18
The Global Shrimp Market
Denise Johnston, Chris Soderquist, and Donnella Meadows
"There's a basic fear between your world and mine.
I don't know why.
What I came to say was,
teach the children about the cycles.
The life cycles. All the other cycles.
That's what it's all about, and it's all forgot. "
Gary Snyder
To/From Lew
In this chapter you will:
• Read about key environmental and financial issues facing the global
shrimp commodity system;
• Gain understanding about major feedback loops that drive the shrimp
commodity system;
• See some possible outcomes for the future of the system; and
• Have an opportunity to experiment with other possible scenarios.
18.1. Introduction
World shrimp consumption has been on the increase since the 1970s, especially in]apan, Western Europe , and the United States (Clay 1996). Until the
1980s, almost all the world 's supply came from wild fisheries. Then , in the
1980s, the ancient practice of aquaculture began to take an increasing share
of the market through use of modern methods of concentrated production
and increasing yield (Figure 18.n.
18.1.1. Wild Shrimp Fisheries
Wild shrimp fisheries have steadily increased through the last three
decades, mainly by opening up new fishing areas . World catch has gone
from an estimated 770,000 metric tons (MT) in 1970 to over 2 million MT in
the 1990s (Clay 1996). There is some evidence that wild shrimp catch has
leveled off, and even begun to decline in some regions (Rosenberry 1999),
though shrimp population levels are unknown, making it difficult to determine whether the populations are steady or in a decline .
395
M. Ruth et al. (Eds.), Dynamic Modeling for Marine Conservation
© Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 2002
The Global Shrimp Market
Denise Johnston, Chris Soderquist, and Donnella Meadows
"There's a basic fear between your world and mine.
I don't know why.
What I came to say was,
teach the children about the cycles.
The life cycles. All the other cycles.
That's what it's all about, and it's all forgot. "
Gary Snyder
To/From Lew
In this chapter you will:
• Read about key environmental and financial issues facing the global
shrimp commodity system;
• Gain understanding about major feedback loops that drive the shrimp
commodity system;
• See some possible outcomes for the future of the system; and
• Have an opportunity to experiment with other possible scenarios.
18.1. Introduction
World shrimp consumption has been on the increase since the 1970s, especially in]apan, Western Europe , and the United States (Clay 1996). Until the
1980s, almost all the world 's supply came from wild fisheries. Then , in the
1980s, the ancient practice of aquaculture began to take an increasing share
of the market through use of modern methods of concentrated production
and increasing yield (Figure 18.n.
18.1.1. Wild Shrimp Fisheries
Wild shrimp fisheries have steadily increased through the last three
decades, mainly by opening up new fishing areas . World catch has gone
from an estimated 770,000 metric tons (MT) in 1970 to over 2 million MT in
the 1990s (Clay 1996). There is some evidence that wild shrimp catch has
leveled off, and even begun to decline in some regions (Rosenberry 1999),
though shrimp population levels are unknown, making it difficult to determine whether the populations are steady or in a decline .
395
M. Ruth et al. (Eds.), Dynamic Modeling for Marine Conservation
© Springer-Verlag New York, Inc. 2002