All the farms in the survey had long‐arm aerators powered by electricity and fabricated by farm staff from new or used aerator parts. Four of the six farms also had venturi aerators, diffuser aerators, or both.

Excessive amounts of installed aeration capacity in Asian shrimp ponds may result from farmers wanting to protect against unexpected low dissolved oxygen concentrations in the absence of dissolved oxygen monitoring to verify effectiveness Solar Power Aerator Fish Pond

They also note that around 5 million tonnes of farmed shrimp are produced annually, and at least 70 percent of this production is from aerated ponds. As a result, they calculate that a reduction of aeration energy use would save the industry about $87.5 million a year as well as lessen carbon dioxide emissions by around 460,000 tonnes CO2 equivalent per year.

The full study was published in the Journal of the World Aquaculture Society, under the title Aerator energy use in shrimp farming and means for improvement, and the research was funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Rob Fletcher has been writing about aquaculture since 2007, as editor of Fish Farmer, Fish Farming Expert and The Fish Site. He has an MA in history from the University of Edinburgh and an MSc in sustainable aquaculture from the University of St Andrews. He lives in Scotland.