Farmed shrimp more accessible to an eager, shrimp-loving public in the U.S., Europe, Japan and elsewhere.
Investors seeking profits have intensified farming methods with industrialized processes,
sometimes at significant cost to the environment.
WWF is committed to ensuring this valuable commodity is produced responsibly.
Shrimp farming is traditionally fractionalized—much of it done on small farms
in Southeast Asian countries.
Often, governments and development aid agencies in these countries have
promoted shrimp aquaculture as a path to alleviate poverty.
These policies have sometimes been at the expense of wetland ecosystems,
partly because building shrimp ponds near tidal areas save farmers
the expense of high elevation water pumps and long-term pumping costs.
Marine shrimp farming is an aquaculture business for the cultivation of marine shrimp
or prawns[Note 1] for human consumption.
Although traditional shrimp farming has been carried out in Asia for centuries,
large-scale commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s,
and production grew steeply, particularly to match the market demands of the United States,
Japan and Western Europe.
The total global production of farmed shrimp reached more than 1.6 million tonnes in 2003,
representing a value of nearly 9 billion U.S. dollars.
About 75% of farmed shrimp is produced in Asia, in particular in China and Thailand.
The other 25% is produced mainly in Latin America, where Brazil, Ecuador,
and Mexico are the largest producers. The largest exporting nation is India.
Less than three decades later, there is transformational change
and continued interest to address environmental
and social impacts by many in the shrimp farming industry.
Large and small shrimp farms alike in Central America,
Southeast Asia and elsewhere are working toward producing shrimp responsibly.
Several are looking to comply with the rigorous ASC shrimp standards as an independent
means of demonstrating their compliance to responsible farming.
Shrimp farming has changed from traditional, small-scale businesses
in Southeast Asia into a global industry.
Technological advances have led to growing shrimp at ever higher densities,
and broodstock is shipped worldwide.
Virtually all farmed shrimp are of the family Penaeidae, and just two species –
Penaeus vannamei (Pacific white shrimp) and Penaeus monodon (giant tiger prawn) –
account for roughly 80% of all farmed shrimp.
These industrial monocultures are very susceptible to diseases,
which have caused several regional wipe-outs of farm shrimp populations.
Increasing ecological problems, repeated disease outbreaks,
and pressure and criticism from both NGOs and consumer countries led to changes
in the industry in the late 1990s and generally stronger regulation by governments.
In 1999, a program aimed at developing and promoting more sustainable farming practices
was initiated, including governmental bodies, industry representatives,
and environmental organizations.
Shrimp export is the most valuable traded marine product in the world today.
In 2005, farmed shrimp was a 10.6 billion industry.
Today, production is growing at an approximate rate of 10 percent annually—
one of the highest growth rates in aquaculture.
