I have selected 4 communal sites in Ca Mau and Bac Lieu provinces, all belong to coastal districts:
1. Long Dien Tay (Dong Hai- Bac Lieu)
- Shrimp farming system:
+ Improved extensive
+ Semi-intensive
Combine with salt production and other fishes
- No forest
- Agricultural land allocation (Red book)
2. Tan An (Ngoc Hien- Ca Mau)
- Shrimp farming system:
+ Improved extensive
Integrated shrimp forest farming and with other fishes
- A lot of forest under Kien Vang Protection Forest Management Board
- Contracted forest protection (Green book)
- Famous with shrimp broodstock catching in Rach Goc rivermouth
3. Tam Giang (Nam Can- Ca Mau)
- Shrimp farming system:
+ Improved extensive
+ Semi-intensive
- A lot of forest under Tam Giang 3 Forestry Company and 184 Forestry Company (now have joint as Ngoc Hien Forestry Company)
- Green book for production forest
- Organic shrimp certification practices
4. Tan Duyet (Dam Doi – Ca Mau)
- Shrimp farming system :
+ Improved extensive
+ High-yield improved extensive
+ Semi-intensive
- No forests
- Agricultural land allocation (Red book)
- Shrimp farmer cluster development
Information and data from 4 sites will be used in each main content chapter as following:
Chapter 1: Transformation of the Government shrimp aquaculture policy
- The economic reform process following on from “doi moi” (renovation) in Vietnam has led to the rapid diversification and development of aquaculture production. As the domestic food security has been satisfied, producers in the Mekong Delta are entering global export markets. The Government has issued many regulations to govern shrimp aquaculture in the context of economic transition and global market development.
- This chapter examines these governance transformations in the context of growing international concern about the impacts of shrimp farming on the environmental and social resilience of coastal areas by answering the research question: “How have government policies on shrimp aquaculture transformed and adapted to international market and private standards?”
- The data and information from all 4 communal sites will be used to illustrate the changes of shrimp farming under the transition of the Government policy and global market.
Chapter 2: Shrimp certification as market-based governance arrangement
- The chapter using information and data from the case of organic shrimp in Tam Giang commune.
- Organic shrimp is the first and only one site in Vietnam. The project was setting up by SIPPO (Swiss Import Promotion Program) and VASEP (Vietnam Association of Seafood Exporter and Producer) in 2001. The certifier is Naturland from Germany. The auditor is IMO (Institute for Marketecology)
- The chapter strives to answer the question: “How does current certification of shrimp farming function and which challenges are still to be overcome?” The lesson learnt and experiences from the case will be useful for certification analyses.
Chapter 3: Shrimp farmer cluster as community-based governance arrangements
- The chapter using the case of farmer clusters in Tan Duyet commune. There are 11 farmer clusters with different initiatives from the Government, WWF and SUDA project.
- The chapter aims to answer the research question: “How do shrimp farmer clusters enable (or constrain) farmers to collaborate with state and market-based governance arrangements?”
Chapter 4: Shrimp farming and forest policy- There are links between shrimp farming and mangrove forest: Shrimp farming often leads to mangrove destruction. Mangrove destruction leads to biodiversity reduction. Biodiversity lost leads to unsustainable shrimp production and livelihood. Forest is now underestimated in term of production and value and farmers have low benefit from it compare to shrimp farming. If farmer benefit from forest then they pay more attention and this may reduce the pressure from shrimp farming to forest.
- The chapter strives to answer the research question:” How does state forest policy formulation and implementation address key concerns of forest policy with the objective of forest conservation and sustainable shrimp farming?”
- The chapter using the data and information from Long Dien Tay, Tan An and Tam Giang communes to illustrate the relations between shrimp farming and forest policy and management at local sites.
