Vietnam's Shrimp Farming: Portents for US Gulf Coast?

Photo coutesy Wikimedia Commons.

According to a story on the UPI wire, dated May 4, 2007, Vietnam – like most of the third world, is now a leading shrimp supplier to the U.S. Most of the harvest is raised in its southern sections. That whole region is quite reliant upon its fishing industries. But it is there, in this particular Southeast Asian country that shrimp farming is performed much like an industry, and as such, also threatens the coastline.

Specifically, Vietnam’s fish farming industry imperils the coral reefs. Districts with highly concentrated shrimp farming operations depend upon hormones, antibiotics, pesticides, fertilizers, and disinfectants to keep shrimp productive. Many of these objectionable byproducts (and the EDCs) are discharged into the ocean, where they destroy both the reefs and the supplies of fish, which serve as a staple to locals.

Shrimp farming is a fickle business. Unseasonable variations in salinity, as well as that of temperatures can effectively kill off a shrimp crop. As shrimp become sick, the illness often spreads swiftly through waters from one pond to the next.
However, successful fish farming creates income wherever in the world it is located, be it in the more rural regions where poverty is high, or along the Gulf Coast of the United States -- so long as the operators apply high-quality sustainable practices that don't devastate the ecology or their own shrimp ponds.

It is my fervent wish to help in the development of healthier and less destructive fish farming practices through the use of affordable and effective technologies.