I’m sure you can’t help but have noticed that fish sustainability has been in the news a lot recently. My sister decided for her 30th Birthday to take a whole bunch of us to see the film that’s created the media storm: End Of The Line. It’s a really good film (lots of graphs to back up the facts and agreement that there’s a big problem from real fishermen) and I highly recommend it. Ted Danson narrated! (I couldn’t help humming the Cheers theme tune…)
The main message that I’ve taken away from the film is that you can do your bit.
1. Don’t just order fish at a restaurant without consideration for where your fish came from. Ask them whether the fish was trawled, farmed or line caught. It was shocking to see what trawling involves and the damage it does to the sea bed, not to mention the fact that all the unwanted fish is thrown back in the sea dead.
2. When buying from a supermarket, check for items that are labelled sustainable, or better yet with the MSC logo:
Having been around my supermarket the logo is very visible once you know what to look for.
3. Check out the Marine Conservation Society’s pocket Guide. This is an excellent resource. I hope they turn it in to an iPhone app someday. Not that I have an iPhone. Yet.
The topic is really fascinating just because how complicated it is. To pick two well known favourites from the pocket guide:
- Cod from the Atlantic is AVOID, but Cod from the Pacific if MSC certified is EAT - not even CAUTION!
- Salmon that’s of the 5 MSC certified types from the Pacific are EAT, and it’s less good to eat farmed Salmon. (Unbelievably farmed Salmon is fed on wild fish apparently 7 tonnes to make 1 tonne of Salmon.)
James