~ 392 ~ International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 2020; 8(4): 392-400 E-ISSN: 2347-5129 P-ISSN: 2394-0506 (ICV-Poland) Impact Value: 5.62 (GIF) Impact Factor: 0.549 IJFAS 2020; 8(4): 392-400 © 2020 IJFAS www.fisheriesjournal.com Received: 28-06-2020 Accepted: 30-07-2020 Sahadevan P Department of Aquaculture and Fishery Microbiology, MES Ponnani College Ponnani, Malappuram, Kerala, India Sureshkumar S School of Ocean Science and Technology, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, Panangad, Kochi, Kerala, India Corresponding Author: Sahadevan P Department of Aquaculture and Fishery Microbiology, MES Ponnani College Ponnani, Malappuram, Kerala, India Estimation of farmed shrimp production in Kerala Sahadevan P and Sureshkumar S DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/fish.2020.v8.i4e.2297 Abstract Aquaculture of shrimps and prawns has made significant advances during the last four decades in India. Kerala (in South India) is one of the important states contributing to farmed shrimp production in the country. However, in spite of its importance, the quantity of shrimp produced through aquaculture in the state is not recorded with certainty. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) publishes information on the farmed shrimp production of the various states of the country including Kerala, annually. But the information published is more or less restricted to the production of only two species Penaeus monodon (Fabricius, 1798) and Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931) which are exported from the country. In Kerala majority of the shrimp farms undertake traditional farming in which, other species of shrimps like Penaeus indicus, H. Milne Edwards, 1837, Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798) Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miers, 1878) etc. are also harvested. The data published by MPEDA does not reflect the production of these species. Similarly, the productivity figures published are limited to scientific farms alone. Thus, there is a need to estimate the species-wise total shrimp production of the state from the farming (both traditional as well as the scientific farming) sector. The present study was undertaken to estimate the total farmed shrimp production of Kerala adopting a slightly modified version of the sampling design developed by the Central Inland Capture Fisheries Research Institute (Indian Council of Agricultural Research), Barrackpore, West Bengal and recommended by the Fisheries Division of Department of Agriculture and Co-operation, Government of India and to assess the productivity of shrimp farms. The total area under shrimp farming in Kerala during 2017-2018 was estimated to be 10, 599.26 ha. of which 8,430.98 ha. was under traditional farming and 2,168.28 ha was under scientific farming. In the study the annual farmed shrimp production of the state was estimated to be 2,952.56 metric tonnes (t). Of this, the contribution of traditional sector was 2,174.80 t (73.66%) and that of the scientific sector was 777.76 t (26.34%). The productivity of shrimp farms in the state was calculated to be 932.08 kg ha -1 year -1 which is very low compared to that of other states in the country. Keywords: Aquaculture, traditional shrimp culture, productivity 1. Introduction Aquaculture of shrimps and prawns has made significant advances during the last four decades in many parts of the world, including India [1] . In the year 2018, the world produced around 4 million metric tonnes (t) of farmed shrimp which represents around 54% of the total global shrimp production [2] . During 2017-2018, India produced 6.80 lakh t of shrimp through farming [3] . During the last decade (2008- 2018) the country registered an unprecedented average annual growth rate of 27.60% in farmed shrimp production. Kerala is one of the important states contributing to farmed shrimp production in India. However, information on the quantity of farmed shrimp produced in the state is not known with certainty. Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) publishes information on the farmed shrimp production of the various states in the country, including Kerala, annually [4] . However, the information on shrimp production published is more or less restricted to the production of only two species Penaeus monodon (Fabricius, 1798) and Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone, 1931). In Kerala majority of the shrimp farms undertake traditional farming in which, other species of shrimps like Penaeus indicus, H. Milne Edwards, 1837, Metapenaeus monoceros (Fabricius, 1798), Metapenaeus dobsoni (Miers, 1878) etc. are also harvested [5] . The data published by MPEDA does not reflect the production of these species. Similarly, the productivity figures published are limited to scientific farms alone. It is well known that crop yields in pond aquaculture vary depending on the culture intensity. According to Tucker and Hargreaves [6] , yields in ponds vary by at least two orders of