Post 4

               Earlier we read an article titled Turtles and Trade, which focused on new regulations implemented by the WTO in order to make the shrimping industry fair for all participating countries. It is well known that shrimp is a highly valued good, which is why the WTO found it necessary to make all countries with shrimp industries let the market work without any advantages. But what made shrimp so important? Obviously the WTO’s purpose is for fair trading, but why is Shrimp such a big deal? To me, it seems that the status of shrimp as a luxury good is the only reason there is conflict within that industry.

               Shrimp prices in the market and fluctuate for a variety of reasons. Mostly it is because who is catching all the shrimp. We spoke in class on how Thailand historically fished for shrimp, and it sometimes relied on donations in order to keep its industry thriving. They have little environmental impact and have little international attention. While these shrimp are used for international trade, the historical context of shrimping has led to less conflict. The economist article mentioned how developing nations do much better at not overfishing when control is given to a group or a village, which we can see in Thailand. The issue with little national attention to Thailand’s shrimping industry has led to volatility in the market. With pressure on other countries to do well, the outbreak in Thailand’s industry went largely unnoticed and caused a lot of volatility in the market.

The economist article also mentioned how developing countries have very little respect for fish stocks. I agree with this to an extent. Many developing countries exhaust fish populations in order to have steady revenue. This is evidenced in Honduras, where there are stories of shrimping companies forcing families to leave their homes so that the industry can continue to expand. With very weak infrastructure and enforcement of the law, the shrimp companies can continue to degrade the environment and marginalize some of the poorer citizens in Honduras.

Here we see the different levels of conflict in the industry. While it’s obviously preferred that there is no conflict at all, this isn’t the case. However, the conflicts in Thailand show us things like theft and assassination. While these are bad, the long term ecological impacts and potential displacement of citizens can be much more detrimental to a developing nation.

Since shrimp is a luxury good, providing it to the upper class can bring a lot of revenue. Especially the upper class in a developed nation. The status as a luxury good has caused overfishing of shrimp, which in turn can destroy the environment. While the obvious solution is to stop eating shrimp, that is impossible. All nations need to have the same amount of resources to produce shrimp and keep the market competitive. This can allow for prices to be stable, and maybe even make shrimp less of a luxury good.