Pearl River Delta

Water. Agriculture. Aquaculture. Antibiotic Resistance (2)

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The world’s water supply is in a precarious position.  Even here in the US, we have more than a few places that now have endangered supplies.  Some water supplies have been drawn down – by excessing farming, by careless residents who’ve never been taught the value of water conservation, even by poorly run industries that have polluted the supplies.  (Fracking comes to mind, of course.)

Yesterday, we talked about the processes used by Israeli entities to produce high quality farmed fish, dates, olives, and lilies. Buying those products doesn’t put the purchaser at risk.

And, I could be really smarmy and say that, because I keep kosher, I am pretty protected from the worst conditions of fish farming and seafood sales. Because, aquaculture provides most of the US’ shrimp and catfish supply.  And, most of that supply comes from China. (We also get a lot of tilapia and tuna from imports, but they have not been largely supplied by China- yet.)

A few decades ago, most of the shrimp sold in the US was produced domestically.  (Mostly from the Gulf states.  Think Forrest Gump.)  And, while our production is still 1.3 billion pounds a year, easily proven Chinese imports account for 5% of the total. (Wait until you hear how high that number REALLY is!)

Pearl River Delta
The Pearl River Delta, where aquaculture and animal farms overpower one another

Why am I picking on Chinese imports?  Because it’s easy?  Well, yes.  But, primarily because China’s agricultural system has livestock pens scattered among the myriad seafood farms.  And, China’s seafood farming operation is the largest in the world, supplying 60% (by weight) of the farmed fish.

The nutrients that the pigs don’t scoop up, the ones the geese leave behind, all end up being swept into the aquaculture ponds.  Along with the feces from these animals.  And, of course, with the copious quantities of antibiotics that are part and parcel of the Chinese livestock diet.  Please remember that some 90% of the antibiotics fed to pigs pass through the digestive tract completely untouched.

We’ll get to the antibiotic issue soon enough.  For now, let’s consider the chicanery of the Chinese more carefully.  Many Chinese firms find ways to avoid tariffs by cheating.  They buy (surreptitiously) firms in Malaysia and the US, claiming that these firms are domestic.

But, if you look more carefully, you find the truth behind such assertions.  (By the way, Malaysia currently supplies 5% of the US shrimp needs, a level it attained when Chinese imports were cut from 16% to the current 5%.)  Now, consider this.  Malaysia produced 32,000 tons of shrimp last year, of which more than ½ (18000 tons) of which were for domestic consumption- and 12,000 tons were shipped to Singapore.  Would you like to explain to me- and anyone else- how it is possible that we have imported more than 20,000 pounds of Malaysian shrimp a year for several years now?

It’s actually pretty simple.  Chinese shrimp is passed through Malaysia, where it miraculously develops a Malaysian certificate of origin.

Or, consider the “Houston”-based American Fisheries.  This firm is somehow in cahoots with Jun Yang, a Chinese national.  (He claims he is a honey marketer and broker.  This transshipping [that’s what this fraud is called in “government-ese”] eliminates some $ 38 million in tariffs and anti-dumping penalties.)  But, in disputes with Mr. Yang, American Fisheries claimed it was shortchanged by more than $ 6 million for some 70+ shipments of shrimp.  (The shrimp was to have been shipped from Shanghai via a Malaysian certificate of origin.)

And, there’s more.  Supposedly, American Fisheries purchases fish from Chai Kee Aquatic and Aiman Aquatic.  Except neither of these Malaysian firms have an aquaculture facility address- or are within miles of a location where one could be found.  Or, that American Fisheries has purchased transshipped goods via YZ Marine, another supposed American firm. Except, Feng Shao is the president of American Fisheries and is a signatory on the YZ Marine banking account.  (Not to mention the firms are staffed with Chinese nationals on short-term visas and the businesses are financed by China.)

Here’s the real issue.  Most certifications of origin are built on a system of trust.  In Malaysia, an exporter provides documents to the Penang Malay Chamber of Commerce, which assumes they are entirely proper, and then issues the desired certificate. No product tracing is done.  And, the US Food and Drug Administration barely tests  the quality of 1 or 2% of all fish imports.

Now, let’s discuss the “hidden” problem in the entire seafood industry.  We go to the store and buy our favorite fish.  But, there’s ZERO guaranty that we are getting what we want.  I’m not talking about the fact that the fish may have been frozen or that it may have been farmed and not wild caught.  I’m reminding you that the actual fish variety sold has no real bearing on the fish you are getting. (I’ve written about this before, too.  It’s also why I make sure I buy my fish from companies that get their fish tested by Pro Fish, which DNA tests their wares.)

Tomorrow, we’ll discuss the health aspects of these Chinese imports in more detail

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4 thoughts on “Water. Agriculture. Aquaculture. Antibiotic Resistance (2)”

  1. I’ve read some about shrimp before and it’s terrifying… even more great info here – I’ve drastically cut back on seafood, especially shrimp because of all of the ramifications. Ugh!

  2. Isn’t this interesting. I will not buy fish from Aldi (for the most part), although I love their stores, because most of it comes from China. But how interesting that a recent purchase came (supposedly, I know now) from Malaysia. I wonder if Wegmans (I am also a huge fan of theirs) is DNA testing, or confirming where their seafood really comes from. Not asking you; just wondering. This is past scary.
    Alana recently posted..Winter Wonders – May the Force Be With Her

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