Sustainable Fishing
Photo Credit: Howard Ignatius
Many of us eat fish regularly without realizing that we may be contributing to a major problem. Habitat destruction and overexploitation are the two main problems associated with the fishing industry. In addition to those, toxins and aquaculture can have negative impacts on consumers and the environment. By simply understanding the threats that the marine environment is facing, and being informed on how you can reduce your impact on the marine environment, you can still eat fish but enjoy them in a sustainable way.
A popular fishing method that causes extreme habitat loss is bottom trawling. This is when a ship tows a large net along the seafloor, capturing anything it encounters. This destroys corals and kills a considerable amount of marine life. This may sometimes result in the extinction of species, some which have not been identified by science yet.
Overfishing is a huge problem as well. This occurs when the rate that fish are caught is greater than their rate of reproduction. This causes an imbalance to the ecosystem since other forms of marine life may rely on these fish for survival. To help this problem, aquaculture has risen to provide nearly one third of the seafood we eat. However even these “fish farms” can have negative impacts. Although they do not disturb the marine ecosystem as much as other commercial fishing methods, fish are often raised in crowded pens. In these pens, diseases spread quickly and the antibiotics used to treat the fish are often leaked out into the water causing polluted and unsanitary conditions within the pens but also outside. Therefore these fish often contain toxins that unfortunately, we end up eating!
There are still ways that you can eat fish and not contribute to any of these problems. To avoid toxins, eat fish that contain low levels of mercury such as shrimp, canned tuna, salmon, and catfish. When buying fish, ask your seafood dealer or waiter at the restaurant about the source and catch-method of the fish you are buying. Hook and line catching for example is a better method than bottom trawling. If the fish come from a fish farm, stick to those who were farmed using racks, lines, or nets suspended in water, which minimizes damage to the bottom habitat. If we all work together and make these good choices, the marine habitat will start looking much, much better.
Check out MARINEBIO for more on sustainable fishing
Loading ...
Fish farms do distrub the marine ecosystem, Kaelin.
Take a look at what is happening to marine ecosystems in British Columbia, Norway and Chile as a result of open-net pen salmon farming.
For one, sea lice, attracted by tens of thousands of net-caged salmon proliferate and spread to wild salmon stocks. This proliferation of sea lice has contributed to the decline of wild salmon stocks, because the clouds of lice attack juveniles on the way out to sea, overwhelming them or impairing them and so making them easier prey to predators.
Waste, in the form of fish feces and unconsumed feed, can build up under the pens smothering portions of the ocean bottom, contaminating the marine ecosystem and depriving species of oxygen. Or the bulk of waste may be carried away from the farm site by ocean currents, but this too ends up collecting in another place and causing localized pollution. Clam beaches used by First Nations in the Broughton Archipelago (the area with the highest concentration of salmon farms in BC) have been destroyed by the accumulation of black muck and sludge that has been attributed to salmon farm waste.
The predominate species of salmon raised in these operations is Atlantic Salmon, escapes of this species in BC can pose a serious threat to local Pacific species as they have the potential to out-compete wild salmon for habitat and food and transfer disease and pathogens to wild salmon.
A major impact of fish farming of carnivorous species that is often overlooked is the feed- between 1.5 to 8 kg of feed is required for every kg of farmed fish, depending on the species and feed mix. Contrary to the industry’s claims, they are not taking pressure off of wild fish stocks but are contributing to it, and incresingly so as the industry expands. The species used for feed include herring, anchovies and sardines and often come from Southern fisheries and diverted to the feed industry to grow farmed product for Northern markets, taking away an available local protein source.
Finfish aquaculture does hold potential, however, but only if it eliminates its impact on wild stocks and marine ecosystems. A move to closed containment systems, preferably land based, could accomplish this.
I know Tuna in general often contain a lot of mercury, so why would canned Tuna be any different?
Different types of tuna contain different mercury levels. Albacore and Yellowfin usually contain high amounts of mercury. However canned Tuna is often made with skipjack which is a species that contains lower levels of mercury, so it is often a better choice than eating other types of fish that contain higher levels of mercury.
Good article and I will try to make better choices when purchasing/ordering fish.
Although David’s reply contains much interesting information, I’m not sure if he read your article correctly as you say “fish farms do not disturb the marine ecosystem AS MUCH as other commercial methods” and the article points out that fish farms can have a negative impact. Or is he saying that fish farms are more destructive than other fishing methods??
An easy way to estimate your mercury exposure from fish is to check out the free online mercury calculator at http://www.gotmercury.org. Based on the current U.S. EPA and FDA guidelines, the mercury calculator is an excellent way to know your potential mercury exposure risk. You can also use the free mobile mercury calculator for cell phone browsers at http://www.gotmercury.mobi
You have a neat website. Looks like you have put in a huge amount of work on it. Here is one of my favorite fishing websites.Fishing East Texas