Sustainable Ideas...

Forget the image that you have of hundreds of fish swimming downstream, waiting to be caught by an eager fisherman, then ending up stacked on ice in the grocery store. According to The New York Times, by 2050, most of the farm we eat will be raised on huge aquaculture farms, and our favorite species may be harder to find. Thanks to over-fishing, many of our favorite species demand more energy, money, and equipment to produce the same amount of fish (85 million tons each year) even as demand is sky-rocketing—global consumption has doubled since 1973.

But, fish-lovers, all hope is not lost! Well-managed fisheries can bring around a declining species. How to help the world get its fisheries under control so that your favorite maki roll is safe?

1. Expand your palate. Right now, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, “”the maximum wild-capture fisheries potential from the world’s oceans has probably been reached” (quoted in the New York Times). So, to give fisheries time to re-grow depleted populations of bluefin tuna, shark, Chilean sea bass, cod, and others, start buying lesser-known fish, like wild sardines or anchovies.
2. Buy wild fish, or catch it yourself. The aquaculture industry is feeding fish to fish, and it’s an inefficient industry. It takes five kilograms of smaller fish to produce one kilogram of farmed cod, and 20 kilogram of smaller fish to produce one kilogram of tuna. Not to mention that farmed fish hurts the surrounding water and doesn’t taste as good.
3. Support catch shares. Shares that allow fishermen to buy into an industry and the right to catch a sustainable harvest keeps the number of fish caught at a fixed number and has worked in Alaska.
4. For more info on fish, see the posts on sustainable sushi, seafood, and salmon.

Photo from Green Peace.