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Enabling Sustainable Shrimp Aquaculture: Narrowing the Gaps Between Science and Policy in Thailand

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Sustainable Production Consumption Systems

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Abstract

Since the early 1980s, shrimp aquaculture has expanded rapidly with production increasing more than 100-fold from 31,000 t in 1976 to 2.6 million tons in 2006 (Fig. 7.1). About 90% of farmed shrimp is produced in Asia (mainly in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and India). The other 10% is produced mainly in Latin America, where Mexico, Brazil and Ecuador are the largest producers (Fig. 7.1). The two main aquaculture species that are farmed – black tiger shrimp (Penaeus monodon) and Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) – accounted for about 88% of the shrimp in the aquaculture industry in 2006.

Today, almost half of the shrimp eaten is grown in tropical developing countries in coastal ponds and traded to be eaten in restaurants and homes in temperate industrialized countries. Thailand and Vietnam are the largest exporters, while much of China’s growing production is consumed domestically. The Europe, US, and Japan are the largest importers, together comprising 80–91% of total global import volumes each year between 1976 and 2006 (Fig. 7.2).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Interview, Mr. Amnuay Oerareemitr, Deputy President of the Thai Fishmeal Producers Association.

  2. 2.

    For more on CENTEX see: http://www.biotec.or.th/centex/centex.htm and http://www.mahidol.ac.th/mueng/centex_shrimp.htm

  3. 3.

    Interview, Siri Ekmaharaj (Tookwinas), then with Department of Fisheries.

  4. 4.

    Interview, Siri Ekmaharaj (Tookwinas), then with Department of Fisheries.

  5. 5.

    For more on GAA see: http://www.gaalliance.org/

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Acknowledgements

The work in this chapter was supported by grants from the David and Lucille Packard Foundation, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of Global Programs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agriculture, Hanoi University of Agriculture, Hanoi, Vietnam

    Dao Huy Giap

  2. Internews’ Earth Journalism Network, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Po Garden

  3. Unit for Social and Environmental Research, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Louis Lebel

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  1. Dao Huy Giap
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  2. Po Garden
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  3. Louis Lebel
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Correspondence to Dao Huy Giap or Louis Lebel .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fac. Social Sciences, Unit for Social & Environmental, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Louis Lebel

  2. SERI Deutschland e.V., Glatzer Str. 1, Overath, 51491, Germany

    Sylvia Lorek

  3. Fac. Social Sciences, Unit for Social & Environmental, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand

    Rajesh Daniel

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Giap, D.H., Garden, P., Lebel, L. (2009). Enabling Sustainable Shrimp Aquaculture: Narrowing the Gaps Between Science and Policy in Thailand. In: Lebel, L., Lorek, S., Daniel, R. (eds) Sustainable Production Consumption Systems. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3090-0_7

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