January 5, 2021

Indian shrimp production facility launches 15,000 pairs of L Vannamei broodstock
 

The L. Vannamei Brood-stock Multiplication Centre (BMC), which is based in Visakhapatnam, India,  has placed 15,000 pairs of specific pathogen free (SPF) L Vannamei broodstock for sale across coastal states in the country.

The BMC is the only government centre in the country that imports young L Vannamei shrimp from the Oceanic Institute of Hawaii Pacific University, and then grows them into parent shrimp under local climatic conditions.

The shrimp are then sold to hatcheries.

The BMC operates under the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquaculture (RGCA), a research and development wing of Kochi-based Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA).

Demand for L Vannamei is high in Southeast Asian countries as well as in the United States, said K. Shanmukha Rao, CEO of National Centre for Sustainable Aquaculture.

"We give technical knowledge to 20,000 farmers across the country, thus helping in production of 50,000 tonnes of antibiotic-free L Vannamei shrimp," Rao added.

BMC project in-charge and assistant project manager DVSN Raju said: "We were supposed to sell the broodstock last November, but postponed it to January due to COVID-19. Ten hatcheries from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu have booked 2,000 pairs of broodstock. Each pair costs Rs6,000 (US$82.06) under the early-bird scheme that lasts up to January 10."

Each shrimp lays between two to three lakh eggs each time and has the capacity to lay eggs 10 times.

RGCA project director S Kandan said: "We develop L. Vannamei as one of the best broodstocks in the world. It can withstand all climatic conditions, disease and bring highest profits to hatcheries and farmers."

Speaking to TOI, MPEDA chairman KS Srinivas said COVID-19 affected seafood exports but sale of the Visakhapatnam BMC broodstock is a first step in recovery after the lockdown.

- The Times of India