A Fish Seed Analyst, a Fish Seed Inspector and a laboratory of its own: the fish seed law of Kerala

Background

The quality of the seed that stocks a fish pond in Kerala is held to an Act of 2014. It was published as Act 4 of 2015 and it regulates quality in the production, marketing and stocking of fish seed. Fish seed means the larval stages or juveniles of aquatic life used for stocking confined or open waters, and it takes in ornamental fish seed and the seed of prawns, crabs and molluscs. A hatchery is a place where brooders are kept and fish seed produced, and a fish farmer is anyone who owns, or has taken on lease, land or a water body and rears seed in it. The Act treats seed brought into Kerala from other States or from outside India as import, and taking it out as export. The Act provides a Fish Seed Laboratory, a Fish Seed Inspector to check and a Fish Seed Analyst to test for pathogens, size and quality. An Authorised Officer, an Adjudicating Officer and an Appellate Authority complete the chain.