It doesn’t matter whether you’re farming shrimp or sheep, catfish or coffee, oysters or oil palm, getting individual farms certified is an important step. But it will not be enough to save the ecosystems those farms are part of. And if the ecosystems are degrading, so too are assurances of responsibility and long-term supply.
At SFP we’ve been focused on the ecosystems in which fish and shrimp farms are embedded since 2008. Our FishSource Aquaculture profiles don’t assess individual farms; rather, they measure the cumulative impact of farming on ecosystems and the collective response of the farmers and regulators in those ecosystems. As the profiles are updated, they pick up whether things are getting better or worse.
Why an ecosystem approach matters
We took this ecosystem – or landscape-level – approach because we knew that having a bunch of farms right next to each other growing the same thing without adequate controls is an invitation to disease outbreaks, water pollution, and loss of natural habitat. We also knew that even if the majority of farms got certified, it wouldn’t be enough to preserve and regenerate ecosystems and assure future supply, because a few poorly run farms can act as disease reservoirs and fuel epidemics or pollute shared water bodies. And the voluntary habitat conservation and restoration actions of responsible farmers won’t save the remaining natural habitat from being cleared by others.
The core challenge is aligning who does the work with who helps pay for it – and ensuring that money flows and activities are implemented. At the farm level, the farm owner does the work and the buyer of the farm product pays: a direct and functional relationship. But at the ecosystem level, activities like large-scale habitat restoration projects are done by coalitions of communities, companies, and NGOs, on land owned by the state or local communities, and those who help pay includes a group of customers at the end of a global supply chain, a distant and indirect relationship. That gap must be bridged to enable landscape-scale solutions.
Developing a landscape model in Andhra Pradesh
Over the last two years, SFP has been collaborating with the Aquaculture Stewardship Council and local organizations Seafood Solutions, Dakshin Foundation, and Living Landscapes in Andhra Pradesh, India, to develop a model for a landscape-level approach to aquaculture, using the state’s shrimp farming sector as a case study and pilot project.
Our work uncovered a mix of production, social, and environmental challenges, alongside a wealth of local expertise and a network of local and international organizations already working to address them. The learnings and experiences from this project formed the basis of the SFP-ASC Roadmap for Landscape-Level Improvements in Aquaculture, a step-by-step approach designed to be applicable in any aquaculture region worldwide.
The vision ahead is to weave together support for often-disparate efforts in aquaculture regions and grow the landscape approach. That means focusing on issues and places that: (i) have good existing local support and are ready for more support; (ii) are already bringing lasting benefits, not only for farmers, but for other resource users and the communities around them and their ecosystem; and (iii) create a strong foundation for expansion into other critical sustainability concerns.
Habitat protection and restoration is one such area. Healthy coastal habitats such as mangroves provide ecosystem services ranging from support for local livelihoods to increased climate resilience to biodiversity conservation – services that will only be maximized by operating at scale.
Expanding to include habitat restoration: Nature’s coastal bodyguards
Though not as pronounced as in other shrimp-producing countries and regions, mangrove loss still takes place in Andhra Pradesh. We witnessed it with our own eyes. This loss, often exacerbated by complex land access issues, directly impacts the livelihoods of local fishing communities.
Think of mangroves as nature’s coastal bodyguards. While they may not be as glamorous as coral reefs or as graceful as seagrass meadows, mangroves are out there breaking waves and shielding coastlines, providing nurseries for fish, safeguarding fisheries and coastal livelihoods, and absorbing carbon more efficiently than terrestrial forests.
There is a lot of good mangrove conservation and restoration already being done, and this local knowledge and expertise is invaluable to the shrimp industry and shrimp buyers aiming to support a landscape approach.
In Andhra Pradesh, the East Coast Conservation Team introduced us to Macha the Fishing Cat, the charismatic mascot who is raising public awareness about the Coringa Wildlife Sanctuary, one of India’s largest mangrove areas. And the M S Swaminathan Research Foundation is engaged in community-based mangrove restoration of degraded sites and reducing habitat fragmentation.
These and other habitat-focused local organizations and individuals, including those concerning the protection and management of Kolleru Lake, a Ramsar site and one of the largest freshwater lakes in India, are already engaged and ready to be supported as part of a landscape approach.
Macha the fishing cat