Anew study by the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO) and All Creatures Great and Small (ACGS) have revealed some shocking facts on aquaculture in India. It was found that 100% of the fish and shrimp farms in India have hazardous levels of lead and cadmium.
“With careless use of antibiotics and insecticides, uncontrollable disease outbreaks, no attention to fish welfare and a looming threat of Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR), aquaculture is a ticking time bomb,” Observed Varda Mehrotra, the Executive Director of FIAPO.
The organisation has requested a central and state regulatory framework for freshwater and brackish water aquaculture.
FIAPO and ACGS studied about 250 fish and shrimp farms across the 10 highest fish producing states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Pondicherry, Gujarat, West Bengal, Odisha along with freshwater farms in Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Assam.
They found that 100% of the fish and shrimp farms in these states have toxic levels of lead and cadmium and all shrimp farms were found to be releasing this toxic wastewater directly into the nearby canals or estuaries.
A 100% of the fish farms had no outlets, this means dirty water is recirculated, posing a grave threat to fish and human health. Frequent disease outbreaks at 50% of the farms was also found. About 40% of the time, the farms resorted to heavy usage of antibiotics and insecticides to control diseases.
At several instances, farmers were found selling these diseased fish and shrimps at the local market to minimise their losses. 65% of the fish farms had poor dissolved oxygen levels, which means the fish were struggling to survive with high mortality rates.
It was also found that the banned fish species such as red-bellied piranha and catfish are also farmed intensively in several states.
“Such haphazard management practices also invite the risk of AMR, which is the next health catastrophe waiting to be unleashed, and it might be more disastrous than COVID. With each piece of dead fish and meat on our plate, we could be inviting our next visit to the hospital, as antibiotics are an integral part of farming these animals. Recently, a group of fisheries scientists called for greater awareness about AMR, addressing the need to curb the transmission of AMR bacteria to humans from fish and shrimps,” said FIAPO.
The organisation also pointed at the unhygienic conditions of meat markets and warned against malaria, typhoid and jaundice.
