Shrimp: Warmwater

Rock, Red, Royal red, White, Pacific white, Vanna White, Atlantic white, Brown, Pink penaeid, Black tiget, Tiger prawn, Australian tiger prawn, Chinese white, Fleshy prawn

Ebi

The warmwater or tropical shrimps (most valuable from the genus Peneus) supply about 80% of the world’s wild-caught shrimp. These shrimps are short-lived and very prolific, making them inherently invulnerable to fishing pressure. Wherever these shrimps occur, they are exploited at or near their maximum sustainable yield.

The international shrimp trade is largely based on these species, especially the Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus1 vannamei), the brown shrimp (P.1 aztecus), the Atlantic white shrimp (P.1 setiferus), the pink penaeid shrimp (P. duorarum), the black tiger prawn (Penaeus monodon) and the Australian tiger prawns (P. esculentes and P. semisculatus). All of these are members of the infraorder Penaeidea, the prawns or “primitive shrimp”. Subject to capture fisheries wherever they occur, several popular penaeids, notably P. vannamei, are also being farm-raised.

The life history of penaeid shrimps makes them inherently resilient to fishing pressure. They are quick to mature and extremely prolific even though there is evidence of high population variability driven by physical environmental change.

The incredible abundance of penaeid shrimps may make them difficult to overfish. While most stocks show no clear signs of overfishing, and the UN FAO believes most Gulf and Atlantic populations are currently exploited, at or near their maximum sustainable yield.

Most tropical shrimps are captured by bottom trawling methods which take the world’s highest levels of bycatch, including finfish, other commercially important fishes, and significant numbers of endangered and threatened sea turtles. While technological innovations such as the Turtle-Excluder Device (TED) have reduced bycatch in recent years, not all countries that operate shrimp fisheries require or enforce the use of TEDs.

Bottom trawling for shrimp can have a severe impact on the marine habitat. If the area trawled is coral reef or other rocky substrate, the habitat can be damage beyond repair by bottom trawling. If, on the other hand, the habitat trawled is sandy or muddy bottom, the impact to the benthic habitat may be minimal. Since shrimp occupy both of these habitat types, the effects of habitat is ranked as moderate.

The management and enforcement of shrimp fishery regulations and Turtle-Excluder Device (TED) requirements is the responsibility of each nation that operates a shrimp fishery; there is no international management agreement regarding shrimp. Since many countries do not sufficiently enforce TED use, and also due to lack of sufficient management in international fisheries, the effectiveness of the management regime is considered of “high” conservation concern.

Is this farmed or wild shrimp?

What kind of shrimp is this?

Where was it caught?

How was it caught

Trap caught Northern Shrimp, Spot Shrimp, and Pink shrimp from Oregon all represent a “Best Choice”

Contaminant levels do not warrant a consumption advisory.

No.