The experts at Central Salt and Marine Chemicals Research Institute (CSMCRI) at Bhavnagar, Gujarat have suggested India should pursue Mariculture for ensuring food security, given its 7,500 km-long coastal line.
About:
Mariculture is the farming of aquatic plants and animals in salt water, either in the natural marine environment, or in land- or sea-based enclosures, such as cages, ponds, or raceways.
Thus, mariculture represents a subset of the larger field of aquaculture, which involves the farming of both fresh-water and marine organisms.
The major categories of mariculture species are: seaweeds, mollusks, crustaceans, and finfish.
Advantages:
Mariculture offers possibilities for sustainable protein-rich food production and for economic development of local communities.
It does not require pesticides, fertilizers and water for irrigation, which is an added advantage.
Threats: However, mariculture on an industrial scale may pose several threats to marine and coastal biological diversity due to, for example, wide-scale destruction and degradation of natural habitats, nutrients and antibiotics in mariculture wastes etc.
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