Shrimp thirsty for clean water

STO - With the increasingly serious environmental pollution problem in shrimp farming areas, the issue of planning and investing in irrigation and drainage systems for farming areas has become more urgent. That was also the main topic of the workshop "Environmental solutions for sustainable development of the shrimp industry" organized by Tuoi Tre Newspaper in coordination with Bac Lieu Provincial People's Committee on July 21.

Speaking at the workshop, Mr. Nguyen Van Huu - Deputy Head of the Aquaculture Department (Department of Fisheries) said that the brackish water shrimp farming area has approached the Prime Minister's Decision No. 79/QD-TTg on the promulgation of the National Action Plan for the development of Vietnam's shrimp industry by 2025, but the output and export turnover have only reached nearly 50%. The reason is the lack of clean water sources causing diseases, leading to a low rate of successful shrimp farming. Mr. Huu stated the current situation: "Waste sludge, food, medicine, excess chemicals, wastewater... from aquaculture activities; irrigation infrastructure for aquaculture is still lacking, mainly still shared with the irrigation system for agriculture ... this is a major limitation and challenge for the shrimp industry today, affecting the value of the shrimp industry".

During the discussion sessions, there was one common point brought up by the delegates, which was that almost all brackish water shrimp farming areas in the Mekong Delta in general and the Ca Mau peninsula in particular do not have separate water supply and drainage canal systems, which many delegates jokingly said were "sharing the same river". Not only that, some areas also share the irrigation canal system which was previously invested only to serve rice cultivation. This, along with the overheated development of shrimp farming and the lack of awareness in environmental protection of some farmers, has caused the environmental capacity in most farming areas in the region to be overloaded, pollution is increasingly serious, causing disease outbreaks and damage to farmed shrimp.

Faced with the above situation, many opinions have proposed to increase investment in irrigation infrastructure for the Mekong Delta , especially the Ca Mau peninsula. However, to have a complete irrigation system requires a lot of time and money, so the immediate problem is how to find solutions to remove the remaining obstacles of environmental overload in the face of the "hot" development of the shrimp industry; advanced environmental management and treatment technologies in super-intensive shrimp farming; good models, effective methods in treating wastewater and waste from shrimp farming models... According to Mr. Le Van Su - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Ca Mau province, while waiting for a complete irrigation system, people and businesses can thoroughly apply water treatment in the farming premises to solve the immediate pollution problem, while also helping the government in the context of limited resources.

Shrimp manure press, one of the solutions applied in Bac Lieu to help limit pollution in shrimp farming environment. Photo: TICH CHU

Regarding solutions to limit environmental pollution, Mr. Vo Quan Huy - Chairman of My Thanh Shrimp Association (Soc Trang) proposed that it is necessary to build a standard for super-intensive, high-tech shrimp farming, in which there is a system to collect and treat waste and wastewater to protect the environment. According to Mr. Ho Quoc Luc - Chairman of the Board of Directors of Sao Ta Food Joint Stock Company (Soc Trang), the solution that the company is applying is to use microorganisms to treat waste and wastewater and reserve a very large area in the total farming area for sedimentation, limiting waste to the environment. With a shrimp farming area of more than 500 hectares, Sao Ta Company is trying to find a better solution so that the output water meets the general regulations. In the long term, Mr. Su proposed: “Investment in irrigation infrastructure is very necessary in the current context. In the immediate future, there should be a pilot project in the form of public-private partnership (PPP) to invest in irrigation infrastructure in a synchronous and concentrated manner so that those who wish to raise super-intensive shrimp can register to do so.”

Speaking at an online conference, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Le Minh Hoan said that the shrimp market is one thing; supply and farming areas are equally important. Pollution of water sources, breeds, and feed in recent times has greatly affected the farming environment. According to the Minister, environmental issues or the cost of farmed shrimp both require cooperation and association to increase the scale of farming areas, introduce advanced science and technology, or invest in new irrigation systems to facilitate, and limit conflicts of interest between related parties. Therefore, the Minister suggested: “For the shrimp industry to develop sustainably, it is necessary to cooperate and link up in a substantial and effective way. I suggest that businesses should shift from a buying and selling mindset to a long-term cooperation mindset to support each other and go further together. I also suggest establishing a shrimp farming association in the Mekong Delta. Because when we have an association, everything will be different. We need to restructure a responsible industry, towards transparent, sustainable and responsible production.”

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