This can't be a good thing, but how would you go about stopping it? Giant shrimp raises big concern as it invades the Gulf Asian tiger prawn has scientists worried By MATTHEW TRESAUGUE, HOUSTON CHRONICLE Updated 09:32 p.m., Saturday, December 24, 2011 A truly jumbo shrimp is causing big worries about the future of the Gulf of Mexico's ecosystem. The Asian tiger prawn, a foot-long crustacean with a voracious appetite and a proclivity for disease, has invaded the northern Gulf, threatening prized native species, from crabs and oysters to smaller brown and white shrimp. Though no one is sure what the ecological impact will be, scientists fear a tiger prawn takeover could knock nature's balance out of whack and turn a healthy, diverse marine habitat into one dominated by a single invasive species. "It has the potential to be real ugly," said Leslie Hartman, Matagorda Bay ecoystem leader for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. "But we just do not know." The tiger prawns from the western Pacific - which can grow up to 13 inches long - have been spreading along the Gulf Coast since 2006, but their numbers took off this year. Shrimpers pulled one from Texas waters for the first time in June. In all, shrimpers have found three tiger prawns in Aransas Bay, one in Sabine Lake near the Louisiana border and one in Gulf waters about 70 miles from Freeport, according to the Texas Sea Grant program at Texas A&M University. Marine scientists will conduct genetic studies on the shrimp to determine their origin. Hartman said they will need at least 60 prawns for an accurate analysis. Several theories Some speculate that the Gulf invasion began with an accidental release of farmed prawns in South Carolina in 1988. Another theory: The prawns may have escaped from flooded industrial shrimp ponds in the Caribbean Sea during recent hurricanes. The threat underscores concerns about large-scale fish farming, also known as aquaculture, in the Gulf. The federal government opened the waters to fish farms in 2009 despite fears from environmental and fishing interests over how to protect wild stocks. Disease normally would exist in relatively low levels in fish around the Gulf but can run rampant in densely packed fish farms. Tiger prawns are a known carrier of at least 16 viruses, such as white spot, which can be lethal to shrimp. The Gulf policy calls for only native species to be farmed, but it does not have the force of law, said George Leonard, who leads the Ocean Conservancy's aquaculture program. "We need to be really, really cautious," Leonard said. "There has to be rules and regulations." No farming of species Texas allows industrial-scale shrimp ponds, but requires permits for the cultivation of non-native species. No one in the state is farming tiger prawns, said Tony Reisinger, a marine and coastal resources expert for the Texas Sea Grant program. Marine scientists have yet to find any juvenile tiger prawns in Texas waters, a sign that the species is breeding. It is a difficult assignment because they look similar to native white shrimp at a young age. Tiger prawns weigh more than a half-pound and have distinctive black and white stripes on the tail. They eat the same types of food as native shrimp species, but also prey on their smaller cousins, as well as crabs and young oysters. "It's a large, competitive species," Reisinger said. It's also tasty, fetching a higher market price than native brown shrimp on the New York market this month. Some shrimpers have wondered if the large prawns could become the fourth harvestable shrimp species off the Texas coast. Hartman, of Texas Parks and Wildlife, is skeptical. "It could be another crop, but at the expense of our native crop," she said. http://www.chron.com/news/houston-t...ses-big-concern-as-it-invades-the-2424242.php
Ok, lets change professions and go into the shrimping business. Yummy. Seriously though, is this a photoshop?
From the other pictures Ive found in a quick search, the pic is not photoshoped. Those things are huge!
If Americans are good at something, it is definately killing and eating our wildlife into extiction. I say let the games begin. There are several species that need to be taken care of in the south, and all of them can go towards feeding our population. Just get the freaking regulations out of the way and let us have at it. From the wild hogs that roam around, to the Asian Carpe, and the Asian shrimp, we can feed the nation quickly and cheaply.
I think what really scares the liberals about these "shrimp", they aren't practicle for the psudo-intelectual shrip cocktail parties where everyone goes around the room stroking each others egos.
It is actually able to be eaten, but if you are poor, I am sure that anything to eat would be better than nothing.
The habitat invasion and its potential ecological impact is certainly worrisome, as in any case, where a newly introduced species may impact nature's balance. What could possibly be done though, in an area this vast, and will it turn out to be 'survival of the fittest', a natural selection? One must be careful not to do more harm than good while interfering.
What? Tiger Prawns are an invasive species from Asia.. What does that have to do with "regulations"? The Saudis export massive amounts of these shrimp to Japan, but they are grown in shrimp farms.
Well, Hell, yes! Let's brew up a few million more cases of beer, catch tons of these giant shrimp and have a nationwide Super Bowl Party that everyone will remember forever, even we get too drunk to remember who won! Wow! Shrimp as big as my... uh... hand?! That is a high-class problem!
Prawns can be shrimply delicious. Why do we think that something must be done if a foreign species comes into the Gulf? Why is it OK for illegal aliens to be on the ground but not for jumbo shrimp to be in the gulf? liberals really are a confused lot
Because they threaten Gulf shrimp, oysters and crab. Why don't you ASK all those "liberal" Gulf Coast Shrimpers?
What about illegal mexicans that threaten the Texans, Arizonins, and New Mexicans who have to work extra hard to support the illegals welfare and school costs? They are eating the rich. The Asian Shrimp are just trying to make a better life for themselves and thier kids.
hmmmmmmm so man's purpose on this planet is to try and determine nature's grand scheme? OK, I get it. First we need to try and alter natural climate cycles and now we must interfere with migrating shrimp either oysters and crab will learn to adapt to their new natural neighbor or prawn will now be the fare at gulf restaurants
both joker and I raised the same point why is it AOK for illegal aliens to invade the land yet not ok for jumbo shrimp to enter the gulf? you need to be consistent in your outrage
