Trophic status of earthen ponds used for semi-intensive shrimp (Litopenaeus stylirostris, Stimpson, 1874) farming in New Caledonia (Pacific Ocean)

Abstract We have investigated temporal variability in the quantity and biochemical composition of sediment organic matter along with variables proxies of water eutrophication (e.g., inorganic nutrient and chlorophyll-a) at two shrimp farms located in the Southern coast of New Caledonia and characterised by clear differences in shrimp feeding practices and levels of initial trophic conditions. The results of our study reveal that the trophic status of the water column increased during the rearing cycle at both sites, determining a general, though moderated, eutrophication. However, the water column trophic descriptors did not allow to discriminate differences in the trophic status among the investigated sites or between sites in the same farming plant, even if they were subjected to different feeding practices and largely different initial characteristics of the sediment. Temporal variations in biopolymeric C and phytopigment sedimentary contents (used as proxies of benthic eutrophication) varied inconsistently among sites. The multivariate analyses did not identify significant temporal patterns in the benthic trophic status, but allowed discriminating the four investigated sites. The semi-intensive shrimp farming significantly contributed to changing the water column and sediments trophic status of the earthen ponds, but the extent of those changes was not consistently observed in all ponds. In any of the investigated ponds the trophic status exceeded concerning thresholds over which hypoxia or anoxia could occur. We conclude that the established semi-intensive practices adopted so far for shrimp farming activities in the earthen ponds of New Caledonia are able to maintain the status of the ponds below the eutrophication levels over which dystrophic crises could sharply abate most of the reared biomass.