Ethical prawns

onlyroz

Does anybody know where I can buy ethically farmed prawns? Sainsbury's say that theirs are "responsibly sourced" but I am having difficulty finding out what that actually means - their website goes on about much of their fish range being certified by the MSC, but their "responsibly sourced" prawns don't have the MSC logo on their packet.

Tesco only seems to sell prawns from Thailand, which I have heard is a no-no, but I'm not exactly sure why...

Edwardia

If you want to see why farmed prawns from the Far East are a bad idea, have a look at the videos on You Tube.

If you can find them wild North Atlantic prawns aren't farmed at all ASDA sells them.

MSC website might be helpful also the corporate pages of supermarket websites.

onlyroz

I thought that wild prawns were even worse than farmed ones because of the football-pitch sized nets which were dragged along the sea bed scooping up everything unlucky enough to be in the viscinity.

Edwardia

Er that's how a lot of fish get fished..

It is possible to buy organic farmed salmon, fresh wild salmon and tinned wild salmon but I've yet to see organic farmed prawns.

onlyroz

I'm not interested in organic prawns - I just want prawns produced with methods that don't ravish the local environment.

santer_2

Saw this

http://www.ejfoundation.org/page455.html?cx=015831582675803313245%3Alwbpfl4mfvo&cof=FORID%3A11&q=prawns&sa=&siteurl=www.ejfoundation.org%2Fpage211.html&ref=www.ens-newswire.com%2Fens%2Fdec2003%2F2003-12-19-03.html&ss=2282j1231580j6

Edwardia

onlyroz wrote: »

I'm not interested in organic prawns - I just want prawns produced with methods that don't ravish the local environment.

Organic farming IS ethical farming. No GM, no pesticides, no routine antibiotics, the use of natural feeds and fertilisers..

And I think you mean ravage not ravish

onlyroz

Edwardia wrote: »

Organic farming IS ethical farming. No GM, no pesticides, no routine antibiotics, the use of natural feeds and fertilisers..

Unsustainable as far as feeding the planet is concerned.

Edwardia

onlyroz wrote: »

Unsustainable as far as feeding the planet is concerned.

You want prawns.
You want ethically sourced prawns that didn't 'ravish' the environment
You don't want prawns reared organically
You don't want wild prawns

I looked at the MSC website and the only supermarket selling cooked and peeled MSC certified prawns is ASDA.

They're Canadian and they could be wild or they could be farmed, heck they might even be organically farmed, it doesn't say.

onlyroz

Don't have to be cooked and peeled (generally I prefer them raw) and doesn't have to be a supermarket - MSC certified would be good. I don't particularly care if they happen to be organic, but if there's a non-organic alternative then I'd choose it in preference.

I'll see where the nearest ASDA is, and I also intend to email Sainsbury's for clarification on what "responsibly sourced" means.

happyinflorida

Don't know if you'd be interested in these - but I've tried them and they taste great - Linda McCartney's veggie prawns!

They look just like the real thing - they don't taste 100% the same but I think they're very near - my 16 year old ate them in a meal I cooked and didn't realise they weren't real - so they must be pretty good as he loves prawns.

I hate the thought of anything being boiled alive so that's why I prefer not to buy the real thing.