August 25, 2006

 

New shrimp farm rules aim to save Asian mangroves

 

 

Various UN agencies and the World Bank have hammered out a proposal for tougher industry guidelines for Asia's shrimp industry Tuesday (Aug 23).

 

The new regulations would require shrimp farming operations in Asia to avoid damaging mangrove swamps that protect coastal areas from tidal waves. 

 

Environmental devastation wreaked by shrimp farms across the region has driven policymakers to hammer out a strategy which aims to save natural resources and protect livelihoods,

 

At a meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the groups drafted a proposal to limit the environmental damage that shrimp farms, which have mushroomed along the coast have caused.  

 

Shrimp ponds accounted for 20 to 50 percent of mangrove clearances, said Lucy Emerton, an environmental economist with the World Conservation Union, IUCN.  Over the last 20 years, shrimp aquaculture had grown four-fold while mangrove forest areas had shrunk 26 percent.

 

Asia accounts for three-quarters of the world's production of farmed shrimp, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates.

 

As demand for shrimp grows, concern over sustainability has risen, creating more public awareness of food that meets environmental guidelines.

 

The new guidelines would most likely be an adaptation of Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) guidelines. NACA is a grouping of 17 nations that includes countries like India, China and Australia. The group published a set of eight principles for responsible shrimp farming, which FAO would be considering in September.

 

Once adopted, the guidelines would be incorporated in the national shrimp farming policies of the respective governments.

 

The rules address issues ranging from farm location, design and construction to questions of shrimp feeding, health and nutrition, food safety issues and concerns over sharing of the farm's benefits with surrounding communities.

 

Environmentalist Ben Brown, who works for the Mangrove Action Project in Indonesia, said the aquaculture industry is very far from adopting best practices.

 

In Asia, the average intensive shrimp farm is only in operation for two to five years before pollution and disease problems forced them to wind up their business, said Brown. The polluted soils left by shrimp farms often needed to be treated for years before it can be usable again, he said.