studies on improved practices of prawn farming for higher ...

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II. Fish and shrimp farming in relatively larger and deeper
eastern fields throughout the year as seen in certain areas of central
Kerala and in the large "Bheries" of West Bengal.
III. Paddy cum fish cultured in the rainy season as practised
chiefly in Goa and the West Bengal fields.
Of the 1.4 m ha of brackishwater areas of the coastal plains in
India, 0.9 m ha dees to be potential areas for shrimp farming
development. But only 65100 ha are currently under culture (MPEDA,
1992).
India ranked 4th during 1991 by producing 6.3% of the shrimps
raised fro the eastern hemisphere (Bob Rosenberry, 1991).
India producing 35,000 tonnes/annum from 2500 farms following
traditional methods indicate a production of only about 538 kg/ha/year
that too comprising low valued shrimps. In comparison, Mexico, Ecuador
and Panama produce 2-3 tonnes/ha/year through extensive culture while
that of’ Japan and Taiwan ‘produce 40 G 20 tonnes/ha/year adopting
intensive and semi-intensive farming respectively (World shrimp Farming
1991). Recently, farmers in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa
and West Bengal adopting scientific methods have already achieved a
production of upto 8.5 tonnes/ha/crop at selected farms (Anon, 1990 G
1992).
Since 1982, there has been rapid increase in the culture of_§.
_monodon [Muthu et al.,1988) in brackishwater ponds in the central areas
(deltaic regions) of the Godavari and Krishna rivers extending in an
area of 1170 ha. In pump fed farms in East Godavari tiger prawns of
25-30 g size were produced at the rate of 650 kg/ha/crop of 7-8 months
duration by stocking 50,000 seed/hectare. The shrimps reared in the
ponds, fertilised with cowdung and super phosphate were fed with blood
clam meat, trash fish and dried prawn head waste. The prospects of
conventional pump fed ponds over that of tide fed ponds were