Elsevier

Ocean & Coastal Management

Volume 132, November 2016, Pages 120-131
Ocean & Coastal Management

Review
Can “Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA)” adapt to climate change in coastal Bangladesh?

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2016.08.017Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Coastal aquaculture in Bangladesh is dominated by export-oriented prawn and shrimp farming.

  • Prawn and shrimp culture has been accompanied by recent concerns over climate change.

  • One of the adaptation strategies is “Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA)”.

  • IMTA is considered an ecosystem approach adaptation strategy to climate change.

  • IMTA would be a novel process of growing finfish and shellfish with seaweeds.

Abstract

The coastal aquaculture sector in Bangladesh is dominated by export-oriented freshwater prawn and saltwater shrimp farming. However, the culture of prawn and shrimp in coastal Bangladesh has been accompanied by recent concerns over climate change. Different climatic variables, including cyclone, drought, flood, rainfall, salinity, sea level rise, and sea surface temperature have had adverse effects on prawn and shrimp production. Considering vulnerability to the effects of climate change on coastal aquaculture, one of the adaptation strategies is “Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA)”. Open-water IMTA in coastal Bangladesh would be a novel process of growing different finfish and shellfish with seaweeds in an integrated farm. IMTA is considered an ecosystem approach adaptation strategy to climate change which could generate environmental and economic benefits. We suggest institutional support to facilitate IMTA in coastal Bangladesh.

Introduction

Bangladesh is one of the most suitable countries in the world for coastal aquaculture because of its favorable biophysical resources and agro-climatic conditions. Its coastal aquaculture sector is dominated by export-oriented freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) and saltwater shrimp (Penaeus monodon) farming,1 both known as “white gold” because of their export value (Islam, 2009, Ahmed, 2013). The coastal aquaculture sector has become a multimillion dollar industry in Bangladesh due to huge demand for prawn and shrimp in global markets, particularly the European Union and the United States of America (USA). In 2014–2015,2 Bangladesh earned US$506 million from exporting prawn and shrimp (FRSS, 2016). Thus, prawn and shrimp farming play an important role in the economy of Bangladesh.

Despite economic benefits, the culture of prawn and shrimp in coastal Bangladesh has recently been threatened by climate change that could have severe effects on export earnings and further consequences for the economy of Bangladesh (Ahmed, 2013, Ahmed et al., 2014, Ahmed and Diana, 2015a, Ahmed and Diana, 2015b). According to the Global Climate Risk Index, Bangladesh was ranked 1st in 2012 among countries vulnerable to climate change while it is ranked 6th in 2016 (Harmeling and Eckstein, 2012, Kreft et al., 2015). Considering vulnerability of social-ecological systems in coastal Bangladesh to the effects of climate change on prawn and shrimp farming, adaptation strategies must be developed. Adapting coastal aquaculture to climate change will require a combination of strategies and policies.

One of the adaptation strategies to climate change is “Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture (IMTA)” (Sreejariya et al., 2011, Chung et al., 2013, Geere, 2014, Clements and Chopin, 2016). IMTA is a process of growing different species of finfish and shellfish with seaweeds from different trophic levels in an integrated farm. IMTA is a practice in which the by-products from one species are recycled to become inputs (feed, nutrients) for another. The principle of IMTA is the co-cultivation of fed fish, organic extractive species, and inorganic extractive species (Troell et al., 2009, Chopin, 2011, Chopin et al., 2012). The concept of IMTA is to create balanced systems for environmental sustainability, economic viability, and social acceptability (Barrington et al., 2009). IMTA is currently operated in over 40 countries on experimental and commercial basis, including Canada, Chile, China, Japan, the USA, and many European countries (Chopin, 2011). In Bangladesh, IMTA has taken recent consideration for research and development to diversify production (Sarker et al., 2014, Kibria, 2016).

This review paper illustrates the impacts of climate change on coastal aquaculture in Bangladesh. Considering the effects of climate change on coastal aquaculture, this article identifies the opportunities and challenges for the development of IMTA in coastal Bangladesh. The aim of this paper is to highlight key issues in developing IMTA as an adaptation strategy to climate change.

Section snippets

Coastal Bangladesh: land of multiple disasters

Bangladesh is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world because of its geographical location (Fig. 1). Bangladesh is considered as “nature's laboratory on disasters” due to existing most climatic threats. Coastal Bangladesh is subject to seasonal changes in climatic conditions. The increasing risk from a combination of climatic variables, including: (1) cyclone, (2) drought, (3) flood, (4) rainfall, (5) salinity, (6) sea level rise, and (7) sea surface temperature (Ahmed et al., 2013

Revolutionary development of coastal aquaculture

As part of agricultural development in coastal Bangladesh, prawn and shrimp farming were initiated in the 1970s and began to expand rapidly in the 1980s. Since the 1980s, prawn and shrimp culture have undergone a revolutionary development in coastal Bangladesh (Azad et al., 2009, Ahmed, 2013). Thousands of farmers have converted their low-lying rice fields to prawn and shrimp farms, locally known as “gher”. The practice of prawn and shrimp intercropping6

Culture species

In coastal Bangladesh, IMTA would be a novel process of growing different fed fish (shrimp, finfish) and shellfish with seaweeds in an integrated farm (Fig. 4). In IMTA systems, fed fish can be placed at the upper and middle trophic levels while organic extractive species (mussels) at the middle and bottom level so that they can consume particulate organic nutrients (waste feed and faeces). Seaweeds could be placed a little far away of fed and organic extractive species so that they can consume

Environmental benefits

The development of IMTA in coastal Bangladesh could bring a wide range of environmental benefits, which in turn may help to tackle climate change (Fig. 5). IMTA would reduce ecological effects on natural resources as the adoption of IMTA in coastal Bangladesh can be an approach for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services. IMTA could offer a balanced ecosystem approach that will benefit the environment and society (Chopin, 2011).

Shrimp culture in open-water IMTA can be environmentally-

Challenges for IMTA

In spite of potential benefits and adaptation to climate change, the development of IMTA in coastal Bangladesh could face various social, economic, technological, and environmental challenges. IMTA is a rather new feature of the aquaculture industry in Bangladesh, and thus, social acceptability is a prerequisite for its development (Barrington et al., 2010). The adoption of IMTA in coastal Bangladesh could face various social conflicts including theft, robbery, and vandalism, and thus, negative

Conclusions

The coastal aquaculture sector in Bangladesh is particularly vulnerable to climate change. Different climatic variables, including cyclone, drought, flood, rainfall, salinity, sea level rise, and sea surface temperature have had adverse effects on land-based prawn and shrimp farming. Open-water IMTA could be developed to cope with the challenges of vulnerability to the effects of climate change on coastal aquaculture. There are great opportunities for the development of IMTA in coastal

Acknowledgments

The study was supported through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. The study was a part of the first author's research work under the Georg Forster Research Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation at the Leibniz Center for Tropical Marine Ecology (ZMT), Bremen, Germany and part of the second author’s long term involvement in rural Bangladesh. Earlier draft of this paper was presented at the ZMT seminar in April 2015. Thanks to André Klicpera for drawing IMTA figure. We

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