Sunday 23 September 2007

Shrimp/prawn farming - the bad news in detail

I have known for a while that eating prawns are bad and should be avoided (see other posts on this blog) Prawns/shrimp are either caught using highly destructive trawling or farmed using methods that are highly destructive to marine and coastal ecological systems.

The following two links provide some more information and are interesting reading.

Hungry for change: EJ Foundation campaign for ethical shrimp (read prawn) farming and fisheries: click here

Details report into the shrimp industry : click here


The conclusion of the executive summary section of the "...costing the earth" report says:
"Immediate action is necessary by all stakeholders and specifically governments, the shrimp farming industry, seafood producers, traders and retailers plus aid and development agencies, which together are promoting or indirectly supporting the unsustainable and unethical practices of this industry."

The consumer guide references a need to be aware of what you are eating, ask the right questions of the restaurants and supermarkets and only buy ethically produced prawns.

Now that is the challenge. I don't see any labels or information to help consumers in this regard, maybe if we started to ask then this will start to happen.

1 comment:

Willod said...

Yup I agree, I will join you and stop eating prawns unless I am sure of their source.