[ExI] Shrimp (was Re: bull whoops ass)

[Jeff Davis]

Being a shrimp lover myself, I can sympathize.  But there's a rather
obvious solution that will allow you to stuff yourself with the little
yummies, while sparing yourself the environmental angst: farmed
shrimp, (of course).

Anywhere from a third to a half of all shrimp harvested for blissful
human gobbling are farmed.  So if you can find a way to distinguish
the farmed shrimp vs the enviro-rape shrimp, then you're good to chow
down.

Yeah, yeah, I know, shrimp farming has some sort of negative
environmental impact, as well.  Must get over it.  Where there's life,
there's guilt.

Soldier on.

Best, Jeff Davis

2011/11/27 Kelly Anderson <kellycoinguy at gmail.com>:
> 2011/10/10 spike <spike66 at att.net>
>>
>> This whole thing has been simmering in my mind all weekend and putting me
>> in a foul mood, so do allow me this one rant, and I will let it go, or try
>> to.  We are all allowed an occasional righteous rant here occasionally, if
>> we don’t abuse the privilege, and this is mine.
>
> And if anyone wants to rant at me for answering old threads.. feel free! I
> am deserving. Am trying to catch up...
>
>>
>> I have long known of bullfighting, and try to not think about this
>> practice which I find most distasteful, for I have no moral high ground.
>> Not only do I occasionally eat beef, I eat shrimp at every opportunity.  One
>> bull can feed an army of proles, but an army of shrimp must be slain to
>> provide a most tasty sushi-meal for a single prole.  Furthermore, the bull
>> is a farm animal one would suppose, but most shrimp are taken from the
>> wild.  So this isn’t a moral argument exactly, although I may redouble my
>> efforts to give up shrimp and cut down even further on beef.
>
> Spike, You know that I don't usually give the environmentalist/
> anti-capitalists/ OWS crowd an inch... but I do make a personal exception
> with shrimp. Most of the shrimp in the United States is harvested from the
> Gulf of Mexico and other continental shelves via a method known as bottom
> trawling. The bycatch of this method is atrocious. Bycatch are the fish and
> other animals that are caught, but not kept.. just thrown back into the
> ocean. In addition, since the trawling is done on the bottom with weighted
> nets, it destroys the bottom of the ocean floor, so plants, sea anemone,
> coral and other such bottom dwellers are killed in addition to the animals
> co-habitating with the shrimp. A video is worth a thousand words on this
> one. It's even more striking when you know what the bottom of these areas is
> supposed to look like... see the related video from the Arctic area for a
> comparison...
>
> If you have a strong stomach for over the top environmentalist bilge, here
> is a Greenpeace produced piece that does give you the idea...
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUHcD_jTgVA&feature=related
>
> And now for something perhaps a bit more factual...
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trawling
>
> Alverson, et all suggest that shrimp fishing has the highest rate of bycatch
> of any fishery, according to Wikipedia (cited in above article).
> Alverson D L, Freeberg M K, Murawski S A and Pope J G. (1994) A global
> assessment of fisheries bycatch and discards. FAO Fisheries Technical Paper
> No 339 Rome, FAO 1994.
>
> And finally, a humorous approach to bycatch
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7oVzM6LR-A
> Where they claim that there are 5 pounds of bycatch for every pound of
> shrimp. I've heard worse numbers than that before...
>
> It may be worse for the larger shrimp too, though I can't find a reference
> on that right now.
>
> I was unable to find the National Geographic video of shrimp trawling and
> bycatch in the Gulf that initially turned me off to shrimp. I still love it,
> but I find my conscience pricked every time I indulge in the tasty buggers,
> which isn't all that often any more.
>
> I'm not an environmentalist in the anti-capitalist way, but I do love the
> earth and will do things to protect it. Passing on shrimp is one of the
> easiest things I can do that has a pretty big impact. I look forward to the
> day when we can grow shrimp in the lab... in Kansas... :-)
>
> I still love a good steak... even though a cow will put out more greenhouse
> gas than an SUV... go Bessie go!!! Turn up the heat!!! I'm investing in land
> in Canada... LOL!
>
> -Kelly
>
>
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