KOCHI, March 30: The Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) has taken the help of "The Economist", London, to take on the propaganda against the aquaculture industry by environmentalists.In a statement here, SEAI said the findings of The Economist on most of the accusations against aquaculture by the green brigade were baseless. The most persistent accusation against shrimp farmers is that they are wrecking the mangrove forests that fringe much of the sea in tropical climes. This turns out not to be the case.
Mangorve forests were indeed destroyed during the early days of the industry, but the rate at which trees are being felled has dropped considerably. This, it turns out, is for a good non-altruistic reason. Land where mangroves have grown has proved less than ideal for raising shrimp. It is too acidic and ponds dug in former forest land have to be heavily (and expensive) limed to stop the crop from dying," the SEAI pointed out, quoting an article appeared in "TheEconomist" in February.
"Since the ponds cost $ 10,000 to $ 50,000 a hectare to build, putting them on the wrong soil is an expensive mistake," it said. "The Economist" also disputed the allegations that waste from aqua culture ponds pollute coastal waters.
"This was true during shrimp farming in the early days. But since farmers are replenishing the water in their ponds from those self-same coastal waters, they have come to realise that discharging untreated waste is often tantamount to fouling their supplies.
The cheapest solution is to put a farm just inland from a mangrove forest and trickle the effluent into it. Like reed beds, mangrove forests are superb natural filters for organic matter. What reaches the sea is more-or-less pristine brine," it was pointed out.The SEAI also said, "The evidence suggests that large farms pollute the sea less than small ones, usually because they are better managed."
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
