LOCAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL
AND SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SHRIMP FARMING IN
TAM GIANG LAGOON, VIETNAM. TUONG PHI LAI A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for
the Degree of Master of Science
(Management of Natural Resources and Sustainable Agriculture)


© Tuong Phi Lai, June 2005
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iii

DECLARATION

worked so hard with me in field and helped me a lot in primary collecting data.
Additionally, I would like to thank all the people as to whom I can not name all here:
Ngo Trung Nhat Quang, Pham Quang Anh Khoi, Phan Thanh Anh Dung and all participants from
three communes for their valuable assistance and patience during the field survey. Many thanks
are given to Nguyen Dac Ve, Lai Duy Phuong, Lai Thi Hoa, Ho Cong Huong, Nguyen Van
Khanh, Van Thi Thu Vinh, Tran Thi Nguyet Minh, Nguyen Van Tuan, and Dinh Hung for their
assistance in data collection; many thanks also given to Mai Van Tai, Shagufta Jeelani and Ngo
Thi Thom for their assistance in correcting my languages and academic comments in this thesis.
I also would like to thank the Diversity Enhancement Fund (DEF) for a partial financial
support during my student’s life in Norway. Special thanks are given to Ms Nguyen Thi Thanh
Binh and other staff in Centre for Educational Exchange in Vietnam (CEEVN).
Last but not the least, my hearty thanks to my parents and my friends and those who
always provided me encouragement and who contributed in various ways towards the
accomplishment of this study. v
Abstract

Shrimp aquaculture is one of the major economic activities in coastal areas of Vietnam.
However, the relation between shrimp aquaculture and coastal environmental and social
issues are not well documented in the Tam Giang lagoon. This thesis focused on the
environmental and social implications of shrimp aquaculture in three coastal shrimp
farming communes: Phu An, Phu Da and Vinh Ha in Phu Vang district. The links
between the impacts of shrimp farming and policies, institutions and farming practices
were investigated. Attention was paid to both negative and positive impacts of shrimp
farming. Local people's perceptions of these factors were investigated using a
participatory approach. We found that people perceived that waste discharges, fishery
reduction, habitat destruction and salinisation of soil to be the foremost environmental
impacts of shrimp farming. Meanwhile, conflicts among shrimp farmers, traders, fishers

HIO Hai Phong Institute of Oceanography
HSU Hue Science University
ICLARM International Centre for Living Aquatic Resource Management
IDRC International Development Research Centre
IFEP Institute for Fisheries and Economic Planning
IUCN World Conservation Union
MOFI Ministry of Fisheries of Vietnam
MOSTE Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment
MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment
NACA Network of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific
NEA National Environment Agency
NGO Non-Government Organisation
NORAD Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation
PCC People Committee of Commune
PCD People Committee of District
PCP People Committee of Province
PRA Participatory Rural Appraisals
RAMSAR The convention of wet land resources reservation
RIA Research Institute for Aquaculture
RIMF Research Institute for Marine Fisheries
RRA Rapid Rural Appraisals
SLA/F Sustainable Livelihood Approach/Framework
SRV Socialist Republic of Vietnam
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
VND Vietnamese currency Unit (Đong)

vii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Acknowledgements
Abstract

3.9. Impacts on fisheries ............................................................................................... 38
3.10. Salinisation of agriculture land............................................................................ 40
SOCIAL IMPACTS OF SHRIMP FARMING ....................................... 43

4.1. Income generation.................................................................................................. 43
4.2. Employment........................................................................................................... 44
4.3. Shifting of livelihoods............................................................................................ 46
4.4. Changes in living conditions.................................................................................. 49
4.5. The risks in shrimp business.................................................................................. 51
4.6. Debt issues ............................................................................................................. 55
4.7. Gender issues ......................................................................................................... 58
4.8. Conflicts among resource users ............................................................................. 59
4.9. Conflicts among sectors and policies..................................................................... 66
CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................... 71

REFERENCES............................................................................................ 74viiiLIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1. Aquaculture production of Penaeus monodon by countries (1980-2002)........... 2
Figure 2. Map research site: Phu Vang district in Tam Giang-Cau Hai lagoon, Vietnam 11
Figure 3. Analytical framework for environmental and social impacts of shrimp farming
........................................................................................................................................... 21
Figure 4. Extensive net-enclosure (left) and intensive shrimp aquaculture (right) in Tam
Giang lagoon..................................................................................................................... 25
Figure 5. Map of nursery sites in and the replacement of those sites by shrimp farming

Table 9. Number of respondents in different groups under impacts of shrimp farming in
Phu Vang district, Tam Giang lagoon (N=294 respondents)............................................ 18
Table 10. Criteria for characterizing farming system in Phu Vang district, Tam Giang
lagoon................................................................................................................................ 19
Table 11. Numbers of respondents from different shrimp farm systems in Phu Vang
district, Tam Giang lagoon ............................................................................................... 20
Table 12. Water consumed by shrimp farming as estimated through interviews............. 26
Deleted: 51
Deleted: 61

ix
Table 13. Usage of pellets and raw-fish or home-made feed in shrimp farms in Phu Vang
district, Tam Giang lagoon (N=100 respondents)............................................................. 26
Table 14. Chemicals and drugs use in shrimp farming in Phu Vang district, Tam Giang
lagoon................................................................................................................................ 28
Table 15. Estimations of solids waste discharged from shrimp farming.......................... 29
Table 16. Local perception about effects of shrimp farming waste on the lagoon water
quality (N=294 respondents) ............................................................................................ 30
Table 17. Proportion of shrimp farms that encountered disease and their responses in Phu
Vang district in 2004 (N=294 respondents)...................................................................... 33
Table 18. Local perceptions about the effects of shrimp farming on nursery and breeding
ground in Tam Giang lagoon (N=294 respondents) ......................................................... 35
Table 19. Local perspectives on the effect of shrimp farming on the sea-grass condition in
Tam Giang lagoon (N=294 rspondents) ........................................................................... 37
Table 20. Local perspectives on the effect of shrimp farming expansion on the reduction
of fishery production in the lagoon (N=294 respondents)................................................ 38
Table 21. Factors effecting lagoon fishery resource reduction in Phu Vang district, Tam
Giang lagoon..................................................................................................................... 39
Table 22. Local perspectives concerning the effect of shrimp farming on salinisation of
agriculture land in Tam Giang lagoon (N=294 respondents) ........................................... 41

1

INTRODUCTION
The shrimp aquaculture industry is looked upon as a highly profitable business in several
developing countries. The sector attracts a range of investors including the state, private
enterprises and external assistance in many of these nations. During the last two decades,
shrimp aquaculture has become a major sector of aquaculture in terms of space occupied
and market values. There has been a rapid expansion of shrimp aquaculture in many
parts of the tropical world since 1980s (Gräslund & Bengtsson, 2001). In 1975, shrimp
aquaculture contributed to 2.5% of total shrimp production, which gradually increased to
around 30% of total shrimp supply in the 1990s (Rönnbäck, 2002). Global production of
farm shrimp increased from 71,000 tons in 1980 to 1,271,000 tons in 2001, in which 80%
production from Asia (FAO, 2004)
.
In the South East Asia, the production of cultured
crustaceans increased by over 500% between 1981 and 1995 (FAO 1997a cited by
Gräslund & Bengtsson, 2001). By 1998, the total shrimp aquaculture in the region was
580,000 tones, i.e. slightly more than the quantity of shrimp caught in the wild (Gräslund
& Bengtsson, 2001). Today shrimp makes up only 3-4% of global aquaculture
production by weight, but almost 15% by value (FAO 1999a cited by Rönnbäck, 2002).
The black tiger shrimp, Penaeus monodon, accounts for more than fifty percent of the
total shrimp aquaculture output (Rosenberry, 1999 cited by Rönnbäck, 2002). It is
speculated that the market for shrimp will continue to grow and the demand for shrimp is
likely to remain high and their farming will play a more important role in the future
compared to capture by trawling (World Bank, 1998).

In Thailand, which is the largest producer of farmed shrimp in the world, the shrimp
industry as a whole employs more than 150,000 people of which some 97,000 are directly
involved in shrimp farming. It is estimated that 500,000 households are connected in
some ways in shrimp farming and that for every 1 Thai Baht of shrimp produced there are

150,000
200,000
250,000
300,000
Production (tons)
(Source: FAO FishStat (2005), prepared by Ian Bryceson)
Figure 1. Aquaculture production of Penaeus monodon by countries (1980-2002) 3
There is no doubt that shrimp aquaculture is a very important economic factor in many
countries. However, many other environmental and social issues also need to be
highlighted. Negative impacts included habitat degradation, pollution by nutrients and
organic wastes from effluents and wastes, chemicals and medicinal residues to water and
soil, salinisation of agricultural land and introductions of non-native species (World
Bank, 1998).

Hopkins et al. (1995) claimed that the main environmental concerns of shrimp farming
have been the destruction of mangroves and other wetlands for the construction of shrimp
ponds. More than 50% of the world’s mangroves have been removed, and the
establishment of shrimp ponds has been a major cause behind this loss in many countries
(Primavera, 1998; Rönnbäck, 2002). NACA reports that 20-50% of all current mangroves
deforestation is due to shrimp farming. In areas of Ecuador and Thailand, large areas of
mangroves have been destroyed for shrimp ponds (World Bank, 1998).

There have been several studies focused on the impacts of shrimp farming on the
salinisation of the soil and contamination of ground water since it encroaches on
agriculture and the use of freshwater for farming. It is argued that for each metric ton of
shrimp produced, intensive farms require 50-60 million of litres of water (Gujja & Finger
Stitch, 1995). Seepage through pond bottoms, discharge of pond wastes into freshwater

It was argued that the shrimp aquaculture has also brought about social displacement and
marginalisation of fishers and small-scale farmers. It has also caused reduction of food
production for local people on quality land used for other crops; the depletion of drinking
water and loss in other environmental services have also been criticized (Barraclough &
Finger-Stich, 1996; Rönnbäck, 2002).

Recently shrimp farming has resulted in serious human rights violations and social
conflicts in rural areas, particularly in Bangladesh and India, where there were over 100
Bangladeshi villagers killed in conflicts over land acquisition by the shrimp industry
(Ahmed, 1997) consequently, Bangladeshi women and children were identified as the
most affected victims of the disputed situation (EFJ, 2002 and Fatima, 2004). 5
Clay (1996 cited in CRC, 1998) has summarised major environmental and socio-
economic impacts of shrimp farming in Latin America. Many of these same impacts
were observed in our study in Tam Giang lagoon, Vietnam.
Table 1. Overview of Potential Environmental Impacts of Shrimp Pond
Construction and Operation (reproduced from Clay, 1996 cited in Tobey et al.,
1998)
6
Table 2. Overview of Potential Social and Economic Impacts of Shrimp Pond
Construction and Operation (reproduced from Clay, 1996 cited in Tobey et al.,
1998)

was about 255,000 ha and increased up to 530,000 ha in 2002, more than double. The
MOFI has now established the new target of 700,000 ha of shrimp farming in 2005.

Together with the rapid development of shrimp farming, there are also several negative
social and environmental problems, and recently trading competitive and anti-dumping
issues. One of the most serious environmental problems is the pressure of expanding
shrimp farming on the coastal environmental resources, particularly mangrove forests.
Data shows that from 1943 to 2000, there was a reduction of about 290,000 hectares of
mangroves in Vietnam: the reduction of forest coverage in this period result from
aquaculture development, particularly in the Mekong delta (EJF, 2003; Wade H, 2002;
Nhuong et al., 2002). The majority of coastal farming areas after 2000 resulted from
transferring low productivity rice fields, while the minority of them originated from
mangrove forest (MOFI, 2001). The disadvantages of mangrove forest destruction have
been shown clearly such as the reduction of biodiversity, coastal erosion, and salinisation
of agricultural land, which threatens the sustainable development of shrimp farming
(Hong, 1999). Additionally, evidence shows the signals of environmental pollution
appeared in many zones of intensive farming as well as shortage of freshwater and
reduction of underground water in sandy shrimp farming zones. The discharge of waste

8
directly to the environment causes harm and increases the risk of spreading epidemic
diseases which damages the interests of shrimp farmers themselves. Since 1994-1995,
epidemics spread widely in southern provinces, influencing 84,858 hectares of shrimp
area and caused a loss of VND 249 billion (MOFI, 1996). In 2001 and 2002, shrimp
diseases continued to threaten and cause great damages to farmers in the Mekong delta
(Nhuong et al., 2002).

Although shrimp culture has been practiced for more than 15 years in Vietnam, an
institutional framework for environmental management of shrimp farming area first came
into effect in 2002 and applied to concentrated shrimp farming areas only. However,

that should be managed, conserved and developed in sustainable way.

Previously, several studies have been carried out in the Tam Giang related to water
monitoring, community based natural resource management, environmental management
in coastal aquaculture. However, despite the growing literature on the description of
lagoon environment and its socio-economic characteristics, the relationships between
human activities and the lagoon environment and poverty are still poorly understood,
particularly the impacts of shrimp farming on the lagoon environment and on local
livelihoods.

It seems that although local people and researchers are aware of the problems, research
on this topic has remained limited and does not provide information to local and central
policy-makers for making appropriate plans and policies to achieve sustainable
development of aquaculture and lagoon management.

This study been conducted in Phu Vang district, a central area of the Tam Giang lagoon,
in collaboration with ongoing projects: one conducting by the Research Institute of
Aquaculture No. 1 (RIA No. 1), a government agency, the other practiced by the Centre
for Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH), a semi non-government organization
(NGO): both projects were in cooperation with the Department of Fisheries (DOFI). The
study attempts to provide a balanced analysis of both the positive and the negative
impacts of shrimp farming on the environment and local livelihoods. We attempt to
discuss the causes of problems and suggest solutions for shrimp aquaculture development
within a framework of integrated coastal zone management.

10

1.1. Objectives of the study

1. To study local people's perceptions about the impacts of shrimp farming on the

(
Prepared by
: Nguyen Van Khanh, 2004)
Figure 2. Map research site: Phu Vang district in Tam Giang-Cau Hai lagoon,
Vietnam
Tam Giang – Cau Hai has a tropical climate. The mean annual temperature is 25.2 ºC
with little variation. Thua-Thien Hue is one of the areas with highest rainfall in Vietnam;

12
the average precipitation is 2744 mm per year. The rainy season lasts from September to
April, and the highest rainfall is usually in October. On average, about six floods occur
and up to four storms visit Thua-Thien Hue annually, mostly occurring in September and
October. The hydrographical characteristics of Tam Giang lagoon are complex. It was
contains fresh, brackish and marine waters and the tidal regime is semi-diurnal. The
lagoon receives inflows from five rivers and exchanges water with the ocean through the
Thuan An and Tu Hien river mouths. These characteristics influence the biodiversity of
fauna and flora of the Tam Giang lagoon (PCP, 1998).
Phu Vang is one of the five coastal districts in the central of Tam Giang lagoon with a
total area of about 28,000,000 ha and a population of 178.000 inhabitants. The district
occupies 40 km of coastline and covers around 7,000 ha lagoon water area. Major
livelihoods derived from resources of the lagoon are fishery, aquaculture and agriculture.
Recently, ecotourism, fishery processing industry, marine transportation and service have
become promising economic activities. Under the pressure of growing population and a
high poverty rate, people have increasingly exploited the lagoon, thus challenging the
sustainability of the lagoon (DOFI, 2004). Table 4 provides an overview of basic
geographic and demographic facts in the study area.
Table 4. Baseline socio-economic data in Phu Vang district, Tam Giang lagoon
Phu An Phu Da Vinh Ha Phu Vang
Thua Thien
Hue

384626 100 568807 100
Fishing catch
100502 26,13 140722 24,74
Aquaculture 19308 5,02 111998 19,69
Agriculture
150935 39,24 170770 30,02
Industry
57833 15,04 73811 12,98
Services
56041 14,57 71524 12,57
(Source: DOFI, 2002)
Shrimp aquaculture has been practiced in Phu Vang district since 1980s. However, the
increase in production has been mainly based on the increase in area rather than
productivity. Table 6 shows that most of the shrimp farming area in Phu Vang district is
dominated by extensive and semi-intensive systems. Although Phu Da commune has a
small area of shrimp farming, the productivity is highest among other communes (1.68
tons/hectare).
Table 6. Baseline data of shrimp aquaculture in Phu Vang district, Tam Giang
lagoon
Shrimp farm area (ha)
Location
Extensive
Semi-
intensive
Intensive
Total
area
Total
Production
(ton)

Criteria Remarks
Environmental Urgent issues of environment related to shrimp farming
Social
Conflicts of interests related to shrimp farming
Economic Shrimp farming success and failures resulting in wealth disparity
and debt problems
Technical
Existence of diversified shrimp farming systems Among the twenty-seven coastal communes in the district, we collected samples from
three communes representing different geographical, socio-economic, environmental and
technical aspects. Conflicts of interests among various different resource users and
economic sectors are major emerging issues in the commune of Phu An. Meanwhile, the
main problems in the commune of Vinh Ha are the degradation of nursery and breeding

15
grounds. Although effluent discharge is an urgent issue in Phu Da, shrimp farming has
been fairly stable in this commune, while in Phu An and Vinh Ha the crops have
experienced fluctuations. Since 1997, disease outbreaks have been occurring more
frequently and caused major losses since 2002 in these communes.

Tam Giang lagoon has never been a large natural mangrove area, only about 10 hectares
of its total area of 22,000 hectares is covered by mangroves. There has therefore been
little conversion of mangroves into shrimp farming (DOFI, 2002), hence we have not
focused on the impacts of shrimp farming on mangroves in this study.

Table 8. Specific criteria for study site selection in Phu Vang district, Tam Giang
lagoon
Criteria


16
2.3. Data collection techniques
A participatory approach was applied in the field survey with the assistance of a number
of experienced people from different disciplines including socio-economists,
environmentalists and aquaculturists from central and local institutions who have been
worked in the area. The research team consisted of a staff from RIA No 1, DOFI and
CSSH and officers of People's Committee of the District (PCD) and People's Committee
of the Commune (PCC).

The fieldwork was implemented from October to December 2004. The research process
was divided into three phases: (1) Initial, (2) Operational and (3) Final. The initial stage
was focused on secondary data collection and individual interviews of the local officers
and researchers in organizations where research has been carried out: mainly in national
level and provincial level in Ha Noi (capital of Viet Nam) and Hue city. The operational
stage was carried out in the district and communes with emphasis on Rapid Rural
Appraisal (RRA) and Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques involving both
local people and authorities. The final stage was focused on the household survey using
pre-tested questionnaires.
2.3.1. Secondary data collection
Secondary data collection was mainly conducted in provincial and national agencies: the
Ministry of Fisheries (MOFI), RIA No. 1, Hai phong Institute of Oceanography (HIO),
DOFI, Department of Resource and Environment (DOSTE), and Hue Science University
(HSU). The secondary data reviewed included relevant including official statistics,
annual reports and semi-annual reports that were available in the organizations.
Institutionally, we collected and analysed the Environmental Law, Land Law and Fishery
Law and those by-laws that related to lagoon management. The Socio-economic
Development Plan, Wetland Programme Strategies, Poverty Reduction Strategies and
Fishery & Aquaculture plans and major policies/guidelines associated with those
documents were also collected and analysed at multiple levels (national, provincial, and