High salinity interferes with Vietnam’s shrimp farms

Shrimp farms in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have been suffering from excessive salinity, with saline intrusion seeping up to 70 kilometers deep inland on rivers in several areas across the region.

According to a report from Vietnamnet and data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s (MARD) Aquaculture Department, farms breeding brackish water shrimp in the area have had to scale back cultivation by 50 percent to accommodate the high salinity.

What’s more, the provinces of Soc Trang, Ca Mau, Bac Lieu and Kien Giang have seen salinity rise to above 30 grams per liter, thus making shrimp more easily susceptible to disease. Hot weather has challenged industrial and semi-industrial shrimp farming operations, said Le Van Su, director of the Ca Mau Province Department of Agriculture and Rural Development. The affect high temperatures have had on vast shrimp farming areas has not gone unnoticed.

Ca Mau, Vietnam’s largest shrimp cultivation province area, has seen more than 2,678 hectares of its extensive shrimp farming areas affected by disease so far this year, up from the 1,864 hectares seen one year ago. MARD’s Animal Health Department has been aiding in the process by offering shrimp farmers advice regarding lower stock densities, product rotation and enhanced monitoring.

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