ABSTRACT
Coastal Aquaculture Authority of the Government of India, Chennai is the agency for granting permission to import vannamei brood stock and for giving permissions for vannamei culture by farmers. A vital sector for the sustainable development of coastal aquaculture is the feed and feed inputs. The dwindling catch rates in capture fisheries and rampant unemployment in the coastal region focus towards the development of mariculture and coastal aquaculture as a remunerative alternate occupation. Coastal aquaculture is mainly concentrated in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Orissa, West Bengal and Gujarat. The Central marine Fisheries Research Institute is the pioneering institution in the country which has initiated mariculture research and has been developing appropriate mariculture technologies in India. In India, till date mariculture activities have been confined to coastal brackish water aquaculture, mainly shrimp farming.
