Govt notifies guidelines to regulate hatcheries, farm operations for shrimp, finfish

The Centre has notified guidelines for regulating operations of hatcheries and farms engaged in indigenous shrimp and marine finfish.

On June 26, the Department of Fisheries notified 'Hatcheries and Farms for Seed Production and Culture of Indigenous Shrimp in Marine and Brackishwater Guidelines, 2025' that seeks to safeguard and regulate the operation of hatcheries as well as farms for indigenous shrimp.

The guidelines has listed application criteria for registration of hatchery for indigenous shrimp, sanitary requirements, water intake, water treatment and discharge of waste water, broodstock collection, disease reporting and record maintenance, quarantine and inspections, among others.

Hatcheries engaged or intending to be engaged in indigenous shrimp seed production, having the required biosecurity facilities and in-house quarantine facility, would be eligible to apply for registration under the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Act, 2005 and the Coastal Aquaculture Authority Rules, 2024 to procure indigenous shrimp broodstock or to acquire from indigenous domesticated source and to produce and sell nauplii or post larvae of these shrimp.

Under sanitary norms, the guidelines specified that entry to the hatchery would be restricted to the personnel assigned to work exclusively in this area.

The approval of the hatchery for rearing indigenous shrimp seed would be given by the Authority after due inspection of the facilities.

Any disease outbreak in the hatchery needs to be reported immediately to the Authority.

The guidelines also specified norms and regulations for approval and operation of farms, stating that ''tested and certified seed shall be procured only from hatcheries authorised for production of indigenous shrimp''.

The farmers shall maintain a detailed record of the name and address of the hatchery from which they procured the seed.

''Farms shall establish the biosecurity measures such as fencing, reservoir ponds for water treatment, bird-scare, separate implements for each of the ponds, etc., and be managed by personnel who are trained or experienced in the management of biosecurity measures,'' it said.

Separately, the Department of Fisheries has notified 'Hatcheries and Farms for Seed Production and Culture of Marine Finfishes Guidelines, 2025'.

On June 30, the department also notified 'Hatcheries and Rearing Units for Marine or Brackishwater Ornamental Organisms Guidelines, 2025'.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)