Catch Info:

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• Gear:
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Description:

Most imported, farmed shrimp are Pacific white shrimp and are very uniform in flavor and appearance. They are robust and fast growing, making them very suitable for farming. The meat is firm, mild and a little sweet.

In the wild, Pacific white shrimp are found in the eastern Pacific Ocean from Mexico to Peru. Pacific white shrimp are now farmed throughout the world, especially in South America and Southeast Asia.

Shrimp farming historically has not been very sustainable, but also varies greatly between farms and between countries. The rapid expansion of aquaculture has been difficult to regulate leading to lack of environmental protection. Thailand and Indonesia are farther along the path to sustainability while China and Vietnam are lagging behind. Most shrimp are farmed in coastal areas where mangrove forests have been removed to make way for a shrimp pond. These mangroves are very important to ecosystem function and should be protected and replanted. Shrimp are omnivorous thus do not require substantial amounts of fishmeal in their diet, unfortunately farmers often feed shrimp a commercial diet including fishmeal and oil to increase growth. Disease is prevalent and use of chemicals and antibiotics is common in many countries, though is becoming more highly regulated in others. Pollution (waste and chemicals) from less sustainable farms is released into the surrounding environment with no treatment or containment periods, while some farms are beginning to treat their wastewater or limit releases to a few times a year. Even better, some farms in Thailand are moving towards closed containment, where water recirculation and recycling techniques allow use of the same water for multiple growing cycles.

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