Wow! didn't mean to offend or make it seem like I was pushing this product. Truly curious. Didn't realize the can of worms I was opening and didn't even think about google alerts. Will be more circumspect in future questions.

Google alerts is a free service that notifies me when someone blogs about a product I represent. I'm glad my post piqued your interest, DonnyG, as that was it's original purpose and I hope it will open your mind a little in the future to the wild vs farmed argument of seafood. Please note that I was not trying to sell my shrimp in the post or saying that they are better/more "sustainable" than wild, just trying to provide a few facts gathered from over a decade working in the seafood industry on a subject I am passionate about. It is up to the individual consumer to decide what is best for themselves, as well as the local community they live in and the global community they are a part of. BTW I am also on the West Coast and would love to try and sell you Laughing Bird Shrimp if you email me your contact info [email protected]. I will be sure to attach the third party audits of the farm, comparison sheets with conventional farms, and a 3 year case study done by the World Wildlife Fund/World Bank/Food and Agricultural Organization dubbing Laughing bird as the "future of aquaculture". You can watch this in the interim - http://www.cleanfish.com/video_lb.html

HK- I just realized that I forgot to put (LOL!) at the end so that one could tell I was being funny. Note the Puns "Fishy".

No DonnyG - and I won't take offense - I am just a curious cook who happens to have tried these shrimp. I have never before heard of Mikey Mallone. If you look at my profile you'll see that I have been participating on this site for close to a year now.

Is HealthierKitchen somehow connected with this company. I find it a little fishy that she poses the question and then get a response from Mr. Malone from cleaner fish. Something smells fishy her on food52.

Well Mr. Malone I find it funny that your propagandizing your company here. This is a food forum and not a place for corporate watchdogs to see what people are saying about thier compay. It will take alot more than a composed post full of "your" facts to convert me to farm raised. I have been a chef on the west coast for over twenty years and have never had anybody try to sell me your product. Although I would have turned a deft ear the second I heard farm raised.

Having said that, I am not opposed to ever trying anything new and or new sustainable ideas. I most likely would not choose your product if sitting side by side with wild shrimp. But your post alone has peeked my curiousity a bit.

Wow! Love Food52 - post a question and get word right from the person in the know! Thanks Mikey Malone.

My name is Mike and I work for CleanFish, the importer of Laughing Bird Shrimp for North America. DonnyG, while you are not wrong about what the wild US shrimp fishing industry thinks of imported farm raised shrimp, Laughing Bird is a far cry from conventionally farmed shrimp. In the late 90's early 2000's the price paid per lb of shrimp to US fishermen plummeted due to cheaper, visually perfect shrimp produced predominantly in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, which is the worlds largest producer of farmed shrimp. This is mainly due to the fact that farming shrimp is much less fuel intensive than dragging at sea, but conventional Thai producers also cut costs by neglecting workers rights, relying upon heavy antibiotic use, and ignoring environmental stewardship. With their sights set on the US market, farmed shrimp imports effectively were able to reduce the market price of shrimp to a 30 yr low and double the per capita consumption of shrimp in the US in the yrs between 1994-2004. The US govt actually placed an anti dumping tariff on farmed shrimp from Thailand in 2005, but in 2008 Thailand still dominated the US market and imported over 300,000 tonnes of shrimp, roughly 100,000 more tonnes than the entire wild shrimp fishery in the US for that year. Raised in a inland closed containment system in Belize, Laughing Bird SHRIMP COST MORE TO PRODUCE THAN BOTH WILD AND CONVENTIONALLY FARMED SHRIMP, so they are not responsible for the low dockside pricing of wild US shrimp, destruction of vital mangrove habitat, or for the dumping of untreated shrimp waste directly back into the ocean. The shrimp are also hormone/antibiotic/chemical free so they are good for the consumer as well. There is undoubtedly a need to support US industry today, especially in the Gulf. But please do not group Laughing Bird with all farm raised shrimp, and rethink your farmed vs wild mentality when it comes to seafood because exceptions and contradictions exist. You can reach me at [email protected].

I usually make it a practice to eat only wild fish. I especially will not eat farm salmon...I just go without. That said, I bet most people fishing for trout in Idaho don't realize that they are probably catching farm raised trout! I have tried the Laughing Bird shrimp several times and they are delicious. If they are as healthy as they are delicious I see no problem with eating them.

I generally do buy wild everything, so that's why I as intitially so suspicious and why it was so surprising to me that they were so delicious. I also wonder what will happen to species of wild shrimp, salmon, etc. with so many more people trying to eat more healthfully. We might all have to become vegetarians! I guess mostly I'm wondering if anyone else has had any experience with these particular shrimp. I am aware that in the Mid-Atlantic Marvesta shrimp are used by many chefs.

I actually agree with DonnyG. I buy Gulf of Mexico wild shrimp whenever I can.

If you ask the shrimp fishing industry what they think about farmed shrimp they would tell you that their being driven out of business. What happens when they finally go out of business? Then we will be asking each other these kinds of questions. And what, to save a few bucks on a pound of shrimp? I'm sorry that I'm not giving you the answers that you want to hear about your question. I only hope the reason your contimplating buying farmed shrimp is because it's the only shrimp available. And if it is don't buy it in protest and tell your purveyor you want wild shrimp. Wild is the only way to go!

Here's an article about them that was in the NY Times about a year ago:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/dining/11shrimp.html