Shrimp
Shrimp aquaculture is of growing concern, as the increasing price of shrimp has only sped up the rate of investment and production. The lure of making big-money quickly from the expanding U.S. market for farmed shrimp just across the border poses great risk. Throughout Mexico, the rush to develop export-oriented shrimp aquaculture is proving to be unsustainable, as habitat destruction, pollution and invasive viral diseases cause the environment and shrimp farms themselves to collapse. The coastal ecology and the people who have traditionally relied for life and livelihood on a healthy and productive natural environment are the first victims.1
Shrimp farming in the Gulf of California is limited mostly to mudflats and mangroves in southern Sonora and Sinaloa. Shrimp aquaculture output has increased from six tons in 1984 to more than 10 thousand tons in 1997. Current shrimp pond area is estimated at 24,000 hectares, of which 75% are located in the state of Sinaloa. Conservative projections predict that the area in production will double in the next five years.2
Bluefin Tuna
Bluefin tuna (Thunnus Thynnus) farming is taking off in the area surrounding the port of Ensenada, Baja California. Once operations are underway the returns are lucrative. Fresh, farmed bluefin fetch an average of $25,000 for 25 to 30 kg tuna and $30,000 for 40-45 kg tuna on the Japanese market, which takes all of Mexico's farmed bluefin production. Maricultura del Norte, the first successful tuna farm established in Bahia de Todos Santos has 13 fattening cages and three catch cages fastened by heavy anchors to the bottom of the sea. Maricultura fattened 30 tons of tuna the first year, 60 the second, 100 the third, 300 the fourth, and another big increase is expected this year. Before too long the company hopes to begin fattening yellowfin tuna and yellowtail at a new installation in Magdalena Bay. Maricultura del Norte already has one competitor in this region, and five more have been authorized by the government.
The industry in Mexico faces some limitations, since knowledge of the resource is fairly scarce and new production regulations are in place, which stipulate that new farms can only have three 40-ton-per-annum cages. Federal fisheries authorities recently gave the go ahead for four new tuna farms each with the 120-ton quota. The aim of the measure is to protect juvenile bluefin stocks. While these new farms will be subject to production rules and expanding limitations of 50 hectares, others in Ensenada already have up to 1,100 hectares and no regulatory quotas. In spite of the production limitations, last year Maricultura del Norte produced about 600 tons, which according to average estimates equals $15 million.
While Bluefin tuna farming does not have the same proliferation of problems as is seen with Salmon aquaculture, it does share some of them, such as carnivore protein deficit, risk of escape, pollution, disease spread, and risk to sea lions who come near the pens. A main question is whether stocks of Bluefin can withstand increased fishing pressure. WWF has just recently pointed out that Tuna farming is a major threat for already over-fished wild tuna in the Mediterranean.
Citations
1 Greenpeace International. Mexico Threatened by Aquaculture Expansion. Available at www.greenpeace.org
2 The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Conservation Program. A Strategic Focus for the Mexico Program. June 30, 2000.
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