This lists fish that are commonly sold in supermarkets around the world, and which have a very high risk of being sourced from unsustainable fisheries. The reasons given by Greenpeace were "destruction of vast areas of mangroves in several countries, overfishing of juvenile shrimp from the wild to supply shrimp farms, and significant human rights abuses".
Mangroves are an essential part of our environment.
Mangroves are used by hundreds of wild fish species as nurseries and these areas protect lands from the rise of the seas, erosion and also buffers the devastating effects of tsunamis. Mangrove are also more efficient than rain forest at storing carbon dioxide. However, mangroves are rapidly being replaced by shrimp farms and it is estimated that 25 to 38% of mangroves have been replaced by shrimp ponds in the past 30 years.
Press reports regularly expose the problem of human slavery, trafficking, debt bondage and of illegal work in the shrimp farming business. Just google the subject to discover the dark side of shrimp farming…and it also one of the reasons why the shrimps you buy in supermarkets are so cheap.
Growing shrimps outdoor naturally attracts other animals into the shrimp ponds: crabs, fishes, rats, birds are predators to the shrimps or of their food, so to avoid their presence, shrimp farmers use a wide range of pesticides to kill them.
Shrimp ponds are also prone to algae blooms due to high water temperature (algae in too high quantity kill the shrimps). So, to avoid algae blooms, shrimp farmers use aquatic herbicides like copper sulfate and other chemical products.
Finally, to improve shrimp survival rates in open air ponds, antibiotics are regularly used as part of the shrimp diet to increase their resistance to diseases. These antibiotics are then found in the food we eat and researchers fear that they could arm humans by creating antibiotic resistant bugs.
Please do not take our word for it, check our facebook where you can watch independent documentaries related to these issues. You may as well google it and make your own opinion.
