- Shrimp has long been on the menu of coast-dwelling humans.
But today's multibillion-dollar industry bears little resemblance to shrimp
harvests of old. Today, huge quantities of shrimp are produced in developing
countries for consumption in Japan, the United States, and Western Europe.
In 2001 alone, more than four million tons swam into the global marketplace.
-
- Roughly three quarters of the shrimp on the market is
"wild captured" - mostly by fishing boats dragging huge conical
nets (trawls) over estuaries, bays, and continental shelves. Trawlers scour
the seabed in a manner likened to forest clearcutting, destroying habitat
and scooping up whatever lies in the paths of the trawls. Any turtles,
fish, and other marine species swept up in the nets are considered unprofitable
"bycatch" and are generally depositedódeadóback
into the ocean.
-
- Shrimp aquaculture has been no more ecologically benign.
A typical shrimp farm produces large amounts of waste, some of it highly
toxic. Chemicals and fertilizers used in the farms seep into local water
sources and estuaries, while farmers dump much of the waste directly into
the ocean.
-
- Did You Know?
-
- * China produces more shrimp than any other country,
hauling in over 1.2 million tons in 2000, more than double its total from
a decade before and over three times as much as each of its nearest competitorsóIndia,
Thailand, and Indonesia.
-
- * By 2001, shrimp had displaced canned tuna as the top
seafood choice on U.S. dinner plates. But Japan is still first in per capita
shrimp consumption.
-
- * In tropical areas, the bycatch-to-shrimp ratio is roughly
10:1, and it can run even higher in some fisheries. All told, shrimping
accounts for one third of the world's discarded catch, while producing
less than 2 percent of global seafood.
-
- * Nearly one quarter of the world's remaining tropical
mangrove forests were destroyed over the past two decades, in major part
to make way for shrimp farms.
-
- * Indian physicist and environmental advocate Vandana
Shiva has estimated that the average shrimp farm provided perhaps 15 jobs
on the farm and 50 security jobs around the farm, while displacing 50,000
people through loss of land and traditional fishing and agriculture.
-
- Success!
-
- * Grassroots environmental groups in farmed areas are
teaming up with international activists to promote more ecologically sound
shrimp farming. In Asia, the Small Fishers Federation of Sri Lanka and
the Mangrove Action Project bring fishing communities together to promote
conservation and work with shrimp farmers to curb mangrove destruction
and protect fish habitat.
-
- * The California-based Sea Turtle Restoration Project
is among several groups working with the shrimp industry to develop and
promote devices that drastically reduce bycatch.
-
- * A consortium involving the World Bank, the UN Food
and Agriculture Organization, and the World Wide Fund for Nature is exploring
environmental certification standards for aquaculture.
-
- Simple Things You Can Do
-
- * Avoid buying shrimp to ease the burden on both ecosystems
and people.
-
- * Ask your local restaurants and food stores to stop
supplying shrimp, or encourage them to seek out trap-caught shrimp.
-
- Challenge Yourself And Others
-
- * Pledge to avoid eating shrimp. View an online tally
of the cumulative positive effect of doing so by joining the Center for
a New American Dream's Turn the Tide program (www.newdream.org/tttoffline).
For every 1,000 people who stop eating shrimp, this can save more than
5.4 tons of sea life per year.
-
- For More Information
-
- Industrial Shrimp Action Network (ISA Net) (www.shrimpaction.com)
works with communities worldwide to address the impacts of large-scale
shrimp aquaculture and supports and encourages sustainable, responsible
shrimp farming.
-
- Mangrove Action Project (www.mangroveactionproject.org)
is dedicated to reversing the degradation of mangrove forest ecosystems,
including from shrimp farming and aquaculture.
-
- Shrimp Sentinel (www.earthsummitwatch.org/shrimp) is
an online forum for discussion and dialogue on the environmental and social
impacts of growing global shrimp production.
-
- Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch (www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch)
offers information on sustainable shrimp choices.
-
- copyright © 2004 http://www.worldwatch.org/pubs/goodstuff/shrimp/
|
