Kalimantan Mangrove Shrimp Project

Shrimp farming forms the backbone of many of the world’s rural coastal economies. Unsustainable farming practices, however, have devastated mangrove forests in many of these areas of Indonesia, leading to large-scale ecosystem degradation, increasing the risk of adverse effects of climate change. The loss has resulted in more drastic impacts from extreme weather events, accelerated rates of erosion, reduced purification, and filtration of runoff from upstream sources of pollution, which has led to reduced coral reef and tropical marine ecosystem health. The aim of this project was to provide economic incentives for shrimp farmers to replant mangroves which, applied on a large scale, will revitalize the ecosystem while providing important ecosystem services for local and regional peoples increasing their resilience. Since shrimp farms in the project area are on privately-owned land, the project accessed land through a combined approach of partnering with farm owners and a local NGO.

Project Status

Completed 30 March 2024

• The project directly benefited 7 small-scale aquaculture farmers, with support provided through capacity building and knowledge transfer on mangrove restoration and monitoring. Additionally, best farming practices and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) trainings were also conducted. This resulted in a higher harvest with better quality, translating into a higher direct revenue for these farmers. In the initial stages of the project in 2022, the average survival rate was a modest 3.4%. By 2024, the survival rate reached an average of 14.6%. This has increased the pond productivity from approximately 32 kg/ha and following project implementation, the same ponds have increased to 90 kg/ha per year.
• A new shrimp aquaculture value chain was developed, targeting shrimp processers, middlemen, and farmers. A digital traceability system is currently being implemented and will serve as a centralised platform for transactions between farmer’s groups and processors with the help of a project partner, Koltiva. The app will also aggregate data related to pond productivity and mangrove monitoring on a per-farm basis.
• 103ha of mangroves were restored with a total of 23,950 local propagules, forming the basis for an Integrated Mangroves Aquaculture system where the ecosystem is restored, leading to an increase in shrimp yield. Over the 10 ponds restored, the average mangrove survival rate reached an impressive 70%. This further confirms the reforestation method used is adequate and adopted for the aquaculture system in Tarakan.