Environmental Impacts of Coastal Aquaculture on Coastal Ecosystems

Coastal aquaculture is considered as the essential context in enhancing fish production, elevating rural economy, and productive exploitation of water resources is well established. with the expansion of the coastal aquaculture activities there is a rising a serious environmental concern having both short and long-term negative impacts. The article speaks about the important environmental impacts of coastal aquaculture on coastal ecosystems, especially in Asian countries, where the industry growth has seen considerably high in the past decades. Destruction of the mangrove ecosystem for the expansion of aquaculture activity for commercial purposes leads to habitat loss for the various native and exotic species because the mangroves are known as the breeding grounds for many marine and brackish water aquatic species and also it affects the food web along with environmental pollution. The major view is that coastal aquaculture plays an important role in providing nutritious and protein supplements for the growing population worldwide. But due to its vigorous expansion in coastal regions it is also associated with some environmental impacts decline in soil and water quality by reducing or altering the organic content with the use of pesticides, fertilizers, organic manure, mainly the release of aquaculture effluents into the natural water bodies. From an overall view, the sector should move towards sustainable aquaculture practices and strict monitoring of the usage of chemical substances in aquaculture practices should be followed