Environmentalist's Perspective: The Ugliness of Shrimp Farming

The chemical waste that appears in farmer’s land, a consequence from shrimp farming

Environmentalist:

While Shrimp farming may be a highly lucrative business, as an environmentalist, I believe that it has a negative effect on the environment. Mangrove forests are found in silt-rich habitats worldwide, generally along large rivers and coastal areas. Low trees, almost exclusively mangroves, with a low canopy, characterize it.
Mangroves are evergreen trees and shrubs that are well adapted to their salty and swampy habitat; they have breathing roots that emerge from the oxygen-deficient mud to absorb oxygen. Their location combined with their low value makes mangrove forests ideal areas for shrimp farming. This form of aquaculture comes at the expense of the natural fish and shrimp, since mangroves are critical spawning and nursery grounds for many commercially important species. Additionally, mangrove forests protect coastal regions against storm damage and erosion. Mangrove forests are rapidly disappearing due to shrimp farming, harvesting for timber and charcoal, and conversion for tourism.

The Environmental Justice Foundation estimates that as much as 38% of global mangrove deforestation is linked to shrimp farm development (Páez-Osuna 2001). Shrimp feed on plankton and other microorganisms that can be grown by adding antibiotics and chemical fertilizers to shrimp ponds. Pollution from ponds is flushed into the surrounding ecosystem by tides. The release of antibiotics into natural systems increases resistance among bacteria and threatens human and livestock populations with infection (Owen 2004). Shrimp farming needs to be regulated more carefully or stopped all together in order to preserve these mangroves.

Sources:

Picture: (Date accessed: February 22, 2013). "Sustainable Development In Action." Dangers on the Environment. assets.knowledge.allianz.com/img/farming_muddy_feet_ah_52814.jpg

Owen, J. (2004) Shrimp’s Success Hurts Asian Environment, Group Says. National Geographic. (Date accessed: February 20, 2013.) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/06/0621_040621_shrimpfarm.html

Páez-Osuna, F. (2001) The environmental impact of shrimp aquaculture: causes, effects, and mitigating alternatives. PubMed. (Date accessed: February 20, 2013.) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11436996.