But many are run by cooperatives or individuals without concern for long-term management. Waste is the biggest problem. There's no place to put it. When it rains, the waste drains into the watershed, causing health problems. All along the coast, fishers say, the sludge, along with untreated or poorly treated shrimp farm waste water, has killed fish close to shore.
Many shrimp farmers seem unaware of the risk.
The muddy liquid flowed into a tube connected to a rattling pump. The tube ran from the shrimp pond to a growing slick of jet-black ooze underneath and behind his house, which rested on concrete stilts. Blooms of foam floated on the surface. The sludge was leaking into a nearby canal, where fish were jumping from lack of oxygen. A stench hung in the humid air.