Build a Forest, Create a Sustainable Fishery

There are stories about those who try to buy a piece of swampland, and most of them are about real estate scams. However, for fish in tropical places, mangrove swamps are a very important home. These muddy swamps are nurseries for baby fish, and they're critically important habitats. We've lost more than half of the mangrove forests in the world, and things aren't looking overly positive for the fish and other animals that rely on them as habitat.

But are mangroves a food issue? The connections between wetlands and food may seem to be a little murky, but to people who live in Southeast Asia they are abundantly clear. Fish play a significant role in Southeast Asian cuisine. In the Philippines, the milkfish is almost a national symbol, such is its popularity as a dietary staple. While many tropical fish are considered to be river or reef dwellers, often these fish grow up in mangrove swamps or estuaries. The milkfish is often caught in estuaries, then raised in ponds as a staple food. The human food chain relies heavily on fish, and the fish rely on the mangroves.

Mangroves are not only an important rearing place for fish. They also act as natural buffers that protect people and other animals from the ocean waves. In times when there is growing concern about rising sea levels and increasingly dramatic storm events, it's important to maintain the systems that protect land from water.

Why are the mangroves disappearing? All around the world, as urban areas, agriculture, and roads expand wetlands are often the first ecosystems to go. How can we sustain these ecosystems? One of the many industries vying for a piece of waterfront property is the shrimp farm. Get a Seafood Watch card for your local area and cross-check it before buying to see what shrimp is ethically caught and raised. If you're a tourist near a mangrove forest, choose resorts that are eco-friendly and have developed in a manner that is sensitive to the local environment. Support organizations like Project Seahorse that work with communities to help people make a good income and protect mangrove ecosystems.

Mangroves are undervalued ecosystems. They don't exude the same appeal as a walk in the forest or a dive near a coral reef: they are muddy and wet, and people aren't fond of muddy and wet. They also extend a siren call to developers who love prime waterfront land. Like wetlands around the world, these ecosystems have been looked upon with suspicion and with an eye to the real estate that could exist right where that forest happens to be located. Yet tropical wetland forests are a quiet but critical ecosystem that sustains the food supply, and they need to be protected.