vue - SEAT Project: FW Prawn & Shrimp culture in Bangladesh producing for European markets & consumers

This short film explores the trade of farmed shrimp and freshwater prawns from Bangladesh to the EU, as part of the EU-funded research project 'Sustaining Ethical Aquaculture Trade' or SEAT www.seatglobal.eu . It engages in the debate over how sustainable and ethical this trade is and can be in the future; arguing that sustainability means different things to different groups, (see for example http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPJpPEH3l7o&feature=relmfu), and that one voice rarely heard is that of Bangladeshi producers themselves, and their local communities. The film follows work by researchers from the University of Bergen (UiB) and Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) as they brought together stakeholders from the shrimp and prawn sectors in a workshop in Khulna in March 2012. It recognises the chequered history of Bangladeshi shrimp and prawns, but also reveals the progress these sectors are making towards a more sustainable and ethical industry, and how trade can be a force for positive change. The workshop showed the aspirations of Bangladeshi people for 'organic' shrimp and prawns, produced in small family-owned farms that practice 'polyculture'; with prawn ponds combined with paddy fields, vegetable gardens and fruit trees. They also voiced their wish for a stronger system of regulation and organic certification, so that European consumers can have faith that their products are sustainable and ethical.