Wikipedia:Today's featured article/October 12, 2005

Tanks in a shrimp hatchery

A shrimp farm is an aquaculture business designed to raise and produce marine shrimp or prawn for human consumption. Commercial shrimp farming began in the 1970s and production grew steeply to match the market demands of the United States, Japan and the present-day European Union. The majority of farmed species are penaeids, the most popular being the Pacific White Shrimp and the Giant Tiger Prawn. The total global production of farmed shrimp reached more than 1.6 million metric tonnes in 2003, representing a value of nearly 9,000 million U.S. dollars. About 75% of farmed shrimp is produced in Asia, in particular in China and Thailand. Shrimp farming has evolved from traditional, small-scale businesses in Southeast Asia into a global industry. Technological advances have increased the density at which shrimp can be grown, and broodstock is shipped on a world-wide scale. Ecological problems, repeated disease outbreaks, and pressure and criticism from both NGOs and the consumer countries led to changes in the industry in the late 1990s and generally stronger regulations by governments to improve the sustainability of the practice.

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