the Vannamei variety, and most of the hatcheries are located along the coast in the two mandals of East Godavari district. There are60-70 authorised hatcheries and an equal number of unauthorised ones.

According to Lakkaraju Satyanarain (Tikku), the president of All-India Shrimp Hatcheries Association, the authorities as well as the association have been impressing upon the members the need to shun anti-biotics in the shrimp seed production processes and an awareness campaign has been launched. “However, there are quite a few unauthorised hatcheries who are not members of the association and they depend on the advice, sometimes faulty, given by the dealers. Unfortunately, there is no feed standardisation and sometimes unwittingly anti-biotic residues get into the seed at the hatchery level or farm level,” he has said.

There is a need to adopt good management practices both at the hatchery level and the field level, and the farmers should be provided sound technical advice, he added.

Welcoming the action of the authorities, he said that the association on its part will continue to educate the hatcheries as well as the shrimp farmers on the need to adopt good practices.

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