Mundogreen

Fonseca's gulf (Honduras):  Mangrove swamps shrink, Wildlife disappears.

Shrimp farm in Honduras

Deep inside the territory of Honduras, Panama, Nicaragua and El Salvador, the Pacific Ocean interpenetrate through 35 km, forming a vast wetland populated with mangrove. Back in 1987 they covered an area of 47000 hectares.   ...

At first, a semi intensive shrimps cultivation began since 1973, and some experiments where made to fertilise and harvest ponds in laboratories. 

Then a huge development followed, funded with the support of the World Bank, the Government of Honduras, and the USAID (International Development Agency). The Shrimp boom had started.

The natural environment began to suffer. The shrimp farm became infected with a "white spot virus" which destroyed the crops. The small fish farms closed, but the large companies managed to raise some multimillion dollars loans and began to "cure" the ill-fated small crustaceas with tons of chemical and antibiotics.

The diseases had an impact, not only on the industrial shrimps, but also on the biological diversity and other marine fisheries. The migratory birds had lost their habitats and other species of fauna began to decline.

The large spreading of the chemicals kept the shrimps alived but killed number of other species. Moreover the waste of the packing plants has been dumped directly into the marshes, accelerating the fermentation process.

The villagers and the fishermen communities suffered too! They were prohibitied to penetrate into the lagoons and estuaries. Nine fishermen were found shot dead in the mangrove. 

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