Shrimp Bycatch from the Past

NOAA photo archive of shrimp bycatch from 1969

see photos HERE

Shrimp as Commodity and Shrimp Futures Trading?

When you realize that shrimp are traded on the international market as a commodity, like oil, wheat, copper, etc and not treated like animals with a huge, nasty ecological footprint caused by fishing or farming them, you can begin to understand why the issues related to our #1 seafood are so hard to deal with. Think twice before you eat shrimp.

FAO Commodity Trade Info

FAO Global study of shrimp fisheries: "Shrimp is now the most important internationally traded fishery commodity in terms of value."

Shrimp futures trading?

Rolling Stone on market manipulation and "The Great American Bubble Machine"

The Ocean Project: Skip the shrimp cocktail

Much of the world's shrimp fishing industry is extremely wasteful, with an average of more than five pounds of bycatch killed and discarded "less valuable" sea creatures – for every pound of shrimp brought to port. And shrimp farming typically relies on unsustainable industrial practices that can be damaging to both coastal ecosystems and human health.

Read more HERE

Suspicious Shrimp

"Whether dipped in cocktail sauce at a party, sizzling in butter at a tapas bar, or topping a salad on a lunch break, shrimp has become the most popular seafood in the United States. The typical American eats three-and-a-half pounds of shrimp a year – surpassing even canned tuna, our long time former favorite.

Driving this surge in the consumption of shrimp is a method of intensive production that began expanding in the 1970s. Rather than being caught at sea, large quantities of shrimp are grown in man-made ponds containing a mix of ocean and fresh water along the coasts of Southeast Asia and South or Central America. Unfortunately, this industrial-scale shrimp production, often with hefty doses of antibiotics and pesticides, creates a series of food safety concerns.

The negative effects of eating industrially produced shrimp may include neurological damage from ingesting chemicals such as endosulfans, an allergic response to penicillin residues or infection by an antibiotic-resistant pathogen such as E. coli."

Read more from FWW HERE

Clean pot-caught shrimp

Compare this to the ocean-destroying bottom trawling approach. If you are going to eat shrimp, look for the good stuff.