Training course on mangrove-friendly shrimp aquaculture.

Abstract

The culture of shrimps is a worldwide multi-dollar industry that experienced a phenomenal growth in the early eighties. Thereafter, growth was modest due to the advent of diseases and the rise of environment advocacy. One problem that persistently plagues the industry is the perception that shrimp culture prospered at the expense of mangrove systems.

The need to address this problem led SEAFDEC/AQD to embark on a research program aimed at reconciling shrimp culture and mangroves issues. The Government of Japan gave importance to this program through its generous financial support. As a result, a mangrove-friendly shrimp grow-out technology was developed. Field-testing of this technology in several sites in the Philippines has proven that shrimp culture and mangroves can actually co-exist. Field-testing in the other SEAFDEC Member Countries is also ongoing.

Based on the technology thus developed, AQD designed a training course on mangrove-friendly shrimp culture, to help disseminate the technology to the SEAFDEC Member Countries.