FWIW, shrimp paste alternatives seem morally ambiguous and have a significant risk of backfiring.
Shrimp paste alternatives would probably increase paste shrimp populations. If you think paste shrimp have overall bad lives naturally, then increasing their populations this way would be bad. If you’re highly uncertain about this, then the effects on their population would be highly morally ambiguous.
Shrimp paste alternatives could increase paste shrimp catch (if they’re overfished; see my recent post).
I don’t know how common this is or will be, but I’ve also seen a few articles about paste shrimp (mostly from India) being used as farmed animal feed, like fishmeal. Shrimp paste alternatives could divert paste shrimp catch towards feed and therefore support and increase aquaculture, including shrimp farming, where fishmeal typically makes up >10% of shrimp diets.[1] However, it could also make it harder for insects to compete as a fishmeal substitute, and so decrease insect farming.
Whether or not paste shrimp are fed to farmed shrimp, they could increase the supply and reduce the prices of fishmeal and fishmeal substitutes, and so reduce fishmeal prices for shrimp farms.
FWIW, shrimp paste alternatives seem morally ambiguous and have a significant risk of backfiring.
Shrimp paste alternatives would probably increase paste shrimp populations. If you think paste shrimp have overall bad lives naturally, then increasing their populations this way would be bad. If you’re highly uncertain about this, then the effects on their population would be highly morally ambiguous.
Shrimp paste alternatives could increase paste shrimp catch (if they’re overfished; see my recent post).
I don’t know how common this is or will be, but I’ve also seen a few articles about paste shrimp (mostly from India) being used as farmed animal feed, like fishmeal. Shrimp paste alternatives could divert paste shrimp catch towards feed and therefore support and increase aquaculture, including shrimp farming, where fishmeal typically makes up >10% of shrimp diets.[1] However, it could also make it harder for insects to compete as a fishmeal substitute, and so decrease insect farming.
Whether or not paste shrimp are fed to farmed shrimp, they could increase the supply and reduce the prices of fishmeal and fishmeal substitutes, and so reduce fishmeal prices for shrimp farms.
Thanks Michael! I was asking myself exactly these questions when reading the article.