January 18, 2021

Dangerous levels of metals detected in India's aquaculture farms in 10 states, study says

Aquaculture farms in 10 Indian states have "hazardous" levels of metals like lead and cadmium, according to a study commissioned by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) and All Creatures Great and Small (ACGS).

Profligate use of antibiotics and insecticides for cultivation and the threat of anti-microbial resistance have contributed to making aquaculture a "ticking time bomb," said the authors of the study.

FIAPO and ACGS studied about 250 fish and shrimp farms across the nine highest producing states and one union territory. This included fresh and brackish water farms in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Gujarat, West Bengal and Orissa, and freshwater farms in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh and Assam.

The objective of the study was to assess the condition of fish and shrimp farms in India on animal welfare, public health and environmental hazard standards.

All of the fish and shrimp farms had toxic levels of lead and cadmium, and all the shrimp farms that the surveyors visited were releasing toxic waste water directly into the nearby canals or estuaries. None of the fish farms had outlets for this water, posing a grave threat to fish and human health.

In addition, unhygienic conditions led to frequent disease outbreaks at half the farms visited.

"At several instances, farmers were found to be selling these diseased fish and shrimps at the local market to minimise their losses. 65% of the fish farms had poor dissolved oxygen levels, which means fish were struggling to survive with high mortality rates. Banned fish species like red-bellied pirrahna and Catfish are farmed intensively in several states accompanied by heavy antibiotic use," the authors note in their report.

Varda Mehrotra, executive director of FIAPO said in a statement: "How we see fishes is extremely problematic. There needs to be a central and state level regulatory framework for freshwater and brackish water aquaculture, and the Aquaculture Authority needs to be empowered to work directly with Animal Welfare Board of India and the union environment ministry to strictly enforce aquaculture specific laws.

"Fishes deserve the same level of legal protection as other animals. And, considering the amount of antibiotics used and the water quality, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India should be empowered to not just regulate the end product, but the conditions in which the fishes are grown."

- The Hindu