Thai Forests Falling Prey to Shrimp Farms

A little animal that spawned a big export industry has grown into an even bigger problem in Thailand.

Black tiger prawns provide the lion’s share of profits for Thailand’s fishing industry. Fish are the country’s fourth-largest export and shrimp account for 70% of the catch, reeling in $2.2 billion in 1996.

But those profits are coming at a tremendous cost to the environment.

Most shrimp are not caught at sea, but raised on farms among the mangrove forests along Thailand’s southern coasts. The methods used by Thai shrimp farmers are destroying the forests at a rapid rate.

As the dense, water-rooted trees disappear, so do dozens of fish and fowl species that use their cover as breeding and feeding grounds.

Since 1979, when the industry took off and put Thailand in the forefront of a global boom in aquaculture, almost 50% of the country’s mangroves have been lost.

“Shrimp farming is the main factor,” said Professor Sanit Aksornkoae, a mangrove forest expert at Kasetsart University.

Some mangrove is cleared for shrimp operations, some slowly killed by farm runoff.

Some agricultural experts in Bangkok blame the government’s Fisheries Department for encouraging Thais to enter the shrimp farming business without teaching them how to better prevent ecological damage.

Recognizing the problem, the Fisheries Department recently launched four test projects in conjunction with Thai agro-industrial conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Group and other private companies to try to develop more environment-friendly farming methods.

They hope to curb the damage to the mangroves while sustaining an industry that has provided a good living for many Thais.