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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Wolverine Posted 9:40 am
20 Jun 2008
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.
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Eli Penberthy Posted 12:39 am
22 Jun 2008
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 http://www.shrimpless.wordpress.com
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spaceshaper Posted 1:32 am
22 Jun 2008
The true meaning of life is to plant trees, under whose shade you do not expect to sit.
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tlr Posted 6:37 am
09 Jul 2008
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Erik Hoffner Posted 10:56 am
09 Jul 2008
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: 1,200+ grassroots groups working for conservation & more
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Mikaels Posted 1:04 pm
01 Oct 2008
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