In 1976 the Government of Indonesia began a brackish water pond (tambak) development project on the east coast of the north Sumatra provinces Aceh and North Sumatra. Strategic outputs for the 2 province projects are listed. It was decided that polyculture of milkfish (Chanos chanos ) and shrimp (Penaeus monodon ) would be promoted as the most realistic of several possibilities. A mini-estate pilot project was undertaken in order to determine how the tambak expansion could be conducted in an orderly way, both technically and economically sound. Several problems remain, but these are being tackled currently with optimism.