This proverb highlights the conditional nature of certain relationships, where affection and love depend on the benefits one can gain. ‘A close relative when there are shrimps to eat; but when there are no more shrimps, only a distant relative’ means that people might claim closeness when there are benefits to enjoy but lose interest as soon as those benefits end. An equivalent English proverb might be ‘Fair-weather friends’, indicating friendships that only last when everything is going well.