Farmed Shrimp from South Asia - in the News

A recent story in the Globe and Mail titled: The big challenge in making farmed shrimp safe to eat, states that Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA), continues to find illegal substances in samples of shrimp imported from Thailand.  The story by JESSICA LEEDER — Global Food Reporter, in Monday’s 2010-11-22 globe and mail also points out that recent sample checks, by the CFIA on Thai imports have uncovered residues of antibiotics deemed illegal for food production in Canada and the United States.

Although the Canadian Food Inspection Agency only scans a fraction of incoming seafood – five per cent is the agency’s target – inspectors are still finding tetracyclines (antibiotics commonly used to treat acne) nitrofurans (an antimicrobial drug and known carcinogen banned in Canada) and fluoroquinolones (broad-spectrum antibiotics used in human medicine) in the shipments they test. None should be consumed by humans. They’re also supposed to be illegal in Thailand, a global shrimp farming giant that pledged years ago to flush drugs out of its system, which yields 550,000 tons of shrimp per year.

 “We can’t inspect one hundred per cent of every piece of fish that comes in the country, otherwise there won’t be anything to eat,” said Jeanelle Boudreau, a fish policy officer with the CFIA’s fish and seafood network. The agency is constantly adjusting its inspections to focus on “areas where there might be more issues for non-compliance,” she said.

The full Globe and mail Story can be read at this link.

“In general, it would be fair to say it [antibiotic use] has fallen dramatically in shrimp farms around the world,” said Peter Bridson, manager of the Seafood Watch Program a the Center for the Future of Oceans at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. “That doesn’t mean to say it’s good now,” said Mr. Bridson, who also sits on the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue steering committee. “It’s just that it was horrific before.” 

The Thailand shrimp farming industry is made up of thousands of small farmers. The Thai department of fisheries states that it has undertaken a major campaign to educate farmers on best practices, however reducing yield losses often outweighs concerns over sustainability. The use of Antibiotics to keep stock from becoming ill remains a tempting option to the small farmer hoping to get the best yield. Clearly more education on sustainable and chemical free farming methods is needed.

One thing you can do as a consumer is monitor what you buy and where it comes from. Buy what you trust and have the best available information on. If possible opt for foods Labeled organic or from known sustainable sources. 

When all the fish are gone?

Here is a great picture and memory:

After a good night’s sleep, you awake to a great sunny morning and reflect upon the wonderful relaxing experience that you enjoyed last night. The memories of that great meal you shared with your special someone rests in your mind. The feeling of comfort and closeness you discovered, over the candle light casting shadows at your secluded table while soft music played, is still fresh in your thoughts.

The seafood was the best choice, it sure made a hit. The succulent flavors blended well with the mood and with the wine, bringing a mutual feeling of pleasure and satisfaction that a good dinner often brings. It was a night to remember, that brought you the same age old enjoyment that good friends, good food and good wine, has done for years. Yes it was great you say. Let us thank the folks that made it possible.

Now Picture this:

You have some slack time and you are wondering around the internet, reading about things that mean something in your life and you are gathering a better understanding of the world. In keeping with your concerns and important issues, the state of the world’s food supply, the quality of food and the price of food are all issues that you read about because you know that they will make an everyday difference in your life. After reading and researching on the subject for awhile you come upon information relating to one of the world’s largest sources of protein and nutritious food, which is fish and seafood.

This maybe is where your bad day starts, as you realize that humankind cannot any longer count on or rely upon wild fish stocks to meet the demands of the future or even satisfy the demands of today.

Perhaps you also wonder where all the fish have gone? If you do, you can also take some satisfaction in knowing that you are not alone. Many of the world’s scientist, governing bodies and think tanks are grappling with the crisis and are searching for alternative ways for making the best of our ocean, river and inland lake fish resources.

It is now written in “factual stones” that the populations of worldwide wild fish and shellfish (stocks) are continuing to be depleted at a rate that surprises even those scientists that made dire predictions a few short years ago. The huge hunting and gathering efforts that has long dominated the World’s supply of seafood are failing. Even with today’s increased overall fishing effort and increased focus upon catching and substituting less desirable fish species, collapse and failure of the wild fishing industry is near, and the lack of sustainability of the fishing effort against available wild supplies is impossible to escape.

Now picture a light:

Once one contemplates the facts and reviews the information it becomes obvious that we should endeavor to do more with what we have and employ a level of husbandry to reduce our reliance upon capture fisheries in the same manner as we reduced our need to hunt and gather other food supplies like grain and animals. Yes I am talking farming.

Fish farming is now supporting over 50% of the entire world’s supply of fish and seafood. The reason for this is very simple, it is the best and most sustainable method to meet the demand that our population creates. Without Aquaculture the wild stocks of fish would have collapsed years ago, as the demand for supply has far outpaced the ability of wild stocks to produce and it has done so for numerous years.

There has been much written of late on the reports of poor populations of many of our fisheries. TAC (total allowable catch) predictions for next year look downright scary. If we continue to ignore solutions to the problem we will continue to have the problem.

If one were to have to "wonder around" today and gather the grains, cereals, poultry, beef and other products needed to ensure survival, it would be a much different world.

In order to meet the demand for high protein foods we have to continue to supplement the available supply by controlled husbandry to help achieve a better yield from a diminishing resource.

Yes we need to continue farming fish and we are learning how to do it much better than before. That learning curve is also called growing, like our plants, animals and fish we have also grown and gained a better understanding of how to do things right, and we will continue to grow and fill the need.

Robert Freeman

Salmon Farming Here To Stay

Report:

KINGSTON, R.I., March 9 (UPI) -- U.S. residents are eating four times as much salmon as they were 20 years ago, most of it imported farmed salmon.
Researchers at the University of Rhode Island found that the value of wild salmon caught in the United States and Canada dropped from $800 million to $300 million between 1980 and 2004, the Providence Journal reported. In 1980, only 2 percent of the salmon sold globally was farmed, which grew to 65 percent in 2004.

"The Great Salmon Run: Competition Between Wild and Farmed Salmon" by Cathy A. Roheim and James Anderson of URI and Gunnar Knapp of the University of Alaska concludes that wild salmon cannot supply the market farmed salmon has created.

Full story Science Daily

It's an important point that's reached when harvesting the wild cannot satisfy the demands of the population. History demostrates that dewindling capture quanities of all wild animals and harvests of wild foods were the main deriving forces that created the need for all types of agriculture.