KOCHI: After successfully developing the farming model of Litonpeneus vannamei suitable to the conditions of the State, the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (Kufos) is now gearing up to set up Kerala’s first ever vannamei hatchery.
The decision to set up the hatchery was taken at a meeting attended by the senior officials of the University presided over by vice chancellor B Madhusoodana Kurup. KUFOS has sought the permission of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), Chennai for converting its newly-completed hatchery complex in Puthuvype as the vannamei shrimp hatchery. The proposed hatchery will be able to produce around 20 lakh of seeds within one year.
‘’The varsity in association with Central Institute of Brackish water Aquaculture (CIBA) has been putting efforts to develop vannamei farming technologies in varying densities. The feed developed by CIBA will also be experimented along with the other commercial feeds for the farming of vannamei, ‘’ Varsity authorities said.
At the initial stage, the hatchery will also be utilised for farming purposes of the University and the farmers associated with it. In the second phase, vannamei shrimp will be cultured in 11 more ponds with a size of 1,000 square metre each. “ The seeds will be released in varying densities of 50-60 per square metre in order to find out the most profitable density to the farmers in the State and to standardize the culture period for optimum production. Conditioning of the ponds and other arrangements of precautionary measures including bio-security will be started at the earliest, helping the Varsity to launch the farming in mid-September. It is expected to produce 11 tonnes of vannamei from as many as 11 ponds,” they said.
It has also been decided to cooperate with other agencies, both public and private, which have evinced interest in this area. The varsity will also extend assistance to farmers to get licence from the CAA for starting the vannamei farming. As part of this, a State-level exhibition-cum-training programme will be organised at KUFOS next month.
“KUFOS is planning to develop a vannamei farming system similar to the one followed by Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, by fully exploiting the potentials of brackish water resources in Kerala, thus increasing the aquaculture production from the State”, the VC said.
The projects are being guided by a committee with Fisheries Station head K Dinesh as the principal investigator and director of Etension Daisy C Kappen, K Ranjeet, SM Raffi, Anu Gopinath and Chiranjeevi Pradhan as the co-investigators of the project.