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EJF is campaigning for seafood producers, traders, retailers and governments to take immediate action in curbing the environmental destruction associated with the US$ 50-60 billion shrimp farming industry. EJF is calling for clear, robust standards and labels to be adopted to give consumers a choice.
Steve Trent continued: ‘We are calling upon UK retailers and importers to demonstrate precisely what steps they are taking to ensure that none of the shrimps on sale are linked to the environmental problems we have witnessed. Right now, there are very few means by which consumers can be reassured that the shrimps they buy in the High Street are not linked to environmental abuses thousands of miles away’.
For further information or copies of ‘Farming the Sea, Costing the Earth’ contact Steve Trent or Annabelle Aish on +44 20 7359 0440 or +44 7974 925659. The report can also be downloaded from: http://www.ejfoundation.org/pdfs/farming_the_sea.pdf. Broadcast quality footage and stills available.
{If you experience difficulty click here to download “Farming the Sea, Costing the Earth” - pdf - 4.03Mb from the current web site}
Shrimp farming is worth US$6.9 billion at the farm gate and US$50-60 billion at the point of retail.
Around one third of global prawn production is from farming (the remainder are wild-caught).
Shrimp are farmed in about 50 countries – 99% of farmed production is from developing countries. Leading producers (2000) were Thailand, China, Indonesia, India, Vietnam, Ecuador, the Philippines, Bangladesh, Mexico and Brazil.
In a few countries, such as Malaysia and China, up to 50% of farmed shrimp are consumed domestically, but for most of the leading producers, shrimp are farmed for export, mainly to Europe, the USA and Japan.
In 2001, the UK imported 83,196 tonnes of shrimp worth over £353 million. 43% came from Asia and Oceania; 40% of the total were warm-water shrimp.
Professor Ivan Valiela and colleagues at the Boston University Marine Program reported (2001) that conversion to shrimp aquaculture is responsible for 38% of total mangrove destruction, and that ‘shrimp culture is, by a considerable margin, the greatest cause of mangrove loss’
In at least 12 countries, wetland sites listed as having international importance under the Ramsar Convention have been damaged or destroyed.
Harmful chemicals include antibiotics that persist in the environment and others such as chloramphenicol which are banned for food production by the EU and the USA because of severe risks to human health (links between their use and diseases such as aplastic anaemia and leukaemia). Pesticides such as endosulfan that are proven to be highly toxic and fatal to marine and other organisms are widely used.
There have been incidents where banned antibiotics have been discovered in shrimp consignments entering Europe (food safety agencies test consignments and have rejected or destroyed contaminated consignments).
The terms ‘shrimp’ and ‘prawn’ can be used interchangeably – EJF makes no distinction between the two.
for further information, please contact
Annabelle Aish
Campaigner
Environmental Justice Foundation
5 St Peter's Street
London N1 8JD
UK
TEL +44 (0) 20 7359 0440
FAX +44 (0) 20 7359 7123
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