Shrimp Farming and the Environment - Library

equired to promote sustainability are wide ranging and complex, and require much collaboration andintegration. How can this be done, and what might be the roles of the various stakeholders?Central governments have been rather ineffective to date in implementing and enforcing constraints onshrimp farmers or promoting better practices, and they are increasingly unwilling to provide funds.However, there is a wide range of necessary functions for central government, including these:• Create the necessary legislative framework;• Promote and facilitate planning initiatives at provincial and district levels;• Monitor the success or failure/problems of various local initiatives;• Encourage coordination and collaboration between industry, agencies, NGOs, farmers, localgovernment, scientists, extension workers, and others;• Support research, training, and extension activities;• In collaboration with district and local government examine the opportunities for usinggovernment sponsored economic incentives and constraints; and• Working with all of the industry and other stakeholders in the vicinity, facilitate formulationof “codes of conduct for sustainable shrimp farming” and certification programs.Provincial or district government can play a crucial role in promoting sustainable development, sinceit is well placed to integrate the work of different sectors and to address the needs of the variousstakeholders with respect to practical issues. Specifically, district/provincial government can:• Undertake sector (i.e., coastal aquaculture) environmental assessment to provide an objective,technical basis for the development of plans;• Actively develop sector, natural resource, and integrated coastal management plans (includingthe minimum content suggested above);• Pressure the central government to develop or adapt legislation to meet the needs identified inthe assessment and planning process;• Facilitate, promote, and require the development of farmer representative organizations;• Facilitate links among local producers, and among producer organizations and importing,processing, or retailing outlets, in order to develop environmental labeling initiatives; and• Create an adequately strong capacity to enforce national and local regulations.Shrimp producers must begin to take responsibility for their actions and effects, not least in order tomaintain an acceptable market image. Producers can:• Organize themselves at various levels so that they have greater input in, and take greaterresponsibility for, environmental and social initiatives;• Develop guidelines and codes of practice for their own conduct (see GAA 1998);• Collaborate with consumer and environmental groups and government to develop operatingstandards and codes of practice that may form the basis for developing environmental labelinginitiatives, perhaps on an industrywide or pilot project basis; and• Tithe some proportion of profits to support local community services.International aid donors and development banks are well placed to apply pressure to promotesustainability at a range of levels, from central government to individual projects. They can:• Support a range of initiatives to establish the necessary preconditions for more sustainableshrimp culture discussed in this report and elsewhere—in particular, initiatives related tosector environmental assessment, sector planning, and integrated coastal managementincorporating such plans;• Support pilot projects that aim to promote sustainable shrimp culture development;• Require aspiring shrimp farmers who seek development aid to meet a set of conditions thatcould be developed from the guidelines and recommendations presented in this and otherreports, particularly those relating to the assessment and planning of coastal aquaculturedevelopment;• Support the establishment of environmental labeling programs; and• Promote and facilitate continuing debate and discussion on these issues.63