India's shrimp (also known as prawn) exports dominated the global supply market in 2014, with over 301,000 tonnes of tiger (Penaeus monodon) and whiteleg (Penaeus vanname/Litopenaeus vannamei) shrimp exported, primarily to the United States of America.
In March 2015 the Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India reported that just 8.5 per cent of the available brackish water was being utilized for shrimp production. Combined with a shift from primarily farming tiger shrimp to the faster growing whiteleg shrimp, the association predicted that with investment exports could increase to a value of $17 billion by 2017, representing a huge increase from the $3.21 billion achieved in 2014.
October 2015 saw a different announcement, this time coming from India’s Marine Products Export Development Authority - warnings about the spread of a microsporidian (parasitic fungus) Enterocytozoon Hepatopenaei (EHP) throughout India’s shrimp farms.
This article was written for (and appears in full at) The Fish Site.
Image: Asian Tiger Prawn/Shrimp. Credit Pawar Pooja/Wikimedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)