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Farmers can earn up to 25 times more by cultivating shrimp instead if rice. (IDRC Photo)

A group of Canadian academics is helping the Thai government reach important decisions about one of its biggest exports.

A heated debate has been raging in Thailand for years, embroiling politicians, scientists, environmentalists and farmers. The argument is over an industry that, some say, is threatening the environment and others feel is important to sustain their economy.

The commodity that is causing such an uproar? Shrimp. Well, shrimp farming, to be exact.

Research aimed at policymakers

Brian Szuster is a part of the University of Victoria-based Shrimp Aquaculture Research Group that has been studying shrimp farming and its impacts in order to recommend to the Thai government ways to improve the shrimp farming industry while protecting the environment.

An International Development Research Centre’s (IDRC) Doctoral Research Award (IDRA) enabled Szuster to study the rapidly-growing industry and its environmental concerns while completing his PhD in geography at the University of Victoria in 1998.

"Obtaining that money from IDRC allowed me to stay in the country for an extended period of time and build a contact network and relationships that allowed me to do the work," says Szuster.

Szuster was able to spend eight months in Thailand studying the impacts of the controversial shrimp ponds on the environment in the basin of the Bang Pakong river, one of the many sites of inland shrimp farms.

Shrimp farms moving inland

Shrimp farming has boomed in the past few decades. It now accounts for about 30 per cent of the world’s shrimp supply. Thailand is the world’s largest producer of cultivated shrimp. In 1999 alone the nation earned about US$2 billion in export revenues from the crustaceans.

The demand for shrimp has resulted in more and more farms emerging in Asian countries as farmers convert traditional rice paddies into shrimp ponds in an effort to get a piece of the profits. In a good year, a farmer can earn up to 25 times more by cultivating shrimp instead of rice.

Shrimp thrive in a mixture of saltwater and freshwater, which is naturally found along the coastlines of many tropical countries. For decades, all shrimp farming was confined to these coastlines. But the practice of harvesting shrimp has outgrown Thailand’s more than 2,700 km of coastline. In the 1990s, farms began to appear as far as 100-150 km inland from the coast. With them came the controversy.

Invading agricultural land

To establish inland shrimp farms, saltwater is trucked in and mixed with local freshwater in ponds. These are usually constructed in rice paddy fields since they are already supplied with the necessary quantity of freshwater.

Environmentalists and scientists see this invasion of agricultural land as a problem. They believe the ponds cause salinisation of the soil, rendering it less useful for traditional farming, and pollute waterways if not constructed properly.

Farmers who depend on the practice for their livelihood are backed by economists who say inland shrimp farming is important to sustain the nation’s growing economy.

Ban on inland shrimp farming

When the Thai media began reporting the potential dangers of inland shrimp farming in 1998, concerns led the Royal Thai government to ban inland shrimp farming in all freshwater provinces. In the years that have followed, the Thai government has been under pressure from both sides to either relax or enforce the ban.

It has become increasingly evident that policing is difficult. No one really knows how many farms exist (estimates range from 12,000 to 20,000) but as much as 40 per cent of Thailand’s overall farmed shrimp production may come from inland farms.

The appeal of inland shrimp farms is obvious. The survival rate of shrimp larvae is higher in inland ponds because they are less susceptible to viral diseases that can plague coastally-grown shrimp.

The environmental debate

Initially, inland shrimp farming seemed to solve an environmental problem, not cause one. The important mangrove trees that are found along the coasts of tropical countries such as Thailand were being cut down to make room for the prospering farms.

Public outcry has since slowed the practice – but obviously, not without cost. Inland farms can wreak havoc upon surrounding land and water. "A lot of organic waste can be produced by these farms if they’re not managed properly, and frankly, many of them are not managed very well," says Szuster.

During his months in Thailand, Szuster was able to form ties with government bodies and compile information to aid them in reaching decisions regarding the future of inland shrimp farming. His recommendations are only some of many that the Thai government will take into account when deciding on the ultimate fate of the inland shrimp farms.

Recommendations for change

"My recommendations were that the ban on inland shrimp farming should be maintained within inland provinces, but the practice could probably continue within coastal provinces that have a fairly long history of shrimp farming," says Szuster. He also suggested that it is critical that the Thai government work on improving the environmental management skills of shrimp farmers to reduce environmental impacts.

Szuster and his colleagues in the Department of Geography at the University of Victoria are continuing their work in Thailand for the next few years. In 2001, They received a $750,000 grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to work with Burapha University, located about 100 km southeast of Bangkok, on improving aquaculture management in Thailand.

Nadine Robitaille is a freelance writer based in Ottawa.

For more information:

Dr Mark Flaherty, Director, Shrimp Aquaculture Research Group, Department of Geography, University of Victoria, PO Box 3050, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada V8W 3P5; Phone: (250) 721-7337; Fax: (250) 721-6216; Email: flaherty@office.geog.uvic.ca

2002-05-24

News 14 of 17