NAGAPATTINAM: Shrimp farmers in Nagapattinam district are a worried lot as white spot disease has affected over 100 acres of shrimp farming over the past month. The loss is estimated to amount to crores in rupees. Officials of the Marine Products Export Development Authority said as many as 40 hectares of shrimp farming have been hit by the viral disease in the district.
Sources said aqua farmers in the district have been complaining about troupes of shrimps perishing in the viral disease attack over the past one month. Shrimps are farmed along the coastline betwixt Nagore and Kodiyakarai. M Chandirabose, whose shrimp farm spans around five acres in Therkku Poigainallur in Nagapattinam district, said, "Tons of shrimps aged in the age group of one month died due to the viral disease. The loss I incurred amount of over Rs 5 lakh.
I usually harvest around 15 tons of shrimps. But only 200 kilos of shrimps harvested have turned out to be healthy. Others died due to the disease." An official of the fisheries department said the disease is primarily fluid-borne. "Birds could also spread the disease by picking up infected shrimps from one farm and dropping them in another."
Meanwhile, experts advised the farmers to chlorinate farm ponds to curb the spread of the disease. The farmers affected have been advised to insure their farms so as to alleviate the loss incurred. According to sources, Inland aquaculture is under the governance of the Coastal Aquaculture Authority. The MPEDA has been surveying the impact of the disease over the past month.