One expensive cocktail

The toll of the shrimping industry on Southeast Asia

Posted by Erik Hoffner (Guest Contributor) at 10:08 AM on 20 Jun 2008

Read more about: agriculture | aquaculture | food | severe weather | fishing

Southeast Asia would have fared better during the tsunami and the recent cyclone if the majority of the region's coastal mangrove forests were intact. Everyone accepts that. But many of the mangroves have been cut for firewood, largely to make way for shrimp farming. The cost of the mangrove-loss to coastal fisheries is great, since much of the food chain spends its early years amongst the trees' roots.

But the human cost, besides those lost in the flood waters, is also great: Labor abuses in the farmed shrimp industry are rampant. Read "The True Cost of Shrimp" (PDF) for details on the child labor, human trafficking, beatings, torture, and murder associated with these farms. There are also toxins that farm workers get to enjoy spraying into the shrimp pens to keep the critters from succumbing to infections. So, what to do?

Bottom line: Please don't eat nasty farm-raised shrimp from tropical countries (every shrimp in the market or on the menu pretty much is). Support grassroots organizations -- like Mangrove Action Project -- which work to raise awareness of the issues surrounding imported farmed shrimp while helping communities replant their mangroves, one beautiful tree at a time.

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6 Comments | Post a Comment

Wild Meat Only! And Boycott All Shrimp!

This is just another of the many examples of why animal husbandry is bad for the Earth.

Additionally, everyone who cares about the environment and/or animal rights should be boycotting shrimp. For every pound of wild shrimp caught commercially, TEN pounds of "bycatch" is killed. (Bycatch is all the non-target fish that are thrown back into the ocean, dead.) So, neither wild nor farmed shrimp are environmentally friendly. Moreover, this food is not even particularly healthy. Shrimp are bottom feeders. I freely admit that they taste good, but species like wild salmon are far more healthy.

by Wolverine at 4:40 PM on 20 Jun 2008

Shrimp Less, Think More!

Thanks to Erik for paying attention to this important issue--we need a collective wake-up call about the consequences of our seafood choices!

As Erik notes, ne immediate action we can take is to reduce our consumption of imported shrimp. Shrimp is the most popular seafood among Americans, but many people do not know that the prices we pay as consumers do not reflect the costs to the environment, communitities, and health. The AFL-CIO report mentioned here exposes the child labor, human trafficking, debt bondage, and other labor abuses common in the production of shrimp. Additionally, shrimp farms heavily pollute the land and waterways and are the #1 destroyer of mangrove forests, which act as nurseries for many fish and protect coastlines from erosion and storm damage. If that isn't enough to make you stop eating it, this will: imported shrimp may contain pesticides, antibiotics, and other filth, and since the FDA inspects less than 2% of imported seafood, it is likely that contaminated shrimp is reaching our plates.

Mangrove Action Project (MAP) recently launched a consumer awareness campaign, "Shrimp Less, Think More" urging consumers to reduce their consumption of imported farmed shrimp and to instead choose local, sustainably-harvested varieties. For more information about the true costs of imported farmed shrimp, visit www.shrimpless.wordpress.com

by Eli Penberthy at 7:39 AM on 22 Jun 2008

Thanks for this

I have a number of friends who are in denial about shrimp-eating, as if it were ethically and environmentally the equivalent of vegetarianism and devoid of the issues attached to CAFO's etc. I hope to be able to share this information with them in some gentle way.

The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.

by spaceshaper at 8:32 AM on 22 Jun 2008

Not all shrimp the same

I wanted to inform your readers that not all shrimp is harvested or grown in an un-ecological manner. I live in Eastern Nova Scotia, where there is a sustainable trap fishery for shrimp, which is currently under review for eco-labeling. The traps are much like lobster traps, only with smaller mesh, and the fishery is carried out by smaller boats which help to maintain the economy in the small coastal community where it takes place. While true many ocean resources have been depleted with little regard, there are some involved in the fishing industry here in Canada who wish to preserve the stocks, as well as the heritage surrounding our Maritime tradition.

by tlr at 1:37 PM on 09 Jul 2008

true

tlr: yes, there are good examples of ecological shrimp, including some being farm raised in the US southeast.

I'm unclear as to how ecological the shrimp caught off of NS are: if they are the same as 'Maine shrimp' as they are called here, my understanding is that fisheries scientists don't know much about the stocks yet, it being a newly 'discovered' critter. Which makes me wary of accepting that they should be considered an ecological choice. But I'll freely admit that they taste great.

Erik

The Orion Grassroots Network: supporting grassroots groups working for conservation, justice, & more

by Erik Hoffner at 5:56 PM on 09 Jul 2008
[ Parent ]

AFL-CIO

As Erik notes, ne immediate action we can take is to reduce our consumption of imported shrimp. Shrimp is the most popular seafood among Americans, but many people do not know that the prices we pay as consumers do not reflect the costs to the environment, communitities, and health. The AFL-CIO report mentioned here exposes the child labor, human trafficking, debt bondage, and other labor abuses common in the production of shrimp. Additionally, shrimp farms heavily pollute the land and waterways and are the #1 destroyer of mangrove Seks Hikayeleri porno porno Teknoloji forests, which act as nurseries for many fish and protect coastlines from erosion and storm damage. If that isn't enough to make you stop eating it, this will: imported shrimp may contain pesticides, antibiotics, and other filth, and since the FDA inspects less than 2% of imported seafood, it is likely that contaminated shrimp is reaching our plates.

by Mikaels at 8:04 PM on 01 Oct 2008

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