Crustacean Culture Division of CIBA, Chennai conducted a six days hands on ‘Training on Shrimp and Mud Crab Aquaculture: A practical exposure’ from 20th to 25th September 2021 for beginners in brackishwater crustacean farming particularly shrimps and crabs. Dr. K.P. Jithendran, Director, ICAR-CIBA, inaugurated the training programme and briefed about the importance of offline training programmes in the field of aquaculture. He emphasized that the training is organized in such a way that more importance is given to the practical classes and hands on experience can be gained through this training. He also mentioned that this is the first training conducted in the offline mode by CIBA after the long gap of two years due to the COVID 19 pandemic associated lockdown and restrictions. Dr. C.P. Balasubramanian, SIC, Crustacean Culture Division, explained about the inception of the training programme and introduced the various topics that will be covered during the training classes. The SICs and CIBA faculty members attended the inauguration of the training programme.
Eight trainees from various states Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Assam participated in the six days training. The training programme consisted of 28 sessions including the theory as well as practical classes, which discussed in detail the pre stocking, post stocking, feeding, health management and economics in the shrimp and mud crab farming activities. A special lecture was delivered by Sri. John, Matha Shrimp hatchery, Patipulam, Chengalpattu district on the selection of quality shrimp seed. The practical classes for counting, age determination and quality assessment of post-larvae was arranged in Hisun shrimp hatchery, Patipulam. The chief guest of the valedictory session on 25th September, Dr. V. Kripa, Member secretary, Coastal Aquaculture Authority (CAA), Chennai also delivered a special invited lecture on the regulatory aspects and licensing of the coastal aqua farms. In the valedictory programme, Dr. Kripa expressed that CAA being a regulatory body is always in the support of the farmers and is working hard to bring all the farmers under the license. The Director, CIBA stressed upon that, the beginners in aquaculture field should always get hands on training before investing in aqua ventures and not to be carried away with the hype in the social media platforms. The trainees gave their feedback and opined that it was a very informative training programme and the one week they invested was fruitful. Certificates were distributed by the Chief guest, Director and faculties. The programme was coordinated by Dr. C.P. Balasubramanian, Dr. M. Jayanthi, Dr. Akshaya Panigrahi, Dr. S. Kannappan, Dr. Nila Rekha, Principal Scientists and Dr. Shyne Anand, Dr. N.S. Sudheer, Dr. T. N. Vinay, Mr. R. Aravind, Mr. Jose Antony, Mr. Biju, I.F., Scientists and Mr. S. Rajamanickam, Chief Technical Officer, Crustacean Culture Division.