More than a billion people rely mostly on seafood for their protein; another 2.6 billion people get 20% of their protein from seafood. Our population is rapidly growing, expanding, and eating more and more fish.
I’m reading a book right now by Taras Grescoe called Bottomfeeder. It focuses on the ecological devastation and the edible ecstasies of the oceans. The world’s human population is growing rapidly, and even more rapidly are we consuming ocean fare. Eating sustainably can be a little tricky in this area, especially if you haven’t done your research on our oceans and the gifts it gives…or used to give? The question isn’t whether or not we should eat fish – it’s what fish should we eat?
The government subsidizes destructive ways of fishing because there is such a high demand for seafood. Methods such as farmed fishing, bottom trawling, drift nets, dynamite/cyanide, and dredges impact the environment and make it harder to support and sustain organic life – destroying entire ecosystems & the homes of many fish that are vastly disappearing because of the impact.
I could go on and type out in detail major impacts on the ecosystems and specific effects that it’s having on each individual fish – but I’m not going to – singularity because there are so many amazing other sources that go into strong detail about what fish we should eat, sometimes eat, and never eat. Taras has a section called How To Eat Ethically on his website that sums up some of the major concerns.
Other websites to check out:
Sea Choice – rates each fish as best choice, some concerns, and avoid
Got Mercury? – mercury calculator to help you make healthier seafood choices
Marine Stewardship Council – information on sustainable fisheries
IUCN Red List – comprehensible list of threatened species
[...] is a short clip called The Greed of Feed. I’ve posted earlier on the topic of sustainable seafood and once I came across this clip I knew I had to post it. After [...]