M. Muruganandam and PK Mishra
Indian Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, (ICAR-IISWC, Formerly Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute), 218, Kaulagarh Road, Dehra Dun-248 195, India
Fisheries sector in India has grown incredibly from the state of negligible to a potential contributor since independence with a phenomenal present fish production of 9.58 million tons (6.14 m t inland and 3.44 m t marine) with a growth rate of 5.9% (7.3% in freshwater and 3.7% in marine; The Handbook on Fisheries Statistics, 2014). About 9 kg per capita fish consumption and about 1.5 per cent contribution to GDP (5.0 percent of GDP from agriculture) comes from Fisheries in India. However, the demand-supply gap for fish in the country is ever increasing and that can only be bridged by expanding area, improving technologies and strategies of fish farming through various means such as application of biotechnological principles and promotion through Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) programmes. The IWM programmes aimed for management of natural resources and rural development promote the development of water resources, Water Harvesting Structures (WHS) and multi-sectoral farming practices including aquaculture, which enhance fisheries production. Most of the water resources developed under IWM are generally small-medium in size, seasonal in water availability and meant for multi-purpose uses like flood moderation, life-saving irrigation, groundwater recharge, water source for animal drinking and fish farming.
Although fish farming in WHS has varied and additional benefits, the associated inherent risk factors like water scarcity, reducing pond water depth, prevalence of clay turbidity in pond water for most periods and remoteness of the location of the water source cause operational difficulties, fish diseases, especially Epizootic Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS) and more production losses as compared to any other fish culture systems. These inherent risk factors could be solved by solutions from molecular biology and aquacultural biotechnology, which may include production of specific disease-free fish or prawn seedlings, early diagnosis of outbreak using modern techniques like Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and other immuno-diagnostic approaches. As widely known, aquaculture biotechnology holds immense scope for converting new discoveries made in fish biology into industrial and aquacultural applications through various tools and techniques such as recombinant-DNA (r-DNA), embryo transfer technology, chromosomal engineering, hybridoma technology, production of monoclonal antibodies and gene probe (DNA probe) for germplasm development or conservation, production of transgenic fish, diagnosis or treatment of major diseases and recycling of wastes. However, a little has been done on these fronts to benefit aquaculture despite vast potential in the country. A brief review on genetical and biotechnological applications for advancement of fisheries with special reference to the context of IWM is presented in the paper.