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New campaign aims to drive down U.S. shrimp consumption
Group blames Red Lobster, others for addicting Americans to shrimp
Reprinted with permission from The Wave Online - Powered by IntraFish
Thursday April 21, 2004
By John Fiorillo, The Wave
A few weeks ago, Wave Editor Dan McGovern gave y'all a heads up about
the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen and its opposition to shrimp
farming. I hope you were paying attention to his warning. (To read Dan's original column, click here.)
Yesterday, the group released a press statement announcing its plans for
a new campaign aimed at "educating U.S. consumers about the myriad
environmental, health and economic problems surrounding farm-raised
shrimp."
I caught up with Andrianna Natsoulas, field director for group, to learn
more about the campaign. You might want to pay attention to this.
"This campaign will be targeting consumers," Natsoulas told me. "So
we're talking about consumers throughout the United States -- inland
consumers, coastal consumers. A lot of the inland consumers have been
hooked on shrimp through these various family-style restaurants, whether
it be Red Lobster or Long John Silver's .the family-style
restaurant, inland, has really been the pioneer in hooking consumers on
shrimp."
Natsoulas said that, at this point, her group is not planning any
"storefront" protests, rather the group will use advertising, the Web
and "action alerts for consumers to send letters to the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration asking them to actually inspect imported farm-raised
shrimp. And all of this will raise awareness with consumers."
She estimated that the campaign could last as long as three years.
So what is the group hoping to achieve?
"Well, we see two results. One is that we're able to educate consumers
to such an extent that they're able to pressure the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration to inspect, let's say, 80 percent - ideally it would be
100 percent - of the farmed-raised shrimp that is imported into the
United States.
"We also would see this as a success if we're able to raise public
awareness to the extent that the public is able to pressure the World
Bank and other international lending institutions to stop funding the
expansion of shrimp aquaculture," Natsoulas said.
She added that her group's campaign parallels efforts by U.S. shrimpers
fighting imports through an antidumping case.
"We're telling consumers to buy U.S. shrimp or wild-caught shrimp, and
so, to that extent, we are coordinating the campaigns. We are in
communication with the Southern Shrimp Alliance."
But Natsoulas and her group really want to communicate with seafood
consumers. And what she wants to tell them is - stop eating
shrimp!
"The thing is that 10 to 15 years ago there was not this appetite,
consumers did not need to eat shrimp with every meal and every salad
that they had. And at one time shrimp was an actual delicacy; it was
something that was eaten on special occasions. U.S. consumers are going
to have to revere shrimp as a delicacy once again rather than a common
food they pick up at McDonald's. The inland markets are the ones
that have really contributed to the expansion of shrimp aquaculture. And
that is where, at one time, it was a delicacy, that is where a lot of
consumers didn't even like the taste of shrimp but because of the good
marketing abilities of these family-style restaurants they have made
inland consumers love shrimp. And that's just not part of the regional
diet for those individuals."
Does she really think her campaign can reduce shrimp consumption in the
States?
"I think it can decrease, especially with all of the public awareness
associated with the health risks of farmed-raised shrimp," she said. If
wild-caught shrimp just simply can not meet the demand and consumers are
aware of the health risks then the demand will decrease."
The launch of the campaign in Washington, D.C., is timed to coincide
with the World Bank's spring meeting on April 24 and 25.
"A lot of the shrimp farms in Central America and in southeast Asia have
been funded and still are funded by the various international lending
institutions including the world bank, the InterAmerica Development
bank, the Asia Development Bank, and they have got to stop funding the
expansion of shrimp aquaculture," she said.
"It's an incredibly destructive industry," continues Natsoulas. "It's
ruined coastlines, it destroys mangrove ecosystems, it impacts the
amount of wild fish in the ocean, it prevents coastal communities from
fishing, it pollutes their water and groundwater because of the amount
of antibiotics and algaecides and fungicides used in the shrimp ponds,
fishermen have been killed in protests to stop the expansion of shrimp
aquaculture. It's a really devastating industry. And that has got to
stop."
Don't say you weren't warned.
Share your opinion on this column. Send your letters to the editor
at john@thewaveonlinecom.
Please include your full name, city/state or province and company
name.
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