Environmental Impact and Pollution Prevention Approaches for Aquaculture Shrimp Farming

摘要

In Thailand, intensive brackish-water shrimp farming has become popular in the last decade. The rapid development of shrimp farming aquaculture has brought some serious environmental problems due to untreated discharges from intensive shrimp ponds. A comprehensive study is being undertaken to investigate the environmental changes caused by shrimp farming in Thailand. Approaches for pollution prevention such as cleaner production practices as well as economic and policy tools are also presented. In addition, effects on water quality are investigated through field visits, sampling and analysis. The results obtained from conventional EIA techniques are presented as cause-effect-impact matrix. The data shows that shrimp farming activity affects the environmental balance and the socio-economic status of the society. Positive impacts from shrimp farming include improvement in its socio-economic status of the society due to increased revenues and through generation of employment opportunities. The negative impacts mainly results from the untreated effluent discharge, disposal of untreated soil sediments and abandonment of shrimp ponds. Adverse impacts on surface water quality, aquatic biology, endangered species and aquaculture are particularly severe.