There has been a negative buzz surrounding the shrimp/prawn industry for quite sometime now, but do you understand why?

Shrimp/prawns are the most valued seafood world wide.  Their demand creates employment through fishing and farming across the globe with many third world economies profiting from their existence.  The more we choose shrimp cocktail and surf and turf, the more unsustainable their species and surrounding environment becomes.

According to The Monterey Bay Aquarium, “(shrimp) trawling accidentally catches and kills more than 1.8 million tons of marine life each year, including turtles, sharks and other animals, accounting for more than 25% of the world’s wasted catch…Shrimp trawling has the highest bycatch of any commercial fishery – for every pound of shrimp hauled in, three to 15 pounds of unwanted animals die in the process.”

Trawling isn’t the only issue regarding the shrimp industry.  One of North America’s greatest desires is for the Tiger prawn, Black tiger shrimp and Ebi.  Tropical shrimp and prawn farming was designed to accommodate our demand by clearing hundreds of thousands of hectares of mangrove forests.  Mangrove forests are an essential lifeline for shorelines providing nurseries, shelter and breeding places for fish and other marine life.  They also help to preserve water quality, control flooding for communities and protect shorelines from erosion.

According to www.mangroveactionproject.org “We have already lost an estimated 1 million hectares of important coastal wetlands, including mangroves, in order to make room for the artificial shrimp ponds of this boom and bust industry…Approximately 250,000 of those farmed hectares now lie abandoned because of disease and pollution.”

The shrimp industry is the most destructive ocean related industry and once again we can stop it by changing the demand for such shrimp, putting pressure on regulation and law.

If you cannot give up your desire for shrimp and prawns please choose wisely!  There are new nets now being used to vastly improve the percentage of bycatch, however it is almost impossible to know which supplier is using these safer nets.

If you must eat shrimp,  choose wisely!  Look for the BC spotted prawn, the Coon stripe prawn, the Whiteleg shrimp, the Northern pink shimp (trapped only) or the Oregon pink shrimp.  These are the most environmentally sound wild-caught and farmed species that are well managed and are not caught via trawling.