Perspectives on mariculture in India

Abstract

The aquaculture sector in India has a long history and has witnessed an increase in production for the last two decades with an annual growth rate of 6-7%. This means that India is the second largest producer of farmed fish in the world after China. At present, freshwater aquaculture contributes to a major proportion of the aquaculture production from India (FAO, 2014). In India, brackish water aquaculture is a traditional practise in natural coastal low land areas such as pokkali fields (salt resistant deepwater paddy fields along the Kerala coast), bheries (man made impoundments in coastal wetlands of West Bengal state), khar lands (tidal lands in Karnataka state) and khazan lands (saline flood plains along tidal estuaries in Goa) with varying production capacities and depending on tidal influences and natural supply of seeds (Kutty, 1999). After several trials, under different R&D programs, scientific coastal farming was initiated in the early 1990s with the active involvement of different stakeholders. Since then, shrimp farming has grown tremendously and at present, dominates coastal aquaculture. However, the frequent problems in shrimp culture raises the question on the sustainability of coastal aquaculture as it is solely dependent on a single group i.e. shrimp. Therefore, species diversification with high value marine finfish is now being considered to develop a sustainable and ecofriendly coastal aquaculture industry in India.