Hey, you're always asking me where I find stuff...
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
So, what fish should I eat?
I really like eating fish, but I'm becoming a bit concerned about the sustainability of eating fish. When I go to a supermarket here in Hong Kong and see Alaskan crab, Atlantic Salmon and Southern Ocean bluefin tuna for sale, I start to think that something is wrong.
It seems incredible to me that I can buy a piece of fish that was caught thousands of miles away and yet is still basically affordable. The effort that goes into catching fish is tremendous - there's no way I'd want to spend a winter in the Southern Ocean looking for Patagonian toothfish. The reason the fish is affordable of course is economies of scale - fishing trawlers take so many fish they are able to make a lot of money on volume, despite the difficulties involved in catching them.
Outside national boundaries, the ocean is basically unregulated and a free-for-all is going on. Without regulation of fish stocks overfishing is destroying the viablity of many species. At the moment we have abundance of many things, but I can see a not-too-distant future where abundance won't the norm.
OK - so what can we do? Well the first thing would be to stop eating fish that are in danger, and stop eating fish that come from thousands of kilometres away. Fortunately there are guides that help you make those decisions. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has a guide that lets you know exactly how endangered a fish is. Unfortunately they charge $10 for it. Still, here it is. Another resource is available for free from fishonline.org. Print out the guide and memorise a few species that are OK to eat, and next time you go to a restaurant, check the menu for the safe species.
tags: overfishing | fish
It seems incredible to me that I can buy a piece of fish that was caught thousands of miles away and yet is still basically affordable. The effort that goes into catching fish is tremendous - there's no way I'd want to spend a winter in the Southern Ocean looking for Patagonian toothfish. The reason the fish is affordable of course is economies of scale - fishing trawlers take so many fish they are able to make a lot of money on volume, despite the difficulties involved in catching them.
Outside national boundaries, the ocean is basically unregulated and a free-for-all is going on. Without regulation of fish stocks overfishing is destroying the viablity of many species. At the moment we have abundance of many things, but I can see a not-too-distant future where abundance won't the norm.
OK - so what can we do? Well the first thing would be to stop eating fish that are in danger, and stop eating fish that come from thousands of kilometres away. Fortunately there are guides that help you make those decisions. The Australian Marine Conservation Society has a guide that lets you know exactly how endangered a fish is. Unfortunately they charge $10 for it. Still, here it is. Another resource is available for free from fishonline.org. Print out the guide and memorise a few species that are OK to eat, and next time you go to a restaurant, check the menu for the safe species.
tags: overfishing | fish
Labels: fish, overfishing, sashimi, tuna
- RSS