Squandering the seas: how shrimp trawling is threatening ecological integrity and food security around the world

This paper examines the waste and destruction behind prawn (shrimp) trawling. It assesses levels of shrimp production and consumption and the practice of shrimp trawling. It gauges the ecological and sociological impacts, especially the impacts on seagrasses and reefs.

To ensure the future sustainability of wild-caught shrimp production, EJF recommends the following course of action:

• apply a precautionary Ecosystem-Based approach to the management of shrimp fisheries
• re-evaluate the long-term economic benefits derived from shrimp fisheries
• improve governance over natural resources and prioritise the needs of local communities in the management of shrimp fisheries
• prioritise further research on shrimp trawling
• reduce bycatch in shrimp fisheries to sustainable levels
• reduce overall fishing effort of shrimp fisheries to sustainable levels
• establish and effectively manage Marine Protected Areas
• establish stronger mechanisms for the enforcement of shrimp fisheries regulations, particularly in relation to illegal ‘pirate’ fishing for shrimp
• support trade-related instruments that improve sustainability in shrimp fisheries
• raise consumer awareness and establish ‘eco-labelling’ schemes for shrimp products

The report makes specific recommendations to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Trade Organisation, EU, National Governments, the international Donor Community and UN agencies. An example of recommendations for the WTO include:

• the expeditious elimination of all detrimental fishing subsidies. These are trade-distorting and can have serious environmental and social repercussions
• continued collaboration between the WTO and Secretariats of Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs). In particular, clarification of the relationship between WTO rules and MEAs is needed to ensure that such agreements are mutually supportive and that the primacy of pre-existing MEAs is recognised
• the acknowledgement and approval by the WTO that trade-related measures may be necessary to achieve non-trade objectives, in this case the reduction of unsustainable shrimp production