DISTRICTS OF SRI LANKA SERIES

The industry has still not recovered from these impacts and thus its promises as a means for rural economic development have been left unfulfilled. Illegal use of state lands, mangrove habitat destruction and poor farm construction lead to a variety of environmental and socioeconomic effects that further impacted the growth and sustainability of shrimp farming in Puttalam. The dual problems of WSD and YHD caused an approximate 70% drop in exported shrimp products. Yellow head disease (YHD) was recognized in Sri Lanka in 1998 in infected brood stocks. Losses due to white spot disease (WSD) were valued at Rs1 billion. MBv was first found in Sri Lanka in 1988 in imported post larval (PL) stocks from Thailand. Industry growth was slowed in the 1990, in large part due to the epizootic viral diseases Monodon Baculo Virus (MBv) and white spot syndrome virus (WSSv). Insert figure is a map of Sri Lanka which locates the Puttalam district. Shading reflects farm density with darker colours being higher density. Shrimp farming zones of the Puttalam district, Sri Lanka. Third, industry development in the Puttalam district coincided with a heavy demand for shrimp in international markets. Second, this region had a good road network and easy access to the Katunayake international airport and Colombo harbor which allowed for quick access to infrastructure needs for the export of fresh product. First, there were abundant natural resources such as coastal lagoons, mangrove swamps, tidal flats and, estuaries well-suited to shrimp farming. The industry rapidly expanded in the Puttalam district for three major reasons. The industry was revived during the early 1980s along the coastal border of the Puttalam district of the North Western region of Sri Lanka (Figure 1). Shrimp farming was begun on the eastern coast in the Batticaloa District in the late 1970s but was abandoned due to civil unrest. The potential for this industry to once again provide a large number of jobs and export income makes its development very attractive to the government of Sri Lanka. More recent estimates report that jobs have declined to 8,000 due to contraction of the industry in large part because of the effects of disease outbreaks. The shrimp industry was responsible for 40,000 direct and indirect jobs in 1996 representing 11% of the total employment in the fisheries sector. Aquaculture production peaked in 1998 at 6,520вЂ‰mt. Farmed shrimp production was 2,220вЂ‰mt in 2008 compared to 9,240вЂ‰mt from wild capture. The majority of grow out shrimp farms in Sri Lanka follows semi-intensive culture practice. The black tiger shrimp, Penaus monodon is the main species cultured. More than 90% of the harvested cultured shrimp are exported, going mostly to Japan followed by United States of America and countries of European Union. It was their second most valuable export fisheries in 2007, generating Rs2487 millions (approx 25 million USD). IntroductionДЇarmed shrimp export accounts for approximately 50% of the total export earnings from Sri Lankan fisheries. Plans to support this industry must recognize the socioeconomic reality of rural Sri Lankan aquaculture. Basic breaches in biosecurity will keep disease as the rate limiting step in this industry. Smallholder farmers were disproportionately constrained in their ability to enact basic biosecurity practices due to their economic status.

Farmers had knowledge of biosecurity but the lack of financial resources was a major impediment to improved disease control. Fundamental deficits in disease control, management, and biosecurity practices were found.

DISTRICTS OF SRI LANKA SERIES

A survey on 621 shrimp farms (603 operational and 18 nonoperational) was conducted within the Puttalam district over 42 weeks comprising a series of three-day field visits from August 2008 to October 2009, covering two consecutive shrimp crops. We examined management practices affecting disease prevention and control in the Puttalam district to identify extension services outputs that could support sustainable development of Sri Lankan shrimp farming. Shrimp farming has great potential to diversify and secure income in rural Sri Lanka, but production has significantly declined in recent years due to civil conflicts, some unsustainable practices and devastating outbreaks of disease.

Districts of sri lanka