Bulk of Aquaculture production

By Mr. Arnav Sen

During the past decade, world aquaculture production has grown tremendously, averaging and annual growth rate of 9.4% during the period 1994-2004. Total world aquaculture production is now on the order of 25.5 million mt, valued at $US 39.8 billion, and accounts for some 21.7% of the total world fishery landings. it has a huge capacity to raise the market value and jobs to many youngsters.

Although the culture of high-priced species such as shrimp and salmon often receives the lion’s share of attention, it is important to note that low-value inland finfish (e.g., Indian major and Chinese carps, tilapia, etc.) produced in extensive or semi-intensive culture systems comprise the bulk of world aquaculture production. Crustaceans, by comparison, represent only 4.2% of total aquaculture production by weight, and only 18.1% by value. Developing countries contribute more than 86% of total world production, with LIFDCs (Low Income Food Deficient Countries) accounting for more than 75% of the total. Production from the LIFDCs continues to grow at an above average rate of some 13% annually, indicating aquaculture’s real and potential contribution to providing low cost protein to those among the world’s most impoverished sectors.

Mr. Arnav Sen is MSc. in Marine Biotechnology and works as a Research Associate.

First Marine Institution of its kind!

Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh inaugurated the National Centre for Marine Bio-Diversity (NCMB), the first institution of its kind in India, in Jamnagar, on Wednesday.
It will also be the first Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) project with Reliance Industry, which has the world’s largest grassroots level petroleum refinery here. “A Rs. 30-crore start-up fund has been allocated for the centre. MoEF will contribute Rs. 20 crore and the rest will come from Reliance Industry. It’s been made a Public-Private-Partnership project so that it can be made a centre for excellence of the international level. The support of private firm has been taken to bring in the best talent and scientists required for the centre,” said Jairam.

Marine Life under threat!

These people are in a hope that their problems would be solved but what is our Govt. doing ever since these innocent people are traumatized by the encroachment of Nuclear power plants.. According to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (moef), the temperature of the discharged water should not be higher than 7°c above that of the sea. But temperature increases at India’s coastal nuclear reactors exceed this norm: 7.7°c (Tarapur 1&2), 8.4°c (maps 1&2 at Kalpakkam), and 9.5°c (for Tarapur 3&4).

If all six 1,000 mw reactors are built at Koodankulam, they will release over 13 times the heat discharged by the two maps reactors (220 mw each). Either the increase in the temperature of the water will be higher than at Kalpakkam.

India's first inland fish processing unit comes up in Karnal village

The tiny village of Bhutana in Karnal district has shot into limelight as consistent efforts of a progressive farmer to set up an inland fish processing unit fructified and India's first such unit for the production of value-added products was established in the village.

Talking to Explore Dr. Krisnaiah, Chief Executive officer of National Fisheries Development Board, Ministry of Agriculture said" The purpose of this unit is to provide clean and healthy fish products & to spread the awareness among the people about fish as an important food item which can be bought easily.
we are also providing 40% subsidy for women entrepreneurs and giving chance to more budding entrepreneurs for retailing" he added.

The Buzz (News in a Nutshell)

Aqua business opportunities on display at Chennai Seafood exports to reach $2.3 bn Budget Allocation: Good news for PSUs Training course on breeding of ornamental fish held Fewer big fish in the sea, says study Fewer big fish in the sea, says study

Interview with Mr. Arun Kumar, Lecturer , Marine Biotechnology

Q1: In your experience what is your perceptions of Fisheries & Livestock Industry?

A-The fisheries industry in India is huge. With its vast coastline, India is the fourth-largest producer of fish in the world. This is mainly because nearly 10 million people residing in more than 4,000 coastal regions are engaged in fishery activity. These people are mainly dependent on fisheries to earn a living.

Q2: In your opinion what are the top three challenges which Industry needs to correct to catapulate itself into a global player?

A-Marine and coastal ecosystems are some of the most dynamic and complex systems. Furthermore, they encompass multiple-use land, adding to their complexity. These are also much larger ecosystems and are often contiguous. What’s more, our understanding of them is weak compared to other ecosystems. The second reason is  Living bio-resources found in the coastal zone are heavily exploited, and often the exploitation is unsustainable. The weak implementation of laws also adds upto its major challenges.

Q3: What are the experiences of Being in the Industry ?

A- I recommend studies to be conducted particularly for the trawling industry and purseseine, ringseine and shark fisheries, where local people have expressed an interest in diversification, socio-economic studies must be carried out. Community-based fisheries monitoring programmes must be encouraged .

Know your Marine animals!!!

Indian Green Mussels are large mussels, commonly 8 centimeters long and occasionally reaching a size of about 16.5 centimeters. Its shell is elongate, roughly triangular in outline with one end swollen and pointed (anterior) and the other, rounded and compressed (posterior).The present invention relates to the use of Indian Green Mussel (Perna viridis) as a source of anti-HIV activity. More particularly, the present invention relates to the use of an extract of Indian Green Mussel as a source of anti-HIV activity in vitro.

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