INDIA鈥檚 shrimp industry has been laid low by a deadly virus. A large proportion of this year鈥檚 harvest has died.
The disease flared up last September in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh in southern India, and has now spread to West Bengal. Together these three states make up the bulk of India鈥檚 shrimp exports.
According to the Marine Products Export Development Authority, India is the fourth largest exporter of shrimp in the world. The two main species are tiger shrimp and white shrimp.
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Experts do not agree on which virus is killing the shrimp. Fisheries experts blame the frantic pace at which shrimp farms are springing up all around the coast, with no monitoring of disease or pollution. They suggest that the disease may have been introduced with imported 鈥渟eed鈥� stock.
To prevent the disease spreading any further, the authorities have advised a break in shrimp farming for five months in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.