Journal of Environmental Biology

                              Use of benthic biodiversity for assessing the impact

                                        of shrimp farming on environment

 

P. Murugesan*, T. T. Ajithkumar, S. Ajmal Khan and T. Balasubramanian

Centre of Advanced Study in Marine Biology, Annamalai University, Parangipettai - 608 502, India

(Received: January 11, 2008; Revised received: June 25, 2008; Accepted: July 29, 2008)

 

Abstract: An attempt was made to find out the impact of shrimp farm discharges on benthic diversity in the discharge point of a shrimp farm. The duration of the study was one culture period right from stocking to harvest. The results revealed that the values of environmental entities were in the safe levels. As regards nutrients, maximum value of TOC and phosphorus were recorded in the sample collected after harvest and minimum in the sample collected during culture. BIO-ENV method revealed that nitrogen, sediment salinity and TOC were manifested as best variable combination explaining faunal distribution. Polychaetes are the dominant group (50%) with 13 species followed by crustaceans (32%) with 10 species, gastropods (10%) with 2 species and bivalves (8%) with 3 species. The faunal density was found to vary in relation to months as observed in the samples which were collected during various seasons in the other areas of estuary. In line with this, diversity values were also paralleled to the faunal density. In a nut shell, the study revealed no negative impact of shrimp farming to the estuarine benthic biota.      

Key words: Benthos, Biodiversity, Shrimp farm, Estuary, Environment

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