Aquaculture Practices in the Saline-Prone Coastal Region of Bangladesh: Opportunities and Threats for Socio-Economic and Environmental Aspects

The land–water eco-hydrological sub-systems ofThreats Southwest Coastal BangladeshCoastal Bangladesh offer great potential for integrated agriculture-aquacultural production practices. However, this region is vulnerable to recurrent hydroclimatic phenomena due to climate change impactsClimate change impacts and unplanned human interventions. Indeed, the traditional farming practice (mainly the paddy-fish cultivation system) is a unique livelihood pattern that is followed by around 80% of smallholders in the region. During the last three decades, shrimp farming in saline (brackish) ponds has emerged as a common livelihood practice that affected the crop agricultural practices mostly in the salinity-affected areas. The Motivation and Ability (MOTA) assessment demonstrated that the total crop production was reduced due to environmentalEnvironmental degradation, severe waterlogging, high investment costs, and lower crop prices at the local market. On the contrary, with growing international market demand and high prices of shrimp, paddy farmers were inspired to shrimp farming by adapting their paddy fields. Although profitability from shrimp aquaculture was high to moderate for a few years, later on, it appeared to have lower socio-economicSocio-economic attributes due to frequent viral infections and disease outbreaks in shrimp ponds, poor drainage system, rising soil, and water salinity in the entire farming lands. Furthermore, erratic rainfall, temperature stress, and increasing siltation on the river bed made the overall condition unsupportive for crops and aquaculture practicesAquaculture practices. Therefore, most farmers currently seek to return to the paddy-aquaculture farming system, which is more social, environment friendly, and sustainable in the delta. In this climate-stressed region, smallholders often search for a more resilient livelihood system adaptive to climate change and rapid bio-physical and socio-economicSocio-economic changes. This chapter argues for adaptive delta management practice considering long-term eco-hydrological and socio-economicSocio-economic scenarios in the delta region.