Shrimp Farming and the Environment

in Ecuador: Past and Present

Fabrizio Marcillo

A Brief History Surveying Shrimp Producers

In Ecuador, large-scale commercial Most of this has been common
shrimp culture began almost 50 years knowledge in Ecuador but there has
ago by mere serendipity. A road was been little bibliography or published
being built in the southern province research. In 2007, the aquaculture
of El Oro near Peru and during high engineering program at ESPOL
tide water entered and formed shallow conducted extensive mapping of
pools in the excavated areas beside the aquaculture development in Ecuador.
road embankments. After some time, More than 150 researchers visited,
birds were seen feeding from these FIGURE 1. Evolution of mangrove, salt flats and shrimp surveyed and interviewed producers all
small ponds and people started catching areas from 1969 to 2006 (Clirsen 2007). around Ecuador’s coastline and reviewed
shrimp from them with cast nets. Two the available publications. This told the
local entrepreneurs decided to replicate story of how production techniques
these flooded ponds on a larger scale and evolved in different parts of Ecuador,
built the first commercial shrimp farm in the state of aquaculture in that zone at
1969, which continues to operate to this the moment, and the environmental
day. In the following years, many other and socioeconomic impacts it had in
businessmen with no formal expertise in that zone. This article is based partly
shrimp farming copied the idea, starting on those nearly 40 publications. A
the shrimp boom in Ecuador. search in www.dspace.espol.edu.ec or
Little was known at the time about a Google search for “caracterización y
raising shrimp, but through sheer will FIGURE 2. Weight and value of shrimp exports from propuesta técnica de la acuicultura” will
and by trial and error, the operational Ecuador (Cámara Naciconal de Acuicultura 2016). provide links to pdfs of most of those
and business constraints of shrimp publications.
farming were overcome, although not always in the best long-term In the past ten years, there have been significant changes in the
way. A lack of scientific knowledge and production methodologies Ecuadorian shrimp industry: production and prices have increased, the
did not stop Ecuadorian camaroneros (shrimp entrepreneurs) from industry is more regulated and ordered, there is a better appreciation
becoming one of the world’s main suppliers of high quality farm- for the environment, and many actions were taken to address
raised shrimp. In fifteen years, almost 90,000 ha of shrimp farms sustainability. To assess those changes, a survey was taken in October
were built, and by 1995 nearly 180,000 ha were in operation (Fig. 1). 2016 of 126 shrimp farmers operating along the Ecuadorian coastline.
In the 1980s, large shrimp operations that could afford it
began bringing emerging shrimp aquaculture technology from Shrimp Farming and Land Use
abroad. Ecuadorian universities also started to do research and It is generally accepted that one of the impacts from shrimp
produce trained aquaculturists. During these years, with the help of farming of greatest concern is the destruction of mangroves for
Ecuadorian scientists and technicians, foreign techniques – mainly pond construction (Páez-Osuna 2001). Remote sensing image data
American, French and Japanese – were combined and adapted (Fig. 1) sheds some light in this case. According to the Ecuadorian
to the country’s particularities and gave birth to the “Ecuadorian Undersecretary for Aquaculture, there were 213,032 ha of shrimp
Shrimp Culture Technique.” This was not a fixed technique and as ponds in 2014, 70 percent of which were located on privately owned
time went by and new problems arose, culture techniques had to high ground above the high tide. Only 30 percent (64,074 ha) were
evolve. located in what is called the “bay and beach zone,” state-owned leased
Because of the disorganized way the industry evolved, it is not land, consisting originally of mainly mangroves and salt flats. From
surprising that many conflicts developed with the environment that 1969 to 2006, there was a reduction of nearly 47,000 ha of salt flats. It
affected sustainability of the activity. We have to keep perspective is well known to camaroneros that it is less costly and easier to build
here. Sustainability, environmental friendliness and good a farm in salt flats than in mangrove forests. Also, mangrove soil is
management practices are rather new terms. It is not a matter of evil acidic and high in organic matter, which is not good for aquaculture.
people intentionally destroying the environment for profit. It is more For these reasons, most shrimp farms on low lands (44,000 ha) were
a story of people doing things that looked reasonable at the time and built in salt flats and only the remaining 20,000 ha in mangrove
then later gradually learning and adopting better practices. forest (Spurrier 2012). Of the nearly 55,000 ha of mangrove area lost
(CONTINUED ON PAGE 40)

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between 1969 and 2006, 63 percent was due to activities that were not way the process works and its effects and on findings ways to mitigate
related to aquaculture, mostly agriculture, cattle, logging for timber possible effects. There have been some commercial trials using
and charcoal, and housing development (Suman 1994). Thirty years recirculation to address this problem, but this is not yet a mainstream
ago, mangrove wood was used every day in barbeques as charcoal practice.
and disposable skewers, slum neighborhoods were being built in
Guayaquil on top of mangrove forests at the shores of the Salado Seed Supply
Estuary, flagship government projects like the “Perimetral” road and When shrimp farming first started, shrimp seed entered ponds
hydraulic filling were executed, even though they destroyed mangrove naturally with intake water; it was not counted and was free. Many
forest, and mangrove timber was a common building material. That species of non-suitable shrimp for aquaculture, fish fry and other
was the Ecuador of the time, and the camaroneros were just another invertebrates came along as bycatch that eventually died. Gradually
part of the country, neither better or worse. shrimp farmers began collecting their own seed, and later on
Ignorance or habit are lame excuses for making mistakes, buying it from specialized fishermen called larveros. Counting
however, and 20,000 ha of lost mangrove forest are not coming back and identification methods were developed to access the amount
simply by regretting their loss. Ecuador has had different laws that of Penaeus vannamei post-larvae, generally called barba roja or
prohibited activities that affected mangrove ecosystems since at least redbeard shrimp. With the lack of commercial shrimp post-larvae
1974. However, enforcement of those laws was slow to come, although production, Ecuador’s availability of wild P. vannamei post larvae
the situation has been improving since the turn of the millennium, became a competitive advantage for the development of this activity.
and now it is very stern. Net mangrove area loss stopped in the mid- After the 1982-1983 El Niño event, there was a shortage of wild post-
1990s and has even started recovering since then (Fig. 1). The greatest larvae and in 1984 as much as 40 percent of pond area was either
effort made in reversing this loss has been the mangrove reforestation empty or understocked. This coincided with the beginning of hatchery
project that started in 2008 and the order for shrimp farms that had production.
cut mangroves to conduct reforestation at their own expense. By 2012, Although the start was difficult, 30 percent of shrimp seed
1,419 ha of mangroves had been reforested, with 3,447 ha planned. stocked were from hatcheries by 1986, and by the end of the decade,
Based on a 2016 survey, 83 percent of farms that were required to do there were enough hatcheries to cover the cumulative demand from
reforestation had fulfilled their reforestation plan, 11 percent were still all farms. During the 1990s, there was sufficient installed capacity to
in process, and the remaining 6 percent had not done anything or were produce maturation nauplii and hatchery post-larvae. Although the
having problems implementing reforestation. average price of wild seed was US$ 7.00 per thousand, and hatchery
On the other side, many ancestral communities of mangrove seed was US$ 3.50 per thousand, farmers almost always preferred
dwellers, mostly crab and black clam fishermen, have been granted wild post-larvae when available, rather than hatchery seed. Analyzing
access and control of the mangrove forests where they make a living. economic data from one of Ecuador’s main shrimp producers in that
They know that they must maintain the mangrove ecosystem’s decade shows that, even if wild seed was twice as expensive, ponds
integrity and function to secure their long-term source of income. In stocked with wild seed produced on average double the gross margin
case of actions that affect mangrove ecosystems, they are the first to per hectare per day as those stocked with hatchery seed. When
blow the whistle and inform authorities. Other beneficial effects of deciding between hatchery post-larvae raised from maturation nauplii
this measure have been better control of closure periods, increased or from nauplii from wild-caught gravid females, farmers usually
environmental awareness, and better community organization. preferred the latter.
Although direct logging for pond construction is the main This was a short-sighted strategy because it hindered earlier and
public concern, it does not seem to be a major problem for future more aggressive development of genetic improvement programs. By
sustainability. Indirect effects are a different story and the low the end of the decade, most major shrimp corporations were working
public awareness of this threat makes it worse. One of the problems on genetic improvement of their broodstock lines. When White Spot
faced by Ecuadorian shrimp aquaculture is eutrophication. Several Syndrome Virus (WSSV) hit the country in 1999, more emphasis was
sites that had good water quality 30 or even 20 years ago now put into this effort. In 2000, the fishing, transportation, selling and
have problems related to low dissolved oxygen levels, low carrying stocking of wild shrimp post-larvae and gravid females was prohibited.
capacity, high BOD, high bacterial counts, and off-flavor. This is a This was done to protect bycatch and limit the spread of WSSV,
problem that was already reported in studies ten years ago at several supposedly more prevalent in wild shrimp, but the greatest effect was
places around Ecuador: El Recreo, Tenguel, Balao, Churute, Chone seen 10-15 years later with increased growth, survival, productivity,
River Estuary, among others. Eutrophication is mostly associated and lower feed conversion ratios. In the 2016 survey, 77 percent of
with low water exchange in narrow estuaries, where many shrimp interviewed farmers identified better seed or genetics as the main
farms discharge water in the same place, or areas with agricultural factor contributing to the increase in productivity.
or urban contamination. The 2016 survey showed the same patterns,
with morning dissolved oxygen levels below 2 mg/L in many of Feeds and Feeding Practices
these places. Although production levels per crop have risen from On the first farms, shrimp were not fed at all and natural
around 600 kg/ha to nearly 1,000 kg/ha in the past ten years, they productivity was the sole food source. After a couple of years,
are still significantly below production levels in zones with better agricultural fertilizers were applied to increase productivity and
water quality. There has been little research on the effects of nutrient later shrimp were fed with supplemental feed. Initially chicken feed
discharge on the surrounding biota or on shrimp pond carrying was used and then formulated shrimp diets were produced. By the
capacity. Surely research on this topic is needed to shed light on the mid-1980s, formulated shrimp diets were used on nearly all shrimp

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farms in most parts of Ecuador. Feed is considered to be the main main raw materials used in shrimp feed and oil prices. This led to an
production cost and also one of the main factors affecting success in 88 percent increase in feed raw material costs between 2004 and 2010
aquaculture. It is also the main source of pollution. It is not easy to (Aguirre 2011). The main factor contributing to shrimp feed price
achieve an optimum feeding level: too much results in increased feed increase during that period was the price of fishmeal.
conversion ratio, feed costs and pollution, too little and shrimp will not Fishmeal is not just a matter of feed cost, it is the main source
grow fast enough and feed conversion ratio and costs also go up. of essential amino acids in many aquaculture feeds. Most shrimp
In the 1980s, feeding rates were mostly calculated using feeding farmers want a black pellet with a fishy smell. However, there is a high
and survival tables, corrected by arbitrary criteria related to optimal environmental impact associated with its use. Around 20 percent of all
growth: if growth rate was high, feeding was not increased. Feed was marine capture fisheries were used for fishmeal and fish oil production
mostly broadcast all over the pond from a canoe once daily. Most in 2014 (FAO 2016). Some estimates indicate that as much as 2-3 times
ponds in the early years were stocked with wild seed. When buying the weight of wild fish in feed is used as the weight of farmed shrimp
wild seed, machete (a way of undercounting shrimp seed) was a that is produced. However, the proportion of fishmeal used in feed
widely used method and bycatch associated with wild seed increased for shrimp aquaculture has been declining from around 18 percent in
the real biomass in the pond. As a result, underfeeding was a common 2005 to 9 percent in 2015. Furthermore, much of the fishmeal used
practice, leading to poor growth. It was not too rare to have ponds nowadays in Ecuador comes from processing byproducts of fish for
with more than 100 percent survival or with a large proportion of the human consumption, mainly tuna. Alternative protein sources and
biomass consisting of other species. amino acid supplementation was a response to the fishmeal price
In the 1990s, with mortalities related to the Seagull Syndrome, increase but it has had a beneficial impact on the environment.
Taura Syndrome and vibriosis, survival tables became impractical. Feeds have evolved to maximize the advantage of growing
Better ways of assessing biomass in the pond and the use of other genetically improved shrimp and feeding techniques have also
tools to determine feed consumption led to better feed management. improved. In the 2016 survey, 67 percent of respondents were feeding
Feeding trays became a trend after 1995 for partial (control) feeding two times a day and 16 percent three or more times, 11 percent were
or for feeding the whole pond. Feeding tables were quickly deemed using or testing automatic feeders, 16 percent were providing feed
obsolete and feeding several times a day started to be evaluated, even completely on feeding trays, and 44 percent were using feeding trays
if it was not a common practice. for controlling feed broadcast into ponds.
Immediately after the appearance of WSSV, farmers reduced
stocking densities and all costs, including feeding, went down to Evolution of Production Practices
a minimum. The 2001 price drop, which lasted until 2012, was It is difficult to make generalizations about the production
particularly hard on shrimp farmers. Internal inflation rates and techniques used during the past half century, mainly because there
regulation costs also had an impact. An increase in productivity (Fig. are no clear barriers between periods; it has been a continuum of
2), which leveled off in 2006, did not translate to an increase in profit. gradual changes. Some periods are more or less homogeneous in
Beginning in 2006, increases in international oil prices and the methodologies used. To summarize the changes in production
higher food demand in China and India led to an increase in raw strategies (Table 1), we considered eight periods:
material prices. There is a strong correlation between the price of the (CONTINUED ON PAGE 42)

TABLE 1. Production strategies used in Ecuadorian shrimp farming.

Pe r io d St o c kin g d en sit y St o c kin g t ype Feedi ng Chemi cal s Medi an p r o d u c tio n

(PL / m 2 ) (kg /h a / c yc le)

1969-1984 2-7 Direct Natural productivity None 450

1985-1993 5-15 Direct/Nursery Broadcast Lime 650
1994-1995 10-30 Direct Broadcast/ Lime, antibiotics 550
Feeding trays
1996-1998 10-15 Direct/Nursery Broadcast/ Lime, antibiotics, 770
Feeding trays quaternary ammonium
1999 10-15 Direct/Nursery Broadcast/ Lime, antibiotics, quaternary 270
Feeding trays ammonium, pesticides, ozone,
chlorine
2000-2005 5-12 Direct/Nursery/ Feeding trays Lime, quaternary ammonium, 360
Raceways probiotics
2006-2012 6-14 Direct/Nursery/ Broadcast/ Lime, probiotics 730
Raceways Feeding trays
2013-2016 6-17 Direct/Nursery/ Broadcast/ Lime, probiotics 1230
Raceways Feeding trays/
Automatic feeders

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 1) 1969 to 1984: From the beginning of shrimp aquaculture to take care of the environment.
in Ecuador until the beginning of technification, with little or no On the socioeconomic side, shrimp aquaculture has had a
technical knowledge. positive impact in all zones examined. Shrimp is Ecuador’s second
2) 1985 to 1993: Until the start of the Taura Syndrome. During a largest generator of non-oil export earnings. Direct jobs in aquaculture
period of technology improvement, hatchery post-larvae began to be are estimated at 180,000, and indirect jobs at 160,000, many in poor
used, water quality was monitored, and formulated feed began to be rural areas, and 33 percent to women, contributing to gender equity.
used extensively. During this period, the Seagull Syndrome appeared Additionally, there is a multiplier effect: every dollar from shrimp
and some antibiotics started to be used. exports moves three dollars through the Ecuadorian economy.
3) 1994 to 1995: Taura syndrome. Heavy mortality in the first Although some farms halted operations and closed after the white spot
month after stocking. Antibiotics started to be used more extensively. crash, at present most shrimp farms are operational and farm prices
Some farms started stocking P. stylirostris. Many chemicals were have almost tripled.
tested to try to stop mortalities, with no success. In the 1980s, “Ecuadorian White” shrimp became synonymous
4) 1996 to 1998: Post Taura syndrome. Increase in productivity, with “the best shrimp in the world.” In 2000, after drops in production
1997-1998 El Niño boosted production and wild seed availability. and the price crash, it lost that position and is now trying to recover
Many chemicals and antibiotics were used haphazardly. it. Farmers have higher costs, in part due to increased regulations,
5) 1999: White Spot Syndrome onset. When shrimp started environmental and food safety controls, but are not seeing a return
dying, farmers experimented with many chemicals, from ozone to on this investment. Efforts have been made in the past years to show
pesticides and gadgets such as plankton filters and perimeter barriers Ecuador’s effort for shrimp sustainability under the campaign “The
for crabs, without success. This coincided with the Ecuadorian Best Shrimp in the World.” Ecuador’s shrimp farming industry
financial crisis, with hyper-devaluation, that led to dollarization in claims it is betting on semi-intensive, low environmental impact, food
the following year. Many shrimp farms, hatcheries, and supporting safety, social awareness, and inclusive culture techniques. This type
industries closed. The socioeconomic impact was hard. of shrimp culture has less impact on the environment than intensive
6) 2000 to 2005: White Spot Recovery. Permanent ban on shrimp culture (Cao et al. 2011). It appears that the Ecuadorian shrimp
wild post-larvae. Antibiotics and non-approved chemicals were farming industry is now on the right track. It remains to be seen how
discontinued from use in aquaculture. Greater interest in selection of this will continue into the future.
shrimp strains for genetic improvement. Mortalities continued, with
extremely low production levels, at first, and gradually recovering to Notes
pre-White Spot levels. Fabrizio Marcillo, ESPOL Polythecnic University. Escuela Superior
7) 2006 to 2012: Post White Spot. Increase in productivity, but Politécnica del Litoral, ESPOL. FIMCBOR. Campo Gustavo
with low market prices, and rising costs. During this period most Galindo Km 30.5 via Perimietral, P.O. Box 09-01-5863, Guayaquil,
environmental and food safety regulations were implemented, as Ecuador. [email protected]
well as the regulation of shrimp farms and mangrove reforestation.
There was a stricter enforcement of laws. Small farms associated References
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42 S E P T E M B E R 2 017 • W O R L D A Q UACU LT U R E • W W W.WA S .O R G