The
Warmwater Shrimp Fishery is an environmental
fiasco
Warmwater
shrimp fishing has the highest bycatch
rate of all fisheries in the world.
Most countries fishing warmwater shrimp
do not use the Nordmore grate or any
other Bycatch Reduction Device (BRD).
This rate surpasses 10 to 1. That means
that for every pound of shrimp, 10 pounds
of other fish, turtles, rays, small
crabs, invertebrates of all kinds are
captured.(1)(2)
Imagine; for every warmwater shrimp
you eat, 10 other creatures of equivalent
size have to die. They are crushed or
drown in shrimp nets, and are thrown
back to the sea because they have no
commercial value.
Globally,
the warmwater shrimp fishery represents
a staggering one third of all bycath.
A considerable percentage of this bycatch
is undersized fish of commercially fished
species. This has the effect of reducing
fish stocks and seriously taxing our
food sources, on a global scale.(1)(2)
Over 150,000 sea
turtles drown in warmwater shrimp nets every year.(3)
Several of the 7 species of sea turtle are endangered,
and in some cases their population has plummeted
90 %. Many are likely to vanish within the next
50 years. In 1996, the United-States passed a law
banning shrimp imports from countries which did
not use an excluder device to avoid catching turtles.
That same year, India,
Pakistan, Thailand and
Malaysia filed a joint complaint
with the World Trade Commission to the effect that
this law, which was meant to protect sea turtles,
constituted an unfair trade barrier.(4)
Should you be purchasing shrimp products from these
countries?
