Delay and procedural hurdles in import of artemia are affecting shrimp hatcheries in East Godavari and the rest of Andhra Pradesh and the authorities should take immediate steps to address the issue, said L. Satya Narain alias Tikkoo, president of All-India Shrimp Hatcheries' Association.
If the situation continues for a while, the hatcheries will have to shut down their production facilities, reports TheHinduBusinessLine.
Live feeds, such as artemia, play an important role in the successful production of shrimp larvae and India is one of the largest users of artemia for shrimp larval production.
In general, shrimp hatcheries in India use 5 kg of artemia cysts to produce one million post larvae of the marine shrimp L. vannamei.
At present, there is a delay in the clearance of artemia imported from the US to India for a variety of reasons. The continued delay has resulted in the absence of artemia with most of the importers.
As summer is the main stocking season for grow-outs in India, the impact could be so severe that the entire shrimp aquaculture industry would come to a stand still.
"At this stage, it is difficult for the industry to reach the shrimp production levels of last year. The situation is very alarming and immediate intervention by officials is the need of the hour," he added.
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