Ecosystem characteristics and environmental regulations based geospatial planning for sustainable aquaculture development

Abstract

The development of unplanned shrimp aquaculture has caused many environmental issues and multiuser conflicts worldwide due to the lack of ecosystem characteristicsbased comprehensive methodology for identifying suitable areas for aquaculture development. This study was conducted to identify proper zones for P. Vannamei farming using the analytical hierarchy process-based spatial analysis. Seventeen thematic layers were grouped into four fundamental requisite for P. vannamei aquaculture, namely, land class, water (pH, temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, total ammonia nitrogen, nitrate, and phosphate), soil (pH, electrical conductivity, organic carbon, and texture), and resource availability (distance to road, source water, hatchery, and processing facility). The pairwise comparison matrix and the weighted linear combination approach were used. The suitability scores were classified on a scale from 1 (unsuitable) to 4 (most suitable). The spatial restriction rules excluded the regulated areas, including agriculture, mangroves, forest, settlements, water bodies, regions near the high tide line. The entire study area is favorable for P. vannamei culture in terms of water, soil, and infrastructure; however, land availability is restricted to 35,032 ha. Of the available area, 24,420 ha was found most suitable, and 10,603 ha was suitable for P. vannamei culture. The major water bodies, namely, the Buckingham Canal, Kandaleru River, and Penneru River, can support 34, 23, and 25% of the shrimp culture area. The final area outputs were compared with ground truth survey data and found to be consistent. The geospatial application of this methodology provides an integrated site evaluation for P. vannamei shrimp culture taking into environmental conditions and regulations.

Rivers: Linking nature, life, and civilization

“…The process of river circulation and exploitation has been changing since the dawn of humankind, but before the industrial revolution, humans' way of life and production had not yet substantially impacted the state of rivers (Ye et al, 2021). With the rapid expansion of the global population in the past 20 decades, the impacts of human activities-such as large-scale agricultural cultivation, urbanization, mineral development, and water conservancy construction-on the structure and function of rivers have been continuously revealed, and many of these impacts have dwarfed the regulatory capacity of river ecosystems themselves (Jayanthi et al, 2020). Agricultural activities were essential factors transforming Earth.…”

Environmental literacy scenarios lead to land degradation and changes in riparian zones: Implications for policy in China

“…The idea of valuing clean production has evolved significantly during the past two decades (Jayanthi et al, 2020; Raymond et al, 2019; Tadaki et al, 2017). Ecological studies have quantified the effects of environmental literacy on ecosystems by considering human preferences for particular biological and social outcomes in nature reserves (Jacobs et al, 2018; Kalantari et al, 2020; Taube et al, 2021).…”

Mapping the Spatial Heterogeneity of Anthropogenic Soil Nitrogen Net Replenishment Based on Soil Loss: A Coastal Case in the Yellow River Delta, China

“…In recent years, the advantages of geographic information systems (GISs) in spatial data analysis and spatiotemporal problem positioning have gradually become prominent. Using GIS tools to understand spatial heterogeneity not only works well in obtaining the location of key issues but also plays the initial roles in proposing target solutions [31][32][33][34][35].…”