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CHINA
- Feb 26, 2003 |
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China's Shrimp Production
Booming But Antibiotics Cause Concern |
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SEAFOOD.COM NEWS February 26,
2003 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Beijing --- For China's struggling farmers, it is said
that one sure road to riches is to turn a plot of land into
a concrete pool and fill it with shrimp.
Shrimp farming and other forms of aquaculture have taken off
in China, spreading to every province and region except
Tibet.
The number of shrimp farmers has nearly doubled in five
years, reaching 300,000 last year, up from 170,000 in 1997.
They pushed China's total shrimp production up to 400,000
tons in 2001, a 32 percent increase over the previous year.
Production of farmed shrimp grew even faster, jumping by 40
percent to 304,000 tons in 2001.
It's a trend the government is encouraging as it seeks ways
to address both rural poverty and overfishing of its seas.
But the rapid growth in shrimp farms has had its nasty side
effects. Water pollution and unchecked use of banned
antibiotics are two of the biggest problems.
China's shrimp farmers also are making waves abroad. The
European Union has banned imports of Chinese shrimp. U.S.
shrimpers are calling for similar action.
China produces 70 percent of the world's aquaculture
products, mostly for use in China. Exports in 2001 totaled
$550 million to the United States, $600 million to Europe
and $2 billion to Japan.
Gao Yongqiang, an official of the China Aquatic Products
Processing and Marketing Association, a trade group
nominally under the Ministry of Agriculture, believes the
trade complaints are politically motivated.
'They're looking for whatever excuses they can for their own
trade interests,' he said. 'We want to have more
communication and cooperation with American trade groups to
avoid friction.'
Gao noted that China imports about 200,000 tons of fish
products from the United States a year.
The European ban on Chinese shrimp and prawns was announced
last January after inspectors found chloramphenicol, an
antibiotic banned in Europe, the United States and, since
1999, in China as well.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which monitors and
inspects imported food, imposes restrictions by company. It
has banned shrimp from two companies in China, as well as
several in Thailand and Vietnam, because of chloramphenicol.
A Chinese reporter who traveled to Fujian and Guangxi, two
southern coastal provinces with large amounts of
aquaculture, found banned substances were widely available.
'The production, sales and use of antibiotics for fish
breeding is out of control,' a report by China's official
Xinhua News Agency said in December. 'Even veterinarians are
selling it.'
Though China banned chloramphenicol in 1999, several hundred
factories were producing it in 2000, the Xinhua report said.
Shrimp farmers sometimes don't know what substances are
banned and complain of getting little guidance from
authorities. When disease breaks out --- which is not
uncommon because of China's short production cycles and
high-density farming --- farmers often throw in whatever
antibiotic or treatment is available.
Another problem is pollution. Shrimp farming can be damaging
to the ecosystem because of the large volume of expelled
water, which is full of shrimp waste. If the wastewater is
not treated properly, the damage to the surrounding area can
be devastating.
China announced rules on water management and treatment less
than two years ago and has not yet implemented them
nationwide. Even where there are rules, they are flouted,
worrying scientists and environmentalists.
'Some shrimp farms have started in areas . . . with seaweed
and shellfish, and the shrimp farming has affected the
biological diversity,' said Cai Shengli, a professor at the
Shanghai Fishery University. 'The other species can't
survive.'
Copyright 2003 The
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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