King prawn

Litopenaeus vannamei

2: Best Choice How we work out the ratings

What to check for

Location

All Areas, All Areas

Production method

Pond, semi-intensive

Certification

EU Organic
Soil Association

Rating summary

Organic King prawns (L. vannamei) from Ecuador and Honduras rely on traceable, responsible terrestrial feed ingredients, and the marine component of the feed includes trimmings, although whole fish can also be used. Organic certification ensures best practices and guidelines are in place for animal welfare and humane slaughter and also mitigates many areas of environmental concern. The production of Organic King prawn does not allow the destruction of mangroves for pond construction, pond discharges are low and only minimal chemical treatments are used, if at all and all juveniles are hatchery based. Surrounding wild shrimp populations are also not impacted by disease or escapes from farms. However, there are still improvements that could be made. Lethal control of predators may still be used and Environmental Impact Assessments are not in place for smaller farms. Management and regulation of the aquaculture sector, while comprehensive, still needs to be better resourced to ensure effectiveness.This rating is based on full compliance with certification requirements. Commercial buyers should therefore ensure that full compliance has been achieved in order for this rating to be applicable.Rating last updated: October 2021

How we worked out this Rating

Organic production of King prawns (L. vannamei) in Ecuador and Honduras relies on traceable, responsible terrestrial feed ingredients. The marine component of the feed includes trimmings but whole fish can also be used.Semi-intensive pond farms are characterised by low stocking densities and the use of only supplemental or no added feed. With large amounts of crop ingredients in these feeds, the feed footprint is relatively small. Organic certification standards require ingredients to be traceable, responsibly sourced and sustainable. Marine by-products within the feed provide fishmeal and fish oil content, vegetable ingredients are organically and responsibly sourced.The dependency of wild caught fish used in fish meal and fish oil for farmed King prawn currently indicates that they produce more fish protein than is required in the diet, making them a net producer rather than a net consumer.

Organic certification standards ensure that best practices and guidelines are in place to address the welfare needs of animals within organic aquaculture.Health and welfare standards are referenced throughout the standards. Specific requirements address health and welfare of aquaculture animals, and humane slaughter, where techniques must render fish immediately unconscious and insensible to pain.

Independent organic certification standards address many of the issues of environmental concern and ensure compliance. Honduras and Ecuador require environmental impact assessments for larger farms, but not those of a smaller scale. Management and regulation of the aquaculture sector is comprehensive, however it needs to be better resourced to ensure effectiveness.As a result of the significant impact diseases had on the sector during the 1990s, present-day shrimp farmers in Ecuador and Honduras mainly favour semi-intensive production practices. These historical disease issues also prompted greater scrutiny of the regulations governing the sector and resulted in a more robust legal framework being put in place. However, a review of the sector indicates that current governance may not be adequately resourced to effectively manage the potential environmental impacts of the industry, particularly as the sector expands and production increases. Although organic standards address many of the production practice specific issues the issues of overarching regulation and management of the sector remain unchanged.The Soil Association defines organic farming as a system of farming and food production. Organic farmers aim to produce high quality food, using methods that benefit our whole food system, from people and planet, plant health to animal welfare. The score for this section reflects EU Organic and Soil Association certified producers that are in full compliance with the standard.

References

Commission Regulation (EC) No 710/2009 of 5 August 2009 amending Regulation (EC) No 889/2008 laying down detailed rules for the implementation of Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007, as regards laying down detailed rules on organic aquaculture animal and seaweed production. Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2009.204.01.0015.01.ENG [Accessed on 25.02.2021].

Coze, A. and Nava, A. 2009. Review of environmental impact assessment and monitoring of aquaculture in Latin America. In FAO. Environmental impact assessment and monitoring of aquaculture. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper. No. 527. Rome, FAO. pp. 395–454. Available at http://www.fao.org/tempref/docrep/fao/012/i0970e/i0970e01e.pdf [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

FAO. 2021a. National Aquaculture Legislation Overview: Honduras. Available at http://www.fao.org/fishery/legalframework/nalo_honduras/en [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

FAO. 2021b. National Aquaculture Legislation Overview: Ecuador. Available at http://www.fao.org/fishery/legalframework/nalo_ecuador/en [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

FAO. 2021c. General view of the nation aquaculture sector: Ecuador. Available at http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/naso_ecuador/fr [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

FAO. 2021d. Overview of the nation aquaculture sector: Honduras. Available at http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/naso_honduras/es [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

Global Aquaculture Alliance. 2020. Shrimp Eyestalk Ablation Researcher Wins 2020 Global Aquaculture Innovation Award. Available at https://www.aquaculturealliance.org/blog/2020-aquaculture-innovation-award-winner/ [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

Green, K. and Lart, W. 2013. Seafish Responsible Sourcing Guide – Warm water prawns – March 201. Available for download at https://www.seafish.org/document/?id=d443878e-d50b-4d78-9d68-8b5c393ed0c0 [Downloaded 24.02.2021].

Gee, J. 2015. Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Assessment: Whiteleg Shrimp (L. vannamei), Honduras: ponds. Available for download at https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendation/shrimp/shrimp-whiteleg-honduras-ponds?species=156 [Downloaded 24.02.2021].

Kramer, L. 2020. Innovation Award 2020 Finalist: Simao Zacaris’s shrimp eyestalk ablation research. Available at https://www.aquaculturealliance.org/advocate/innovation-award-2020-finalist-simao-zacarias-shrimp-eyestalk-ablation-research/ [Accessed on 23.03.2021].

OMARSA. 2017. Company website for Ecuadorian shrimp farm. Available at http://www.omarsa.com.ec/ [Accessed on 24.02.2021].

Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2018 on organic production and labelling of organic products and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 834/2007. Available at https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv%3AOJ.L_.2018.150.01.0001.01.ENG [Accessed on 25.02.2021].

Seafish. 2020. Aquaculture Profile: White Leg Prawn. Available at https://www.seafish.org/responsible-sourcing/aquaculture-farming-seafood/species-farmed-in-aquaculture/aquaculture-profiles/white-leg-prawn/ [Accessed on 24.02.2021].

Seafoodwatch. 2021. Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Assessment: White Shrimp (L. vannamei), Ecuador: Semi-intensive ponds. Available for download at https://www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations/search?query=%3Aspecies%3BWhiteleg%20shrimp%3Acountry%3BEcuador [Downloaded 22.03.2021].

Soil Association. 2021. Soil Association Standards Aquaculture. Version 18.6, pp.3-78. Available at https://www.soilassociation.org/media/18614/aquaculture-standards.pdf [Accessed on 25.02.2021].

Soil Association. 2021. Summary of standard changes: Organic standards documents updated Friday 12th February 2021 – Version 18.6. Available at https://www.soilassociation.org/media/19109/sa-standards-summary-of-changes.pdf [Accessed on 25.02.2021].

STIP. 2021. Seafood Trade Intelligence Portal: Shrimp in Ecuador. Available at https://seafood-tip.com/sourcing-intelligence/countries/ecuador/ [Accessed on 24.02.2021].

Tacon, A., Jory, D. and Nunes, A. 2013. Shrimp feed management: issues and perspectives. In M.R. Hasan and M.B. New, eds. On-farm feeding and feed management in aquaculture. FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Technical Paper No. 583. Rome, FAO. pp. 481–488. Available at http://www.fao.org/tempref/FI/CDrom/T583/root/18.pdf [Accessed on 25.02.2021].

Wybran, J. 2015. Shrimp News Interviews Dr. James Wyban The Father of SPF Shrimp. Shrimp News International. Available at http://www.shrimpnews.com/FreeReportsFolder/HistoryFolder/HistoryUnitedStates/DrJamesWybanFatherOfSPF.html [Accessed on 26.02.2021].