Effect of water exchange on effluent and sediment characteristics and on partial nitrogen budget in semi-intensive shrimp ponds in New Caledonia

An experiment was conducted in six earthen ponds with 20 shrimps m^?2Litopenaeus stylirostris (Stimpson) during the warm season in New Caledonia to study the dynamics of wastes in relation with water exchange rate (WER). The nitrogen budget was established, taking into account the different forms of nitrogen in the water, sediment, feed and shrimp. Data from a wide range of treatments applied in unreplicated ponds were treated using regression analysis to establish the relationship between WER and partial nitrogen budget, sediment characteristics and shrimp performance. To compare effluent quality between treatments during the season, data were analysed using the non‐parametric sign test. The water outflow was characterized by a decrease in the concentrations of N‐mineral forms (TAN, NO₂^?–NO₃^?), an increase in the concentration of organic soluble and sestonic organic forms (expressed in terms of particulate nitrogen, particulate organic carbon, chlorophyll a) compared with the water inflow. Increasing WER increased the amount of exported wastes and mainly in the organic forms and TAN can be considered as negligible. The nitrogen budget showed that 19–46% of nitrogen input (feed+water) was exported into the coastal environment. The results showed that the quality of the sediment decreased as WER decreased. The potential negative impact of the developing industry in New Caledonia on the costal environment could be partially reduced in a first step by decreasing WER. However, if applied in the farms, this practice should be linked to a close survey of the evolution of sediment quality.