ICAR-CIFRI organized a mass awareness camp on “Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease”
(AHPND)/ Early Mortality Syndrome (EMS) at Hasnabad, North 24 Parganas, in collaboration
with Department of Fisheries, Govt. of West Bengal and West Bengal University of Animal and
Fisheries Sciences (WBUAFS). Dr. A. K. Bera, Principal Scientist; Dr. P. K. Parida, Scientist
and Ms. Tanuja Abdulla, Scientist of ICAR-CIFRI, Barrackpore; Prof. Gadadhar Dash, Prof. T.
J. Abraham of WBUAFS and Mr. Sampat Maji, ADF, Govt. of West Bengal were interacted
with the shrimp farmers. The progarmme was aimed to aware the Shrimp farmers about AHPND
and its impact and precautionary steps to be taken, as the disease outbreak has occurred in
Satkhira, Bangladesh, the boarding district with North 24 Parganas of West Bengal, India. Mr.
Maji informed about the programme and its importance for the shrimp farmers. Dr. P. K. Parida
presented the details about AHPND/EMS and the economic loss to the farmers in the occurrence
of EMS. He also elaborated about the symptoms of the disease and the precautionary steps to be
taken to reduce the impact of EMS. Dr. Gadadhar Dash informed on the ways of identifying the
healthy shrimp seed, stocking density to be maintained, precautionary steps to be taken etc.
Farmers were interacted with all the scientists and asked about their doubts in shrimp farming
and steps to be taken for bio-security. Ms. Nadita Mallick and Mr. Dhurba Sen FEO of Hasnabad
requested the farmers to inform the Fisheries office regarding the occurrence of EMS or other
diseases in shrimp. A pamphlet on AHPND prepared in the local language (Bengali) was
distributed among the shrimp farmers of Hasnabad block. The programme was attended by 100
farmers from Hasnabad, Makalgachha and Sulkuni villages. As the pond preparation is going on
in Hasnabad area, it was an eye opening for the shrimp farmers to take precautionary actions to
tackle AHPND. The programme was supported by ICAR-NBFGR and NFDB, Govt. of India.