|
The
overall objective is to make shrimp brackishwater aquaculture, an
essential economic activity in the Mekong delta, sustainable in order to
increase households revenues and reduce rural depopulation,
while protecting the ecosystem.
The
project is based on the scientific results gained during a former
1994-1997 STD3 programme. It aims at transferring this research
experience to a real size application for the benefit of the
institutional Vietnamese partners in charge of managing aquaculture
activities.
It
is designed to promote the sustainable development of shrimp farming by
avoiding ecosystem degradation and further production collapses. It is
intended to have a practical impact on farming communities through local
fisheries authorities.
Production
efficiency of shrimp in extensive or extensive+ systems depends on three
main categories of parameters, i.e. a) features of the ecosystem hosting
the activity, b) farming practises, c) socio-economics (Figure 3).
| ECOSYSTEM FEATURES |
|
PRODUCTION
EFFICENCY |
|
 |
| FARMING
PRACTICES |
| SOCIO-ECONOMICS |
Figure
3:
- Relationship between the 3 measured variables and the production
efficiency.
Three
sub-areas of the Mekong delta (north, central and south) will be
selected, encompassing a wide variety of environmental domains from the
shore into the inner delta (Figure 4).
The
project is broken down into 5 detailed objectives:
 |
To
confirm on a significant sample of sites quantifiable relationships
between shrimp production and ecological indicators, issued from
previous research work (STD3) and assess their value and reliability,
|
|
To
analyse farming practices on the same sites in order to determine
those allowing lowest environmental and economic costs;
|
|
To
carry out mapping of mangrove vegetation, soil and salt intrusions
over the 3 sub-areas as well as land use by aquaculture and other
activities (agriculture…). This will help validate relationships
established in 1 above and value them at ecosystem unit level,
|
|
To
increase capacity building of scientists, local fisheries
authorities and farmers groups through a strong involvement in the
programme. Vietnamese partners are expected to collect and process
field data under supervision of the EU experts, follow short-term
and long-term training courses, organise and participate in 3
workshops,
|
|
To
provide the Vietnamese counterparts with the tools and methods
making them able to devise a follow-up development project extended
to the whole of the Mekong delta (and possibly elsewhere).
|
Figure
4:
Location of study sites in Viet-Nam.
Immediate output
The
project will provide :
|
proper
methods to help Vietnamese authorities better evaluate the real
potential of the Mekong delta for brackishwater aquaculture. It will
issue guidelines based on ecological, zootechnical and
socio-economic criteria to improve site selection, and determine the
appropriate farming practices in relation with ecosystems features.
|
|
operational
tools to collect, handle
and keep data up to date with a view to ensuring on-going
monitoring. This will consist in know-how and softwares in the
fields of : data bases, mapping, image analysis and statistical
processing.
|
|
capacity building all along the project :
 |
short-term training courses in Europe : environmental parameters
analysis, ecology, mapping and GIS, socio- economics, statistics, |
| long term training courses (e.g Msc at Asian Institute of
Technology, Bangkok), |
| hands-on workshop at mid-project for fisheries officers to apply
current tools,
|
| initial and final workshops to raise consciousness of
decision-makers about project relevance and outputs. |
|
Long term outputs
At
the end of the project, it is expected that the Vietnamese
decision-makers and partners will be more aware of the relevance of a
rigorous approach to aquaculture allocation and environment quality
monitoring, using methodologies and operational tools designed by the
project. In addition, links will be reinforced between scientists, local
partners and decisional bodies.
5
activities are planned :
|
Activity
1
- Definition of ecological indicators of environmental diagnosis and
aquaculture potential assessment
|
|
Activity
2 -
Practices and socio-economics of shrimp farming
|
|
Activity
3
- Ecosystem and land-use mapping and data base
|
|
Activity
4
- Integration of results, statistical analysis, production of
methodological guidelines, dissemination of results
|
|
Activity
5 - Training
program, workshop and seminars.
|
|
Project
