A couple of years ago, I was in the kitchen with E, his sister, and her now-fiancé J. We were making coconut milk shrimp stew for dinner, and J–a vegetarian–was heating up leftovers for himself.
We were talking about food, as we do. (E, his mom, and his sister have celiac disease; I have IBS and am lactose and soy intolerant. We think about what we eat a little more than most people.) Our dinner that night came up in conversation, and J claimed that of all meats and seafood, shrimp were “pretty much the worst thing you can eat for the planet.”
That surprised me. I’d never studied the environmental impact of seafood before. Shrimp are so small! And they don’t use up lots of water or land or emit methane, right? I didn’t want to think that anything was wrong with eating shrimp. I filed the question away for later.
Finally, I’ve returned to it. I think that environmental education is so, SO important as a motivator in changing how we live. That’s why I created a resources page with a list of my favorite books and movies about various environmental topics. Today I thought I’d start adding to the literature with an article of my own.
So, is our shrimp consumption hurting the environment? In short: yes. Shrimp farming negatively impacts the environment and human health in many ways. I’ve discussed the top three that my research turned up, below.
Shrimp Farming & Antibiotics
According to Consumer Reports, approximately 90% of the shrimp sold and consumed in the US is imported from abroad–primarily from South Asian countries–and most of it is farmed (source). Several techniques used in farming negatively impact human health and the ecosystems surrounding farms. These techniques include the routine use of antibiotics, the destruction of mangrove forests along Asian coastlines, and the resulting high carbon footprint of shrimp relative to other meats.
In 2015, Consumer Reports conducted a study of 284 raw shrimp samples purchased from a variety of stores around the US (source). They tested for illegal antibiotic residues, antibiotic-resistant pathogens, and several bacteria that cause common foodborne illnesses (such as staph and E.coli). 60% of samples contained common foodborne pathogens. And, despite the fact that importing shrimp farmed with many antibiotics is illegal in the US, several contained banned antibiotic residues and several more contained the superbug MRSA. Moreover, these findings have been previously reported (source)–this study simply replicated them.
Antibiotics used in farming leach into the surrounding aquatic environment, selecting for antibiotic-resistant microbes and allowing them to proliferate. Thus, shrimp farms–like conventional animal farming–contribute to the growing incidence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria like MRSA (source). This impacts everyone, everywhere. As of 2013, according to the CDC, 23,000 people in the US die each year as a result of antibiotic-resistant infections (source). That number is predicted to rise in coming years.
Shrimp Farming & Ecological Destruction
Another problem associated with shrimp farming is the destruction of coastal mangrove forests. Mangroves play a hugely important role in coastal ecosystems: they purify water; act as nurseries and feeding grounds for hundreds of tropical fish species and other aquatic animals; and provide people who live in these areas with fuel, timber, and protection against tropical storms and tsunamis (source).
According to the Mangrove Action Project, over 7 million acres of coastal wetlands have already been destroyed and replaced with shrimp farms (source). Even worse, farm ponds become so contaminated with pesticides, antibiotics, and waste that they’re unusable within a few years–causing them to be abandoned and more forests destroyed to build new ones (source).
And mangroves are important for yet another reason: they store unusually high amounts of carbon in their soil (source). When the forests are disturbed, the carbon enters the atmosphere and the potential of the forest to capture and store carbon is lost (source). Some estimates place the carbon footprint of farmed shrimp at as high as ten times that of Amazon-farmed beef (source).
Wild-Caught Shrimp & Bycatch
Well, what about wild-caught shrimp? True, they’re not treated with antibiotics, and they don’t cause deforestation. But there’s the problem of shrimp trawling and bycatch to deal with. (FYI: the World Wildlife Fund defines bycatch as “the incidental capture of non-target species such as dolphins, marine turtles, and seabirds” (source).)
Trawling–pulling a (usually weighted) net through the water behind a boat–is a common method for catching wild shrimp. And according to Jonathan Safran Foer in Eating Animals, the bycatch ratio associated with shrimp trawling is staggering. On average, 80 to 90% of animals captured in trawling operations are thrown back overboard. Most animals are dead or close to it at that point (source).
Large trawls also damage the fragile ocean floor that many species need for food and shelter (source).
What You Can Do
First, steer clear of imported farmed shrimp from South Asian countries, unless you can verify that it was farmed in an environmentally and socially responsible way. In general, if you don’t know where it came from, don’t buy it. This probably means buying much less than you’re used to, as it does for me–sustainably produced and harvested seafood is expensive!
In the case that you’re craving shrimp, check the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch’s Shrimp Recommendations. You can download the app to access the list on the go! This list will give you details about the best choices, good alternatives, and options to avoid for shrimp (or any type of seafood), including the breed, method of harvest, and where it comes from. It also provides a list of eco-certifications to look for when buying.
Any information you’d like to add to this post? What are other environmental topics you’d like to learn about?
Edit for fellow Minnesotans: A friend and reader linked me to the website of an awesome local, eco-friendly shrimp farm: Shrimp Guys MN! Definitely keep an eye out for their products at co-ops and grocery stores in the area. Their website also has a lot of great information on problems in the industry and how they do things differently.