Monday, May 16, 2011

Shrimp Farming and the Environment

My daughter never eats shrimp because of the negative impact so many shrimp operations have on the environment. These negative impacts range from cutting down mangrove forests, to the effluent pollution from poorly operated shrimp farms. In the title link you can learn that these negative impacts  are not inevitable, and that shrimp can be farmed in an environmentally sound manner. The link includes a 16 minute video about Linda Thornton, a major pioneer in these efforts. This video also covers some details about the shrimp farming techniques developed and employed on three shrimp farms in Belize.

There is still a lot of work ahead to get these techniques learned and practiced around the world, but organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund are helping make this happen, and are also developing certification techniques for shrimp raised on environmentally sustainable shrimp farms.

1 comment:

Sally said...

I thought the video was fascinating. Lindblad Expeditions does not serve shrimp on any of their trips because of the negative environmental impact shrimp farms have around the world and they try to educate their customers about this. I hope that shrimp raised in farms that do not pollute will eventually become certified and widely available.

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