Mariculture advancemnts in India: Towards a new epoch

Until recently, monoculture of either Penaeus monodon or Litopenaeus vannamei was the major mariculture species in India. However, due to disease setbacks, there was an extensive push from national R&D institutions to develop new-age mariculture technologies. This led to the first successful demonstration of open sea cage farming along the south-east coast of India, and subsequently, various marine finfish and shellfish mariculture sites were set up along the country’s coastline. A few bottlenecks remain, particularly regarding commercial seed production, species-specific feed formulations and comprehensive sea space management plans, but R & D on breeding and seed production technologies for candidate species continues apace to support the imminent expansion of sustainable mariculture in the country