Letters to the Editor
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thank you for this story
I guess I'll stick to clams and fish sticks for a while, and let the gourmets make fun of me.
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More information please
"Don't eat certain fish, don't eat endangered fish." OK, so what fish are on the endangered list?
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... which fish are unsustainable
to answer east77:
http://seafood.audubon.org/seafood_wallet.pdf
is a practical guide to what fish on typical menus are more sustainably harvested
http://www.iucnredlist.org/search/search-basic
is a starting point to search the IUCN's database of endangered species. [1372 marine species]
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Don't Look at Me.
You know, this article just strikes me as being sort of unreal. Then again, like a lot of people, I live in the midwest (the vast fly-over zone) and we're stupid. We don't have ready access to fresh and affordable sea food and we don't often eat fish. Maybe a can of tuna once a week or so. I feel like saying, "I don't know who's eating all of this fish, but it isn't me!"
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I was in the Maritimes just before the collapse
What's worse, I was reporting on the fisheries. I went to Newfoundland, to talk about the small-boat fishermen who were saying their catches had collapsed. The big offshore trawlers on the Grand Banks were catching very well (what I didn't know: younger and younger fish). So what was the story. I really was as careful as I could be to get the story. At the Fisheries Department, they assured me over and over that the decline in the inshore fishery was temporary, that they had the quotas set correctly. The small boats said it was all crashing down, and the big boats were stripping the ocean bottom clean with their massive nets. I presented both sides, but I believed the scientists at Fisheries.
There was a greenie book at the time that said it was all collapsing, that we had to cut back drastically, and God forgive me, I thought he was alarmist. I left that job, and left the Maritimes. And a year later, I read about the collapse. I had been on one of the biggest stories of the last of the 20th century, and I had missed it. The Fisheries scientists had missed it. Fat lot of good it'll do.
We spend so much time on less important things, like the seal pups, of which there are over 3 million each spring, and not enough on the hard science.
Hope you like that farmed fish.
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Some positive things going on in Africa
The Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative (established in 2004 to educate consumers and people in the fishing trade about conservation issues in fishing) has a cell number you can text that sends you a message back immediately telling you whether the fish you're about to order or buy is endangered or not, i.e. whether it's graded as "green" (fine to eat), "orange" (at threat), or "red" (illegal). I've made several different choices based on this service - especially when I've been contemplating something on the menu at a restaurant. What a great idea!
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Great fish tale!
I enjoyed reading Charles Clover’s book, “The End of the Line”. It was well written and informative. In essence, it demonstrates the greed and short sightedness of the human species. Rather than invest wisely in our finite ecosystem, people are willing to destroy it for an immediate gain. Investment-wise, this can best be described as “Stupidity”.
For those who think that fish populations can not disappear, look at the American bison population in the 19th century which was decimated by men riding horses. Also keep in mind that marketable fish populate a small minority of the ocean’s water. There are vast oceanic spaces that can be compared to land-based deserts.
Mr. Clover describes ways sustainable fisheries can be created. Unfortunately these methods are opposed by most of the large fish gatherers, who will lose financially if these fisheries are created. Thus back to short-sightedness and stupidity. Lobbyists with money oozing from their appendages combined with a politician’s hollow orifices is always a bad combination for the human race.
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There is a simple solution
Stop eating fish.
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It's simple
Man cannot live on vegetables alone, we need protein. Fish is the second best source behind eggs. But eggs have gotten an unfair rap. Chicken, beef, lamb, and goat can be havested, but is pretty destructive to the land. Milk requires cows, same problem. But, dried milk is best source for staving Africans.
We need a balance of animal products, plant products(soy) and land management to provide the daily protein.
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Man can live on vegetables alone
Debra63, regardless of whether or not a person chooses to be a vegan, both the American and Canadian Dietetic Associations have stated that eating a purely vegetable-based diet is healthy for people. You can get all your protein from plant sources.
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Man can live on non animal proteins
A little clarification before any digression from the topic continues. There are nine essential Amino Acids. Animal sources provide complete proteins (all 9) but have other internal and external debilitating effects. Protein can be obtained from plant based foods, but not in complete forms. If one is eating a vegetarian or vegan diet, they must combine different forms in order to receive complete proteins. The four groups are nuts, legumes/beans, unrefined grains and vegetables. If one group is missing from a diet, there is going to be a deficiency.
Thanks for the links lachlustre, they are extremely helpful and I am passing them forward to others.
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What to Eat
The links I provided at the end of the story offer you lists of sustainable fish, and alternative choices if the fish you want is on the red list (endangered). Seafood Watch at the Monterey Bay Aquarium is quite extensive: you can download a simple wallet card, or search in depth and read their reports about individual species. Environmental Defense also provides data on mercury in fish. Fishbase is for the hardcore researcher. The comment above also had helpful links.
The point is THERE ARE sustainable seafood choices, but you have to do a bit of leg work. Choose Alaskan halibut but not Atlanic halibut; choose Atlantic wild caught striped bass, but avoid the species on the West Coast because it is overfished.
Farm raised Talapia and catfish are also good choices (if farmed in the USA) because they do not deplete wild fish for their feed (unlike salmon).
These are difficult choices, and ones ultimately that should be made by seafood purveyors rather than consumers (because most will not bother). McDonald's is a good example.