Improving shrimp farm design in flood-prone areas of India

Abstract

Aquaculture, one of the fastest growing food-producing sectors that habitually develops in unutilized coastal areas, can face significant risks due to extreme weather events. Changing climates can increase the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events like cyclones and floods, and many coastal regions where shrimp farming takes place are often the worst affected. Brackishwater aquaculture, a rapidly growing sector in India, is synonymous with shrimp farming and has become a significant activity to enhance food production and revenue generation, providing employment opportunities and nutritional security. Generally, shrimp View of shrimp farmers and recirculation canals at a shrimp farm in Tamil Nadu, India. are grown in earthen ponds located in the coastal areas, but farms are often damaged or inundated due to heavy rains accompanied by floods and cyclones. The heavy, gusty winds associated with cyclones can cause flooding, infrastructure damage, breach of levees and erosion, loss of stock, and lead to major or complete economic loss, and can cause substantial dislocation of communities and disruption of farming system.