Pruning prawn farmers` ambitions
THIRTY per cent of the country's net prawn yield was "eaten up" by a suspected viral disease in coastal Andhra Pradesh's (AP) aquaculture belt. An entire crop of black tiger prawns was devastated by what some experts suspect was an invasion of the infectious haemotopoetic hypodermal necrosis (IHH-NV) virus in these export-oriented aquafarms. The loss of Rs 200 crore was borne by 80 large and 2,000 smallscale farms spread over 32,000 ha.
Fisheries experts are yet to explain how exactly the disease occurred. Says fisheries development commissioner Y S Yadav, "It is premature to pinpoint the causative organism. Field studies done by the AP government with the help of the Madras-based Central Institute of Brackish-water Aquaculture (CIBA) and Thai experts noted that the disease spread was hastened by overcrowded farms paying scant attention to environmental aspects."
K K Chandran, deputy director of the Marine Products Export Promotion Authority (MPEDA), blames systemic lapses. Chandran says that aquafarm operators ignored 4 MPEDA warning circulars since the disease was first noticed in September 1994. Recommendations to close affected farms and drain them off for an entire crop period went unheeded.
The farms suffer tremendous overcrowding, 1 hectare often housing up to 300,000 prawns. The Food and Agricultural Organization has documented how inadequate environmental care has wiped out the once-flourishing farms in the Philippines and Taiwan.
"There have been ample warnings about environmental fallouts. As the 'blue revolution' was gaining momentum during 1992, with several transnational companies coming in, environmentalists had warned about the consequences of intensive farming," Chandran recalls.
Field studies in Andhra Pradesh showed an abundance of dead organic matter, composed of excess feed and the growth shells shed by the prawns, in the ponds.
The Central fisheries department has now drafted a set of technical guidelines aimed at sustainable aquaculture. "As a matter of policy, we never encouraged intensive farming. Now we will be more strict," Yadav says. However, fisheries being a state subject, the governments and state pollution control boards will have to monitor the farms. The Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh governments have announced plans to move specific legislations in this regard. Aquafarms exceeding 10 ha will now have to procure environmental clearance.
But there has been no step so far to stop the discharge of untreated effluents -- decaying organic matter, chemical nutrients and antibiotics often abundantly used in the farms.
An ongoing baseline environmental study by the National Environment Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) in 6 spots in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu has pointed out the broader implications of unclean farming. Says Dr Bal, a senior scientist who headed the first phase of the study, "Most of the farms come up along the coastal creeks and recycle 30 per cent of the water regularly." The outflow could possibly damage coastal environment. Recycling with seawater also ups land salinity here. "Salinity has already rendered many drinking water sources useless and badly affected paddy cultivation," says K M Thomas, director of the NGO, the Delhi Forum, and spokesperson of the National Fishworkers' Forum.
NEERI now plans to help farmers design nominal treatment of ponds and has suggested largescale plantation of salinity-resistant plants near the coastal farms.
Meanwhile, growing resentment against aquafarms has caused occasional violent flare-ups in coastal Orissa, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.