Eat To Live: Shrimp farming in Vietnam

HUE, Vietnam, May 14 (UPI) -- Traveling south towards Hue from Halong Bay, where the limestone islands soar out of the sea like a vampire's teeth, the coastal plain is dotted with little huts on stilts.

During low tide, they stand on dry land. At high tide they're surrounded by water. These are domestic versions of the fish farm, designed to produce enough catfish, squid and the area's ubiquitous shrimp to feed the family. Nets hang beneath the platforms. More wrap round the stilts; cages in string hold stocks.

Hue's best known dish is a crispy pancake made with egg and rice flour. It comes folded over grilled shrimp, scraps of pork and bean sprouts, with a plate of lettuce leaves and herbs to add to the package before dipping the whole into a spicy peanut or soy sauce.

If that doesn't appeal, there is another local specialty, rice paper wrappers to roll around pretty much the same ingredients.

Along this coast, shrimp feature on every menu. They are the very same shrimp to be found, "fresh frozen" or frozen, in supermarkets across the United States and Europe. In the last two decades, shrimp farming has become one of the fastest growing areas of the fish farming industry, from southeast Asia to Latin America.

Vietnam is a prime supplier of shrimp to the West, most of it farmed on the Ca Mau peninsula in the south of Vietnam.

Vietnam's population of 85 million is dependent upon agriculture and fisheries. But shrimp farming on an industrial scale is threatening the stability of the coastal resources.

On a domestic level it's not reassuring to contemplate the safety of fish farming, given that there is virtually no treatment of the waste water issuing from huts and houses.

But on the larger scale, industrial fish farming is threatening Vietnam's coral reefs.

The Environmental Justice Foundation estimates that 90 percent of Vietnamese coral reefs are disturbingly under threat through the destruction of over 80 percent of Vietnam's mangrove forests. A British advocacy group, EFS endeavors to support local people's rights while defending the environment.

Mangroves produce their own remarkable ecosystem. Able to survive in salty water, they protect the coast from flooding and storm damage and support a multiplicity of wildlife. They can also filter many pollutants from inland waters before they drain into the ocean.

But they are being cut down to provide land for shrimp farm ponds.

Areas of highly concentrated shrimp farming depend upon antibiotics, fertilizers, disinfectants, hormones and pesticides to keep the shrimp and the waters clean and productive. Without the filtering effect of the mangroves, these are expelled out to sea, destroying both coral reefs and stocks of wild fish upon which the locals depend for food.

Shrimp farming is a volatile business. Extremes of temperature and brackish water can kill off a shrimp pond. When shrimp fall sick, disease spreads quickly through the waters from pond to pond.

Yet successful aquaculture creates jobs in rural areas where poverty is high -- so long as the farmers are applying good sustainable fish practices that don't end up destroying the long term health of the environment or their shrimp ponds.

Banh Khoai (crispy shrimp pancakes):

-- 1 cup rice flour (available from Asian markets)

-- 1 1/2 cups water

-- 2 eggs, beaten

-- pinch of salt

-- 1 teaspoon sugar

-- 1/2 cup mushrooms, finely sliced

-- 3 1/2 ounces fresh shrimp, boiled and peeled

-- 3 1-inch wide strips thinly sliced cooked pork or 3 rashers of bacon, cooked

-- 1/2 cup bean shoots

-- 1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped

-- 1 cup mixed fresh herbs (basil, mint leaves, cilantro)

-- leaves from half a head of butter lettuce

-- 2 tablespoons cooking oil

-- 3 tablespoons vinegar

-- 3 tablespoons soy sauce

-- 1 teaspoon sesame oil

-- Mix first five ingredients, let rest for 10 minutes then sieve out any lumps.

-- Heat an 8-inch non stick saute pan over high heat and swirl in one tablespoon of oil then pour in the rice flour mix and swirl it to coat.

-- Sprinkle over the mushrooms, cover and cook 1 minute.

-- Add the shrimp, pork, bean shoots and scallions and cook uncovered until pancake turns gold and crisp.

-- Serve with a plate of lettuce leaves and herbs and a dipping sauce made by mixing together the last three ingredients.