~ 377 ~ International Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Studies 2020; 8(4): 377-384 E-ISSN: 2347-5129 P-ISSN: 2394-0506 (ICV-Poland) Impact Value: 5.62 (GIF) Impact Factor: 0.549 IJFAS 2020; 8(4): 377-384 © 2020 IJFAS www.fisheriesjournal.com Received: 22-06-2020 Accepted: 26-07-2020 Bandla Seshagiri Regional Research Centre, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Poranki, Andhra Pradesh, India MVS Nagireddy Agriculture Mission, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India V Ramachandra Raju Delta Fish Farmers Welfare Association, Eluru, Andhra Pradesh, India S Nagireddy Nagarjuna Fisheries Trust, Telaprolu, Andhra Pradesh, India PV Rangacharyulu Regional Research Centre, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Poranki, Andhra Pradesh, India Ramesh Rathod Regional Research Centre, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Poranki, Andhra Pradesh, India V Ratnaprakash Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Vinayashramam, Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, India Corresponding Author: Bandla Seshagiri Regional Research Centre, ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture, Poranki, Andhra Pradesh, India Impact of nationwide lockdown on freshwater aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh, India Bandla Seshagiri, MVS Nagireddy, V Ramachandra Raju, S Nagireddy, PV Rangacharyulu, Ramesh Rathod and V Ratnaprakash DOI: https://doi.org/10.22271/fish.2020.v8.i4e.2295 Abstract Aquaculture has been recognized as instrumental in generating income and rural employment besides stimulating growth of a number of ancillary industries. It has increased manifold in Andhra Pradesh in recent times in comparison to agriculture as it brings more profit and requiring less labour per unit area. Outbreak of coronavirus has not only disrupted aquaculture activities but had impact on the farmers’ economy. It affected stocking, pre and post harvesting activities due to prolonged lockdown. Paucity of labor, shortage of inputs, lack of transportation and decline in marketing has complicated the difficulties of aqua farmers. Fish transports have reduced by 85% in domestic markets. Leading urban fish markets in India are operating with less than 10% of workers. Hatchery operators skipped pre-monsoon breeding losing one-third of seed production. Farmers were incurring 10 to 18% losses on production cost. Most of the farm labour are migrant workers. Farm repairs and machine operations affected due to scarcity of manpower. Seed stocking delayed due to suspension of fish harvests. Although, government has exempted fisheries from lockdown, farming operations hampered due to difficulties in social distancing. Retail markets and livelihood of women fish vendors were severely affected. Overall nationwide lockdown imposed to check the spread of COVID-19 has delivered a blow on the morale of the aqua farmers as also affecting the Indian economy. Keywords: Coronavirus, lockdown, aquaculture, fisheries, Andhra Pradesh 1. Introduction Fisheries sector in India, has recorded higher growth rate than of the crop and livestock sectors and contributes to the livelihood of a large section of the economically underprivileged population of the country (Kumar et al., 2006) [1] . It has been recognized as instrumental in generating income and rural employment besides stimulating growth of a number of ancillary industries. Further, fisheries provide economical and nutritious food, besides being a foreign exchange earner to the exchequer (Ayyappan and Krishnan, 2004) [2] . Aquaculture has increased manifold in Andhra Pradesh in recent times in comparison to agriculture as it brings more profit than agriculture besides requiring less labour per unit area (Sushmakrishna et. al., 2019) [3] . Andhra Pradesh has been contributing to 25% to the fish production in India in recent years through an effective strategy in both coastal and freshwater aquaculture and marketing. The state has 5.17 lakh ha of freshwater ponds and tanks, 11,514 km of rivers and canals, 4.58 lakh ha of reservoirs and 150,000 ha of water areas suitable for coastal aquaculture. The inland fish production is 3.49 million tons (PIB, 2019; Srikanth, 2020) [4,5] including 6.04 lakh ton of marine fish along with farmed shrimp in brackish waters (Keelery, 2019) [6] . Andhra Pradesh is achieving rapid progress in aquaculture with vast potential for the development of fish and prawn cultivation and sea food production. The fish and prawn production has 6.04 per cent share in the Gross State Domestic Production (GSDP) and providing direct employment to 14.5 lakh people (Ameen, 2018) [7] . Nationwide lockdown which was declared on account of COVID-19 would not have arrived at a worse time than ever for the aquaculture sector in Andhra Pradesh that contributes significantly to Gross State Domestic Production (Kumar, 2018) [8] . The present study emerged from the need for information as there is no existing data that to analyze the impact of lockdown on ongoing crop, harvest and post-harvest events in freshwater aquaculture in Andhra Pradesh