'Andamans musr be declared a bio-secure region'

Port Blair, Oct 27: Union Minister of Commerce Jairam Ramesh has said Andaman and Nicobar Islands should be declared a Bio-Secure' region for Tiger shrimp cultivation and asked experts to submit a report in this regard.

''Give me a report stating the legal and administrative aspects for what should be done to ensure the bio security of these islands for Tiger Shrimp cultivation,'' Jairam told Marine Products Export Development Authority(MPEDA) officers in Port Blair yesterday.

Earlier, MPEDA experts in their presentation told the minister that in India there was no significant growth in production of Tiger shrimp and the reason could be mainly attributed to White Spot Virus (WSV) disease outbreak in 1995.

Tiger shrimp in Andaman&Niocbar Islands is cent per cent (WSV) disease-free while in some places like in Andhra Pradesh the infection rate is as high as 91 per cent, the MPEDA informed. In India, quality of broodstock has deteriorated owing to poor quality of broodstock, it informed.

Jairam Ramesh, who is presently visiting these islands for a stake holders meeting in Port Blair, was told that Pathogen-free status seen in the wild shrimps in Andaman could be attributed to the isolated geographic location of the Island which facilitate natural bio-security, free from shrimp farming or any other such human interventions so far.

Bio-security is very essential for India and in this part there should be bio-security so that pathogen-free broodstock could be produced and marketed from here for everyone's benefit, the Union minister said.

However, Andaman and Nicobar Administration, with the help of Central Agricultural Research Institute is planning to take Tiger shrimp culture in a bigger way for tsunami affected farmers but MPEDA said this action could result in contamination in the long run and affect Indian Economy.

To settle this difference in opinions of A&N Administration and MPEDA, the Minister has also asked the Andaman and Nicobar Administration to appoint an expert consultancy firm who will submit reports in three months and final steps would be taken thereafter.

Presently India is earning 1.7 billion dollars from export and 64 per cent of it comes from frozen shrimp. '' We have a plan to raise this earning from 1.7 billion dollars to 4 billion dollars by 2012,'' the minister said.

According to figures, India produces about 125000 MT of shrimp from a brackish water area of about 150,000 hectares. Although India has over 1.3 million hectares available for shrimp farming, the current exploitation is only 14 per cent of this. About 90 per cent of the shrimp farms in the country are owned by small and marginal farmers.

UNI