shrimp

The growing demand for "seafood" causes severe damage to the environment

In the past I have already mentioned the negative effect that Eilat fish that grow in cages have on their free-living "friends": diseases, parasites, genetic damage, and more. I also mentioned the damage to fish populations in the entire world, damage due to which the number of fish of fishing fleets and especially local / traditional fishermen is reduced. Here and there I also mentioned the damage to the shrimp farms due to the marine and terrestrial causes. Because of the importance of hasilon to the Western menu and due to the rising standard of living in the West, the demand for the marine "fruit" is increasing. Fishing from the wild does not satisfy the demand, so the artificial breeding grounds, artificial ponds where the sought-after fruit is grown, are growing.

Most of the growing areas are cultivated on warm days, on shallow beaches, shallow and flat beaches allow the damming of large ponds without much investment, except that warm days and shallow beaches are the preferred habitat of mangrove groves, and this is how the damage to the environment begins, since in order to develop the growing areas are destroyed /Millions of dunams of mangrove groves are uprooted.

The mangrove groves are a buffer that protects the coast from the "damages" of sea waves (tsunamis), the mangrove groves are an important habitat for mammals, birds, insects and fish, damage to this habitat is similar to damage to a coral reef or a rain forest. The damage goes on and on because the shrimps are grown in high density, to prevent diseases they saturate the ponds with antibiotics, to get rapid growth growth hormones and vitamins are added. To prevent algae growth add herbicides...poison to the water.

All of these spill into the environment and pollute the sea and land. The victims are all the "neighbors", near and far. In many cases, criminal elements take over the shrimp farming and in many places the "tray bakery" is treated with great concern, stories about murders are common in West Africa, the murder of farmers and fishermen who are not ready to make way for the shrimp. In South-America and South-East Asia, the people of the "Trash Bakery" are harassing representatives of organizations that work to protect the environment.

The damage to the environment and the damage to the local population has led, in many places, to a vigorous public call to limit the activities of the trawling entrepreneurs.

In Nigeria: two companies are trying to develop shrimp farms, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) first tried in the Niger River delta, but the delta is flooded with oil pollution and damaged to the extent that it is difficult to grow, so the companies turned to other areas, including to develop / To build the ponds from fishermen and farmers... The public opposition is great, but the rulers are not "righteous of the generation", the profits beckon and the approvals are given.

In Thailand, the Trang province was the haunt of many fishermen. The felling of mangroves and the clearing of areas for trawlers damaged an irreparably vulnerable environment, the fishermen are unable to fish in the polluted water from the ponds' mouths, in order to make a living many of them move to the city in search of work... which does not exist, about 4000 rice plots were lost / looted by the trawlers.

In Honduras, the government announced a moratorium on the development of the trawling projects, the postponement was announced in 1996 and continues until environmental tests in the Gulf of Fonseca are completed. In India, the conditions around the shrimp farms deteriorated to a level that required the Supreme Court to pass a decision to stop the development of the project that covered 100.000 square kilometers. Before the court's decision, 48.000 residents were evacuated from the area.

China, Taiwan and Vietnam were the main suppliers of shrimps, they were severely damaged when antibiotics, insecticides and other poisons were dispersed and caused viral infections that destroyed the fishing grounds that until recently were considered fertile. remained worthless for any use.

Mexico asked the World Bank for a loan for the development of shrimp cultivation, the request was submitted at a time when the Bank's personnel were examining the environmental damage caused by the crops in Thailand, as well as the widespread spread of a viral disease in shrimp. The disease and the environmental damage caused the loan application to be rejected.

In Japan, research is being conducted with the aim of determining the level of immunity in disease agents, immunity as a result of the use of more than 20 types of antibiotics, the possibility that the transfer of antibiotics from snails to humans causes health risks is also being examined, as a result of the research the use of many of the antibiotics was banned!

In Sri Lanka, more than 45 square kilometers of mangrove areas were destroyed to build ponds for shrimps, in the area 8000 fishermen lost their headquarters. The Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA) declared the shrimp farms as "a threat to the environment". In Malaysia: the government decided that: "it is forbidden to establish shrimp farms in mangrove areas". In England: At the meeting of the "forest planning people" a severe condemnation of the shrimp farm was published. The Cambodian government concluded that: "The cultivation of shrimp on farms failed because of the environmental pollution it caused"!

About 200 representatives of an international body called the "Industrial Shrimp Action Network" (ISA NET) conducted tours of shrimp farms and consumer markets and after a workshop on the subject published the list of harms from shrimp farms:
• Violation of human rights including: false arrests, rape, murder, loss of livelihood.
• Land conflicts, malnutrition, vacant residents, loss of local traditions,
• Destruction of social structures in villages, transition of rural people to crowded cities, children dropping out of schools,
• Loss of biodiversity.
• Damage to fish quantities, damage to domestic animals, damage to food supply,
• Pollution problems to the point of death, due to the wild use of toxic materials.
• The profits are not directed to local investments, an imbalance in the distribution of profits,

The trawling industry spans the world and generates 20 billion dollars every year. This amount is an incentive for support by leading entities in the global economy, the large profits from an industry incentivize entities to finance investment without environmental tests and considerations, (similar to investments in oil, or in minerals and resources of great value)... In order to protect their environment, their way of life, their ability to earn a living... it is important that the residents of the coasts and the residents of the countries have the right to veto the establishment of shrimp farms.

In a framed article I will add that: I am a seafood lover in general and shrimps in particular, but it seems that our personal inclinations should also be directed according to the impact on the environment, because the time has come that instead of controlling the environment for the sake of the human population, there should be control of the human population for the sake of the environment!

Dr. Assaf Rosenthal, ecologist,
Tour guide/leader in Africa and South America.
For details: Tel. 0505640309 / 077-6172298,
Email: assaf@eilatcity.co.il