Tsunami ravages shrimp exports

STATE UPDATE: TAMIL NADU

Perumal Govindan (name changed), who owns two shrimp hatcheries, is distressed as it is already March and the cultivation of shrimps has not started as yet.

The shrimp aqua cultivation season starts between January and February, when fishermen bring the broodstock (mother prawns) from the sea to the hatcheries.

R Munnuswamy (name changed), another hatchery owner, explains gloomily that since the tsunami wrecked most of the fishing boats and fishing nets, fishermen were unable to venture into the sea to collect broodstock, essential for shrimp hatcheries. Many hatchery owners are devastated as they will have to wait till June, the next season, to start aquaculture, he adds.

It is over two months since the tsunami hit the shores of Tamil Nadu on December 26, a Sunday, at around 9 a.m. The state's fishermen have resumed fishing but the ripples of the tsunami are still being felt in an unexpected area - shrimp exports.

Govindan gives vents to his feeling by saying that the beginning of the new year has been very unfortunate for people like him who are dependent on the sea for a livelihood.

Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly half of the country's shrimp export, valued at Rs 4,550 crore. Shrimp exports account for almost 70 per cent of the country's seafood exports worth about Rs 6,500 crore. Shrimps are mainly exported to the US, the European Union and Japan.

A J Tharakan, president, Seafood Exporters' Association of India, estimates that seafood exports will fall by 15 per cent this year because of the tsunami.

The tsunami is estimated to have damaged over 7,000 mechanised boats (including out-board and in-board motorboats), apart from about 30,000 country craft which were either fully or partially damaged and about 32,000 fishing nets.

The giant waves had also damaged over 40 of the 73 shrimp hatcheries in Tamil Nadu. The shrimp hatcheries are situated less than a kilometre from the sea and are found near coastal towns like Karaikal, Nagapattinam, Cuddalore and Kanyakumari.

The water intake systems at the hatcheries were seriously damaged. These systems are located at carefully chosen spots as they have to withstand the force of high and low tides and continuously supply sea water to the hatcheries.

Munnusamy says that the killer wave not only damaged his hatchery's water intake system but also changed the quality of water by leaving behind a lot of debris. Since sea water contains a lot of small sediments, a filteration mechanism is installed in all hatcheries.

Shrimps are sensitive creatures and clean sea water is crucial for their growth. However, the filters installed by the hatcheries do not have the capacity to filter debris, he adds.

Govindan says that shrimp aquaculture is almost similar to the cultivation of paddy - a lot of care is required at various stages of the development of the shrimp so as to reap a good harvest.

There are three important phases in shrimp aquaculture before they are ready for exports. It starts with the hatcheries; the shrimps are then passed on to aquaculture farms and finally sent to the processing plant. Very few shrimp exporters in the country have all the three processes vertically integrated. The investment involved in setting up only a hatchery is around Rs 1 to 3 crore.

The entire process of aquaculture begins with the mother prawns being captured in clusters from the sea, which are then sent to the hatcheries to breed.

The eggs of the mother prawn takes almost 14 to 16 hours to hatch into larva. The hatchery has a sterile environment and the temperature is carefully monitored: it ranges between 28 degree Celsius and 32 degree Celsius, says Munnusawamy.

According to National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) estimates, Tamil Nadu's 73 hatcheries have a production capacity of 3,000 million post-larvae. The larvae are transferred in water bags and sent to aquaculture ponds.

The average shrimp farm area is less than five acres. Here, they are first kept in nursery ponds for a week till the larvae adjust to the new environment and then are transferred to larger ponds. The shrimps are carefully monitored in these ponds and fed with 'pelletised', an artificial fish meal.

After four months in these ponds, when these shrimps weigh about 30 to 35 gm, they are harvested and sent to the processing plants. Processing plants are subject to checks by the export inspection council and will have to adhere to the strict norms imposed by the US and EU.

The shrimps are then cleaned and frozen in the processing plant for export. The exported shrimps are subject to rigorous inspection in US as well as the EU.

If there is a silver lining in this grim situation, it is that the US may be withdrawing the anti dumping duty of 9.45 per cent it imposed last December.

The US International Trade Commission (USITC) has said that it may review the anti-dumping duty because the Indian and Thai shrimp industries have been severely effected by the tsunami. By the end of next month, we will know the results of the USITC's ruling, adds Tharakan. Till then, shrimp exporters can only keep their fingers crossed.