The Fisheries Ministry is promoting shrimp cultivation to double the present income from the shrimp production. Fisheries Minister Douglas Devananda held a special meeting at the Ministry recently in this regard. NARA, NAQDA Senior Officials, Senior Ministry Officials, shrimps hatchery owners, shrimp exporters and shrimp cultivators were present. They discussed eight problems of the stakeholders in the field including breeding, exporting and bio-security systems.
The hatchery owners urged the Minister and the NAQDA Officials to take immediate sustainable action to thwart diseases such as Hepatopancreatic microsporidiosis and white spot disease, which affect shrimps causing a hurge loss for the industry. There are 55 large scale shrimp hatcheries and of them 39 farms are functioning well now, they said.
Minister Devananda instructed the the NAQDA and NHRA Management to take immediate steps to curb the diseases spreading in the shrimp hatcheries and the shrimp cultivation farms and also to introduce internationally accepted disease resistant technologies and shrimp varieties to the field. He requested the stakeholders in the industry including the Ministry officials and scientists to take preventive action to prevent the white spot disease.
In 2021, the country exported 4,747 metric tonnes of value added shrimps worth Rs. 8462 million. They seek the assistance of the Veterinary Department of the Peradeniya University and the Sri Lanka Aqua Cultivation Alliance as well in preventing the diseases.