Aquaculture

By Jill Schwartz

When the tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean in December of 2004, it killed hundreds of thousands of people, including almost 130,000 in the remote Indonesian province called Aceh.

In one of the world’s most remarkable humanitarian aid efforts ever, hundreds of entities came to Aceh to help communities deal with their loss and rebuild. World Wildlife Fund (WWF), whose staff in Aceh experienced the chaos firsthand, was one of them.

 Although WWF, like others, wants to help Aceh revitalize its economy as soon as possible, the organization also wants to use this as an opportunity to reconstruct in a way that is good for the environment. Indonesia is a disaster prone area. Healthy environments can help protect communities against the effects of future disasters and, in effect, raise the bar for disaster preparedness.

Under the direction of Dr. Aaron McNevin of the WWF-US Aquaculture Program, and with support from Cut Desyana of WWF-Indonesia’s Aceh Program Office, one of WWF’s main projects is rebuilding the traditional shrimp aquaculture industry in Aceh. Seafood production is the economic backbone in many developing countries, as it generates twice as much money for these countries than the production of tea, coffee, rice, sugar and meat combined. Seafood, too, is one of the most popular sources of protein in developing countries.

Shrimp farming has been one of the largest industries in Aceh since the 1970s. Prior to the tsunami, approximately 90,000 people in Aceh were involved in shrimp farming. Aceh was known for its high quality head-on tiger shrimp, for which people in Japan would pay a premium. Most of the shrimp were raised in tambaks (brackish water ponds) on farms smaller than two acres. The majority of the farms were along the coast, in the ecologically sensitive “greenbelt” where mangroves had been cleared to make room for the farms.

The tsunami destroyed about half (20,000 hectares) of the tambaks and severely damaged the rest. Also, much of Aceh’s aquaculture infrastructure (e.g., hatcheries and cold storage facilities) was damaged or destroyed. This had a domino effect in the region. For example, several shrimp processing plants in Medan, the closest major city, shut down.

One of the first steps taken to help Aceh rebuild its shrimp farming industry was to find new areas for the farms – areas outside of the greenbelt that are less ecologically sensitive and more productive. Improper siting is arguably the most important issue that relates to the negative environmental impacts of shrimp aquaculture. Approximately 240 hectares of land in the greenbelt have been restored back to their natural habitat, the result of farms being sited inland and farmers planting mangroves and other coastal vegetation in the greenbelt.

Hatchery reconstruction and the recovery/rebuilding of dikes and canals followed the siting work. A collaborative effort among many organizations, including WWF, resulted in the construction of hatcheries that can detect weak or sick shrimp seed so that the seed is not sold or stocked in ponds that would later have to mitigate for disease. The tambaks were rebuilt in a manner that minimizes the constant refurbishing and reconstruction of embankments because of poor design.

Through a project funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, the next step was for WWF, and the Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific (NACA) to assess and, if needed, help improve the shrimp farming practices being used in the Aceh village of Mesjid Utue. This project was carried out in conjunction with similar efforts by Asian Development Bank, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Prior to the tsunami, little was being done there to raise shrimp responsibly. For example, the use of pesticides and theraputants was widespread. People in the region knew they had to farm more sustainably if they wanted to see the industry grow. They just did not know how to do so.

To encourage sustainability, WWF, FAO, NACA, IFC and other partners developed a manual of better management practices (BMPs) for shrimp aquaculture. Workshops are held with the village’s shrimp farmers to educate them about the BMPs.

“We want to reward farmers for better practices,” McNevin said. “We know they will feel rewarded when they can increase their yields, receive a premium for their shrimp, or both.”

Farmers in Mesjid Utue have adopted a variety of BMPs, including:

• Completely draining out the pond bottoms, as this helps remove disease-carrying fish from the previous crop in the pond
• Removing organic waste from the pond bottoms
• Using double layered fine nets to filter the water at the water inlet points
• Not feeding the shrimp excessively, as the excess will decay and release toxic gases
• Not mixing any chemicals, especially antibiotics, with the feed
• Farming in the summer, when the temperature is higher than 30 degrees Celsius
• Restoring the greenbelt with natural vegetation.

Click here for the complete BMPs manual.

Having WWF, NACA and FAO help lead the BMPs project was a natural. All three entities were part of the Consortium on Shrimp Farming and the Environment. Created in 1999, the consortium also included World Bank and the United Nations Environment Program. One of the outcomes of the consortium was the development of eight principles for responsible shrimp farming. Adopted by FAO in 2006, those principles were the basis for the BMPs created for shrimp farmers in Mesjid Utue.

In terms of BMPs, WWF’s current role in the region is advising other nongovernmental organizations on the value of BMPs, as well as how to create and implement BMPs that will protect the environment. As environmental advisor to the American Red Cross Tsunami Recovery Program, WWF promotes and facilitates the use of BMPs with American Red Cross livelihood partners. These partners support economic recovery through a comprehensive livelihoods portfolio that includes micro-credit, agricultural assistance and support to small businesses.

Recognizing that BMPs will be of little value if the shrimp cannot be sold, WWF’s focus now is creating a market for Aceh shrimp. Shrimp has not been exported directly from Aceh since the conflict between the national government and the Acehnese freedom fighters (Gerakan Aceh Merdeka rebels) began 30 years ago. Most of the shrimp are transported via trucks to markets that are 12 to 24 hours away. To survive the trip, the shrimp sometimes are treated with a preservative called formalin (usually supplied by traders) and stored in ice chests to absorb water and increase weight – two processes that often ruin the quality of the shrimp.

Working with WWF, Howard Johnson has conducted a brief market chain analysis of shrimp from Aceh and identified some potential opportunities, including:

• Promoting all Aceh shrimp, emphasizing that it comes from more sustainably managed tambaks.
• Promoting shrimp from tambaks outside Aceh’s greenbelt. A logo or some other icon would be created to identify this shrimp. Processors would pay a small licensing fee to use the logo. The fee would be used for promotion and to create a community fund for individual villages associated with each tambak.
• Create a brand that can only be used by one processor (and maybe one US and one European importer) for shrimp from sustainable tambaks. This would require some form of chain of custody monitoring to ensure that shrimp from non-participating tambaks does not get introduced into the value chain. Challenges with this approach are how to ensure the shrimp sold from the rehabilitated tambaks is the same shrimp that arrives at the processing plants and how to decide who will own the brand (e.g., the tambak, the processor or the importer).

In addition, the marketing strategy will have to include a means for connecting producers directly with companies that can process and transport their shrimp. WWF is currently assessing several options related to this.

When implemented, the marketing strategy will serve as WWF’s exit strategy for Aceh.

“Having an exit strategy is important,” said McNevin. “It is not enough for WWF to come in to provide advice, help aid organizations provide appropriate inputs and then leave. We want to see our efforts verified and continue. We cannot be present to check on every farm’s practices, but the market can do this for us if implemented correctly.”