Due to massive expansions of shrimp ponds since the 1980s, the world`s shrimp production had increased drastically to 1,084,641 metric tons valued at more than US$6.8 billion, said director of the Nature Conservation Mandate Foundation (Akasia) Rasyid Assaf Dongoran.
"Currently, around 28 percent of shrimp consumption is from shrimp pond aquaculture while in early 1980s it was only five percent," he said.
He regretted a government statement which said that around 860,000 hectares of mangrove areas were available for conversion into shrimp ponds.
Shrimp pond expansion is threatening mangrove ecosystem
INDONESIA - Expansion of shrimp pond areas in several countries is threatening the mangrove ecosystem which is the habitat of bird and other animal species, says a top environmentalist.