Shrimp Farming and the Environment - Library

with other economic activities to the extent that social unrest erupted in the region in 1996 (Khor1997).It is clear that there have been social conflicts, and in some cases more widespread social disturbances,associated with shrimp farming, but there is very little well-documented information about these issues,the real nature of the conflicts, and the role that shrimp farming has played in them.CorruptionIn many developing countries with areas suitable for shrimp farming, corruption among the centraland/or local authorities has become a problem. Corruption occurs in several ways. First, officials incharge of giving permits may be “bought” (persuaded by bribes) to ignore rules and regulations, or tomisinterpret these rules in favor of a certain party. In other cases, law enforcers may be paid to ignorenonadherence to environmental requirements. It has also been claimed that illicit funds, for examplefrom narcotics trading, have been laundered by being channeled into shrimp farming. One reason forthe prevalence of these practices may be that officials with responsibility for the distribution of shrimpfarming permits and other rights are often underpaid, in some cases grossly so.Though corruption has been noted in shrimp farming, such problems are by no means unique to theshrimp farming industry. Rather than ignoring the possibility of corruption, it should be taken intoaccount when designing the regulatory system that is to govern shrimp farming. Rules must be made sosimple and clear that they leave little or no room for individual interpretation or discretion by theofficial.Public income and public spendingThe foreign currency earnings from shrimp aquaculture make it extremely attractive to nationalauthorities in developing countries. Several major shrimp farming countries have significantlyincreased their export earnings as a result of shrimp farm development. Cases in point are Ecuador,Indonesia, Thailand, China, and Vietnam.Local and national incomes derived from shrimp farming operations may also be considerable.Taxation of such enterprises and their employees is usually a relatively straightforward matter.However, in many developing countries, governments have given companies a tax moratorium for thefirst few years (for example, up to 10 years in Thailand) in order to make the investment attractive. Insome cases, this has meant that by the time the operation was liable for the usual taxes, it may alreadyhave been discontinued due to disease and reduced profitability. In these cases, public income fromshrimp farming may be negative, if significant public works have been undertaken to support theactivity.Public works expenditures may include a number of infrastructure investments such as roads, waterfacilities, and electricity distribution. Sometimes, such expenditures are necessary to induce investors,and the public outlay may be considerable. Although other economic sectors may also benefit fromsuch expenditures, the price may in some cases be too high from a national budget allocationperspective.ConclusionsThe social and economic impacts of shrimp farming have been extremely variable throughout theworld, reflecting enormous social, economic, and political differences, as well as the wide range ofshrimp culture technologies and the variety of habitats or land types on which it has been developed.Very few studies that objectively balance the costs and benefits at a district, regional, or indeednational level have been conducted. A program of such studies covering a range of development andnatural resource contexts is urgently needed.However, it is clear that shrimp farming has had significant negative social impacts in some areas, andequally clear that it has brought social and economic benefits to others. If shrimp culture is to be asignificant force in development and poverty alleviation in coastal areas, these benefits must becontinued over time and distributed more equitably.46