In addition to landing shrimp, generally the fishermen also
collect large quantities of by—catch in their trawl nets.
As far as developed countries are concerned, there is presently
no outlet for this part of the catch, and toe shrimper has
little alternative but to return the materials to the sea.
In view of the pressing demand for food of anumal origin,
particularly in countries where shrimp fisheries are estab­
lished, there has been much recent interest in alleviating this wastage of a valuable marine resource (Mainke, 1974?
FAO, 1975; Allsopp, 1977). It has been recognised for many
years that vast quantities of potential food are being
discarded at sea such as the incidental catches of fish from
shrimp trawling operations. The growing world food problem
in developing regions and high fuel costs have prompted many
countries and agencies to consider ways of preventing this
waste and putting the resources to better use.
Although current efforts have been made to process the