52 JUNE 2025 • WORLD AQUACULTURE • WWW.WAS.ORG In addition to that, India got a major competitor. It began from the year 2021 until the present. That is Ecuador, whose production skyrocketed from approximately a million metric tons in 2021-22 to a current production level of 1.2 million metric tons. This growth was largely possible due to the APE (All Pathogen Exposed) line of broodstock in Ecuador, followed by improvements in feeding management, pond management, production area and operational scale, which was greater than India’s. Moreover, Ecuador had more vertical integration compared to the Indian shrimp industry, which is fragmented. This allowed large economies of scale for the shrimp farming industry in Ecuador and more competitive pricing than in India. All these cumulative factors resulted in stagnating growth of the Indian industry as the shrimp produced by the farmers became less economical for international buyers, who started to look to Ecuador as a potential supplier of certain shrimp sizes and grades. Production-related issues coupled with reduced price realization had a severe impact on the shrimp farmers’ success and sustainability. This severely affected many regions, especially regions like Gujarat where the production of L. vannamei shrimp went from 45,000 tons to barely 26,000 tons. There were difficulties in producing large sized vannamei shrimp, above 25 grams, due to aforementioned technical hurdles. This was very important for states like Gujarat where costs of production were high due to supplies of seed and feed to Gujarat from East India, followed by higher per unit electricity costs compared to Andhra Pradesh which was the major shrimp producing state of India. To give an example, the cost of production after factoring seed, feed, energy, workforce, other inputs including healthcare to produce 30 to 40 count per kg of L. vannamei in Gujarat was approximately USD 3.80 per kg compared to USD 3.25 in Andhra Pradesh. To summarize, above mentioned factors and concerns such as production efficiency, input costs, disease issues, reduced prices and reduced competitiveness had a profound impact on shrimp farmers’ profitability and this has been seen all over the shrimp producing regions of the nation to lesser or greater extent (Jory 2023). Revival of Black Tiger Farming in India Due to SPF P. monodon Black tiger has always been predominantly an Asian variety and has its significance and relevance in Asia. Since 1993, production has been variable, ranging from a low of 480,000 metric tons in 1997 to a high of 781,582 metric tons in 2010 (Ramaswamy, Mohan and Metian 2013). Due to the recent introduction of SPF P. monodon seed the shrimp farmers in India, especially the coastal FIGURE 3. Improved lines of shrimp were widely utilized during India’s “Vannamei Era.” FIGURE 4. Production rose to nearly 1 million metric tons at the height of the “Vannamei Era.”
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