Quynh Luu: Solutions to ensure water sources for aquaculture

(Baonghean) - Quynh Luu district has great advantages to develop brackish and saltwater aquaculture. However, during the farming process, people's awareness of environmental protection is still limited, leading to a very high risk of water pollution. Faced with this situation, people are currently actively investing in building a scientific and standard pond system, thereby gradually limiting diseases and increasing farming efficiency.

Quynh Bang Commune is the locality with the largest white-leg shrimp farming area in Quynh Luu District with 186.2 hectares. The entire farming area is mainly concentrated in the industrial shrimp farming area and Loc Thuy Cooperative. The annual shrimp farming output reaches from 800 tons to 1,000 tons/year, shrimp farming is really bringing high economic efficiency to the people here. Although shrimp farming has recently developed quite stably, the technical level of farmers and the level of intensive farming are increasingly high, but people's awareness of the proper use of chemicals and antibiotics in shrimp farming is not high. The prevention of epidemics and waste treatment in shrimp farming before discharging water into the environment has not been of concern to people, causing negative impacts on the coastal ecological environment, leading to the risk of disease outbreaks and reducing economic efficiency in shrimp farming.

VietGap shrimp farming area at Loc Thuy Cooperative, Quynh Bang Commune (Quynh Luu).

Mr. Hoang Xuan Tin, Chairman of Loc Thuy Cooperative, said: The Cooperative currently has 80 hectares of shrimp farming, of which nearly 40 hectares are planned to be raised according to VietGAP standards. Due to investment and financial support, most households in the VietGAP shrimp farming area have standard pond systems, with separate water supply and drainage systems, ensuring good environmental hygiene. However, the remaining shrimp farming areas only share a common water supply and drainage system, and do not have a wastewater treatment system, so the discharge of wastewater into rivers is a risk of spreading, disease outbreaks, and environmental pollution.

Faced with the above situation, the People's Committee of Quynh Bang commune has propagated to households to strictly follow the shrimp farming process; assigned responsibility to the management board and the head of the shrimp farming cooperative to monitor and inspect the discharge of water by each household. Mr. Vu Van Duong, Vice Chairman of Quynh Bang Commune People's Committee said: "For shrimp farming to develop, the water source for shrimp farming plays a very important role. Currently, people are using the same water source, the same discharge from Mai Giang River. Because they share the same system of supply and drainage canals and do not have a separate wastewater treatment system, it leads to environmental pollution, especially water sources. To limit the situation of widespread and improper wastewater discharge, the Commune People's Committee has promoted and mobilized people to raise awareness of environmental protection; when there is an epidemic, they must report to the locality for remedial measures. In addition, the locality is proposing a plan to the higher level to use a pipeline system to bring water from the sea to shrimp ponds, thereby limiting epidemics, ensuring clean water sources for shrimp development".

In shrimp farming, ensuring clean water is the most important step, deciding the success or failure of the crop. Quynh Thanh commune currently has 75 hectares of shrimp farming, of which the VietGAP shrimp farming area is planned for nearly 30 hectares. During the implementation of this shrimp farming model, Mr. Tran Thuong, in hamlet 14, said: His family has more than 3 hectares of shrimp ponds, of which more than 1 hectare is planned for VietGAP shrimp farming. Determining that water sources play a very important role in the development of shrimp, his family has reserved 15-20% of the total area to build 3 settling ponds, treat the water supply and kill weeds before pumping them into the pond. In addition, there are separate water supply and drainage systems to ensure enough clean water to meet farming needs. More importantly, his family has a mud pond system to contain wastewater after harvesting shrimp, through which the water source is treated before being discharged into the environment. With more than 1 hectare of VietGAP shrimp farming, in the first shrimp harvest, the family's shrimp yield reached nearly 4 tons, 0.5-1 ton higher than the area of ​​normal ponds. "To achieve high shrimp productivity, shrimp farmers need to grasp science and technology, in which ensuring a clean water source for shrimp farming is necessary. It is advisable to choose days without rain, with the highest water level to get cleaner water, less silt and high salinity. Water is taken into the settling pond through a thick cloth filter bag to remove trash, larvae, shrimp, crabs, clams, snails, insects, and miscellaneous fish, and left to settle for 3-4 days. Do not take water into the settling pond when the water outside the canal has a lot of foam, mucus, a lot of silt, the water source is in an epidemic area and the water glows at night," Mr. Thuong shared.

Quynh Luu district currently has 2,200 hectares of aquaculture, of which the area for brackish and saltwater aquaculture is 573 hectares (shrimp: 463 hectares and clams 108 hectares), the rest is for freshwater aquaculture in rivers, streams, lakes and dams. To contribute to protecting the marine environment, limiting diseases, and increasing efficiency for aquaculture farmers, the district's Department of Agriculture and Rural Development recommends: For shrimp farmers and brackish water aquaculture in ponds, do not use chemicals or antibiotics in raw materials, but only use products for treating and improving the environment used in aquaculture. Use a biosafety shrimp farming process by using biological products, minimizing the use of chemicals and antibiotics in shrimp farming, to reduce waste from feces, excess food, chemical residues, antibiotics in shrimp ponds, thereby reducing the amount of waste discharged into natural rivers and canals when renovating ponds. Regularly monitor the health, manage the daily feed intake of farmed aquatic animals, avoid using excess food, increasing the amount of waste in the pond, because the excess food will accumulate at the bottom of the pond, polluting the pond environment. It is necessary to invest in a wastewater treatment pond system to treat aquaculture pond water after harvest or disease before discharging the pond water into the environment, with the wastewater treatment pond area being at least 30% of the pond area. Therefore, people in the aquaculture area in Quynh Luu district need to comply with the technique to ensure successful farming.

Viet Hung