Remote Sensing-Based Assessment of the Long-Term Expansion of Shrimp Ponds Along the Coastal and Protected Areas of the Gulf of California

Shrimp farming has increasingly taken over coastal areas in Mexico, particularly in the protected regions of Sonora and Sinaloa. Over the past 30 years, the economic activity associated with these farms has grown so much that the amount of shrimp produced in these ponds now exceeds that harvested from traditional shrimp fisheries. Establishing shrimp ponds has led to significant land changes and environmental contamination, introducing organic matter, heavy metals, bacteria, and viruses into the coastal ecosystem of the Gulf of California. The construction of these ponds has fragmented local ecosystems, resulting in permanent alterations to areas such as floodplains, mangrove forests, and dunes, many of which are protected zones. This study aimed to investigate the long-term growth of shrimp farms from 1993 to 2022 and their impact on land-use changes in surrounding ecosystems, focusing on protected areas in the Sinaloa and Sonora coastal regions. We analyzed Landsat images using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform. Our findings indicate that shrimp farm development over the past three decades has been extensive, with protected areas experiencing fragmentation and changes. Remote sensing and platforms like GEE enable the effective monitoring of these spatiotemporal changes and their impacts, helping to identify the most affected areas.