Killing sea beds for prawns.

Once a British delicacy, prawns are now cheap and commonplace. Although this high demand is good for Thai farmers, techniques for obtaining “prawn food” to feed the growing mollusks are ravaging the environment (Sunday Times, February 24, 2013).

Collecting “trash fish” involves using fine nets to capture everything on the ocean floor, including “…crabs, stingrays, turtles, shark species and young fish. The entire haul is then ground up and incinerated in a series of hot ovens until it turns into a powder that is fed to prawns kept in giant farms. The indiscriminate technique means many fish are prevented from growing to full size and the sea life in whole sections of ocean is destroyed” (ibid.).

Long ago, God directed mankind to be wise stewards and “tend and keep” the earth (Genesis 2:15). God also instructed human beings not to eat, but to preserve mollusks and shellfish, for human health reasons and to preserve ocean ecosystems (Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14).  Mankind’s greed for gain and his poor stewardship of the earth is leading to the destruction of ecosystems, the termination of species, and the increasing pollution in the oceans. Simply adhering to the “clean and unclean” dietary laws and being good stewards of the environment would have a dramatic impact in protecting God’s creation and improving human health. Both of these approaches will be implemented in the soon-coming Kingdom of God (Acts 3:19-21). 

For more information on why God prohibited eating shellfish and mollusks, see our article, Do You Really Want To Eat That?