Chennai-based facility successfully quarantines US shrimps

Chennai-based Aquatic Quarantine Facility (AQF) has successfully quarantined 3,600 whiteleg shrimps from Hawaii. The shrimps were quarantined for five days with 97.12 per cent of survival before handing them over to the hatchery operators.

Kochi: Chennai-based Aquatic Quarantine Facility (AQF) has successfully quarantined 3,600 whiteleg shrimps from Hawaii, USA, at a time when the world is reeling under the COVID-19 pandemic. The marine species landed in the city on June 4 through a chartered flight arranged by six hatchery operators.

The shrimps were quarantined for five days with 97.12 per cent of survival before handing them over to the hatchery operators, the Marine Products Exports Development Authority (MPEDA) said in a statement here on Friday.

The efforts of the facility ensured the high survival percentage of the species, and this was appreciated by the hatchery operators and farmers, the MPEDA chairman Srinivas said in the statement. He lauded the Coastal Aquaculture Authority of the Ministry of Fisheries for the successful operation of AQF.

"During the COVID-19 pandemic and the prolonged lockdown, AQF was open in May and planned to accommodate maximum hatcheries and import maximum whiteleg shrimps to ensure that the hatcheries get adequate brooders to produce seeds, he said.

Another 25,000 numbers of broodstock are expected to be quarantined by this month-end, the statement added. The AQF, which was established in 2009, is being operated by Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Aquatics (RGCA), an institution under the Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA). India stands second in shrimp production in the world.

(PTI)