Campaigners' next target: the prawn sandwich

www.guardian.co.uk Angelique Chrisafis Wednesday February 19, 2003 The Guardian

The prawn sandwich, gourmet staple of Manchester United fans and office lunchers, has joined the list of environmentally taboo foods such as endangered cod and battery chicken.

A London-based campaign group is urging British consumers to boycott prawns because farming methods are endangering marine life and impoverishing African and Asian communities.

The Environmental Justice Foundation has released a report cataloguing the devastation caused by prawn trawling, in which fine nets are dragged along the seabed, catching 3m tonnes of prawns a year.

The nets, which catch 70% of global prawn stocks, ensnare other marine life and dent the business of local fishermen in countries such as Mozambique, Greenland and Venezuela.

For every 1kg (2lb) of prawns caught, nets entangle 10kg-20kg of sealife. Up to 25% of seabed life can be removed in one trawl and 150,000 sea turtles are killed by the nets each year. Trawling is the biggest single threat to seahorses.

Prawns account for 20% of the international seafood trade. Britain is one of the world's largest importers, trading mainly with Iceland, India, Thailand, Bangladesh, Norway and Indonesia. In 2000 Britain imported 77,900 tonnes and landed 2,100 tonnes from its own trawlers.

Steve Trent, director of the Environmental Justice Foundation, said: "The waste to feed a luxury market is totally unacceptable. Prawn fisheries are responsible for one third of world's discarded catch despite producing less than 2% of world's seafood."

He said prawn farming, which accounts for 30% of the industry, was not the solution. "We want British supermarkets to make clear where their prawns come from and whether they are committed to using only environmentally and socially sustainable sources."