The shrimp fishery is a major global industry, with more than 3.4 million tons caught per year, chiefly in Asia. Rates of

bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

are unusually high for shrimp fishing, with the capture of

sea turtle Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerh ...

s being especially contentious. A shrimper is a fishing vessel rigged for shrimp fishing.

Nomenclature

The term ''shrimp'', as used by the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; . (FAO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger and improve nutrition and food security. Its Latin motto, , translates ...

(FAO), covers all

shrimp A shrimp (: shrimp (American English, US) or shrimps (British English, UK)) is a crustacean with an elongated body and a primarily Aquatic locomotion, swimming mode of locomotion – typically Decapods belonging to the Caridea or Dendrobranchi ...

(

Caridea The Caridea, commonly known as caridean shrimp or true shrimp, from the Greek word καρίς, καρίδος (karís, karídos, “shrimp”), are an infraorder of shrimp within the order Decapoda. This infraorder contains all species of true sh ...

) and

prawn Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton An exoskeleton () . is a skeleton that is on the exterior of an animal in the form of hardened integument, which both supports the body's shape and protects the intern ...

s (

Dendrobranchiata Dendrobranchiata is a suborder of Decapoda, decapods, commonly known as prawns. There are 540 extant species in seven families, and a fossil record extending back to the Devonian. They differ from related animals, such as Caridea and Stenopodidea ...

, comprising Penaeoidea and Sergestoidea) – a group formerly known as "

Natantia Natantia (Boas, 1880) is an obsolete taxon of decapod crustaceans, comprising those families that move predominantly by swimming – the shrimp (comprising Caridea and Procarididea), prawns (Dendrobranchiata) and boxer shrimp. The remaining Deca ...

". Gillett (2008), p. 5. This nomenclature often differs from local use, in which the same species may be known by different names, or where different species may be known by the same name. Gillett (2008), p. 26.

History

Small-scale local fishery for shrimp and prawns has existed for centuries and continues to form a large proportion of the world's shrimp fisheries. Gillett (2008), p. 9. Trawling increased in scale with the introduction of otter boards, which use the flow of water to hold the trawling net open, and the introduction of steam-powered vessels, replacing the earlier sail-powered boats. Both of these developments took off in the 1880s, and were soon applied to shrimp fisheries, especially following the research effort of the Norwegian marine biologist Johan Hjort. Over time, the original open

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats, usually propelled by sails or oars. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for work, leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-pers ...

s, long, were replaced by decked boats, to which

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s were added, allowing the boats to reach an average of . Gillett (2008), p. 10.

Scale and distribution

In the United States, shrimp and prawn fisheries are second only to crab fishing in terms of importance. In the northern parts of the country, cold-water shrimp are targeted, while warm-water species are targeted along the south-eastern Atlantic coast, and in the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. Gillett (2008), p. 19. Most of the production is of warm-water species, but this is dwarfed by the imports of shrimp, mostly from

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. Nelu ...

. This has led to international controversies, with some United States fishermen accusing countries such as

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

and

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

of dumping shrimp on the US market, while some of the producing nations protested to the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

about duties levied by the US in response to the inferred dumping. Gillett (2008), p. 41.

Controversies

Shrimp fisheries produce unusually high levels of

. Before the introduction of bycatch reduction devices in the 1980s, shrimp fishery had a bycatch ratio (ratio of the amount of non-target species caught to the amount of the target species caught) of 4.5–5.3:1. Gillett (2008), p. 46. Since BRDs were introduced, the bycatch ratios may have been reduced by as much as 30%. Shrimp fisheries tend to "capture more

s than any other commercial fishery". Hillestad ''et al.'' (1982) Cited in Gillett (2008), p. 50.

Species targeted

Shrimps are from all different types of bodies of water in the world. Fewer than 300 species of

and

s are of commercial importance, out of a total of 3000 species. The catch is dominated by six "species items", which collectively account for 82% of the global catch. Gillett (2008), p. 25. These are given in the table below: Shrimp and prawn fisheries can be divided into cold-water, warm-water and paste shrimp fisheries, broadly corresponding to the three taxonomic categories Penaeoidea,

and Sergestoidea, respectively.

Paste shrimp fisheries

Although the various species of the genus ''

Acetes ''Acetes'' is a genus of small prawns that resemble krill, which is native to the western and central Indo-Pacific, the Atlantic coast of the Americas, Pacific coast of South America and inland waters of South America. Although most are from mar ...

'' are not always distinguished by fishermen, collectively they form the world's largest shrimp fishery. There are fisheries for ''Acetes'' in

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, but the vast majority of the catch is in

. The total catch is likely to be grossly under-recorded, but was estimated at 664,716 t in 2005. Within the Asia–Pacific region, the ''Acetes'' fishery is the fourth largest fishery by weight, after hairtails,

anchovies An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water. More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...

and scads.

Warm-water fisheries

Warm-water shrimp and prawn fisheries usually target several species, Gillett (2008), p. 118. and are typically monitored in terms of the

catch per unit effort In fisheries and conservation biology, the catch per unit effort (CPUE) is an indirect measure of the abundance of a target species. Changes in the catch per unit effort are inferred to signify changes to the target species' true abundance. A decr ...

(CPUE), rather than the complex models used for cold-water shrimp. Gillett (2008), p. 85. Warm-water species (mainly '' Litopenaeus setiferus'', ''

Farfantepenaeus aztecus ''Farfantepenaeus aztecus'' is a species of marine penaeid shrimps found around the east coast of the US and Mexico. They are an important commercial species in the US. The FAO refers to them as the northern brown shrimp; other common names, us ...

'', and ''

Farfantepenaeus duorarum ''Farfantepenaeus duorarum'' is a species of marine penaeid shrimp found around Bermuda, along the east coast of the United States and in the Gulf of Mexico. They are a significant commercial species in the United States and Cuba. Distribution ...

'') provide more than 85% of the shrimp fishery in the United States, and are caught in the

and adjacent parts of the Atlantic Ocean. Gillett (2008), p. 47. Bycatch is a serious problem for warm-water shrimp fisheries, with inadvertent catches of

s being among the most contentious issues. Gillett (2008), p. 49.

Cold-water fisheries

The most important cold-water species is the "northern prawn", ''

Pandalus borealis ''Pandalus borealis'' is a species of caridean shrimp found in cold parts of the northern Atlantic and northern Pacific Oceans, although the latter population now often is regarded as a separate species, ''P. eous''. The Food and Agricultur ...

'', Gillett (2008), p. 27. which accounts for 12% of the total shrimp and prawn catch. Gillett (2008), p. 28. Up to 70% of the catch is landed in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. The price of cold-water shrimp has been in decline since the 1990s, as a result of increased shrimp farming. Gillett (2008), p. 38.

Bycatch Bycatch (or by-catch), in the fishing industry, is a fish or other marine species that is caught unintentionally while fishing for specific species or sizes of wildlife. Bycatch is either the wrong species, the wrong sex, or is undersized or juve ...

is typically managed in cold-water shrimp trawling, and rates of bycatch are accordingly low, and the capture of sea turtles is rare in cold temperate waters. Gillett (2008), p. 52. Bycatch is mostly reduced by the use of Nordmøre grids, Gillett (2008), p. 60. which reduce the numbers of

cod Cod (: cod) is the common name for the demersal fish genus ''Gadus'', belonging to the family (biology), family Gadidae. Cod is also used as part of the common name for a number of other fish species, and one species that belongs to genus ''Gad ...

haddock The haddock (''Melanogrammus aeglefinus'') is a saltwater ray-finned fish from the Family (biology), family Gadidae, the true cods. It is the only species in the Monotypy, monotypic genus ''Melanogrammus''. It is found in the North Atlantic Oce ...

Greenland halibut The Greenland halibut or Greenland turbot (''Reinhardtius hippoglossoides'') belongs to the family Pleuronectidae (the right-eye flounders), and is the monotypic, only species of the genus ''Reinhardtius''. It is a predatory fish that mostly rang ...

and

redfish Redfish is a common name for several species of fish. It is most commonly applied to certain deep-sea rockfish in the genus ''Sebastes'', red drum from the genus ''Sciaenops'' or the reef dwelling snappers in the genus ''Lutjanus''. It is also app ...

caught during shrimp trawls. Gillett (2008), p. 53. The Nordmøre grid was invented by the Norwegian fisherman Paul Brattøy, primarily as a means of excluding

jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...

from shrimp catches, and introduced in 1989. This innovation causes a minimal reduction in the quantity of shrimp caught, but can reduce the amounts of bycatch by around 97%. Fisheries for cold-water shrimp using pots, the bycatch is mostly of invertebrates, including

squat lobster Squat lobsters are dorsoventrally flattened crustaceans with long tails held curled beneath the cephalothorax. They are found in the two superfamilies Galatheoidea and Chirostyloidea, which form part of the decapod infraorder Anomura, alongs ...

crab Crabs are decapod crustaceans of the infraorder Brachyura (meaning "short tailed" in Greek language, Greek), which typically have a very short projecting tail-like abdomen#Arthropoda, abdomen, usually hidden entirely under the Thorax (arthropo ...

molluscs Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...

and

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s. Gillett (2008), p. 55.

Shrimp fishing on horseback

Shrimp fishing on horseback in

Oostduinkerke Oostduinkerke (; ; ) is a place on the southern west coast of Belgium, located in the province of West Flanders. Once a municipality of its own, Oostduinkerke now is a sub-municipality in the municipality of Koksijde. The name ''Oostduinkerke'' ...

, Belgium, is a unique local method. This traditional practice has been passed down through generations of fishermen in this coastal town. It's a truly remarkable sight to see these sturdy Brabant horses wading into the shallow waters, pulling heavy nets behind them as the fishermen guide them. This unique method has even been recognized by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, highlighting its cultural significance.

Notes

References

Citations

Sources

* Doeksen A (2006
"Ecological perspectives of the north Sea C. Crangon fishery: An inventory of its effects on the marine ecosystem"
Thesis, Wageningen University. * *

External links

* {{Authority control Caridea Dendrobranchiata Fishing industry