Happy Thursday everyone! In case you missed it, this past Tuesday was World Oceans Day, a worldwide rally to collectively share the work people are doing to support cleaning and taking care of the ocean. There are lots of great reading and events put together by youth groups and conservation leaders for this day.
In celebration of this fintastic day, we decided to write this edition on one of the most abundant animals on the planet (and the most common pets in US households) — fish. We’ll focus on fish commonly sold in supermarkets today, how farmers farm fish, and the current fishing supply chain. And for when you decide fish are your friends, we'll have some alternatives ready for you.
Let’s dive right in.
At a Glance
Fishing consumption has gradually increased over the past few years, with the U.S. market making a total over $9.6B a year in 2020. American fishermen landed almost 10 billion pounds of fish and shellfish in 2017, indicating that average Americans are consistently adding over a pound of seafood to their everyday diet.
The world government’s are aware of the growing global climate change, and have begun implementing larger aquaculture restrictions. China set strong standards back in 2016, influencing the global fishing market, causing both farm and wild fishing product prices to rise. Overfishing, rising temperatures, and habitat destruction all contribute to our need for fish meat, fish oil, fish sauce and more — let’s make sure we do our best to stop before we have a fishless ocean.
Environmental Cost
To make sense of the impact the fishing industry has on the ocean, we first need to understand the fishing supply chain, a process that moves over 158 million tons of fish each year.
Fish is one of the most highly traded commodities in the world, connecting local fisheries with national and international markets. However, there continues to be a lack of transparency, traceability, and sustainable practices due to unorganized legacy systems.
Here’s a quick overview of the fishing supply chain:
Fish are captured and collected either in the wild or from aquafarms.
Farmers sell their fish on docks or to large distributors.
Fish are then prepared for distribution, whether that be through canning, filleting, etc.
Depending on where they will be sold, fish are then stored and packaged before being transported to different markets, nationally or internationally.
Supermarkets, restaurants, and other places then sell the fish for consumers to eat.
Overfishing continues to be the biggest concern that conservationists have with the fishing industry, with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) stating that over 70% of fisheries are being exploited, or extracted at a faster rate than can be naturally repopulated. Almost 10% of the 600 marine fish that are monitored are in dangerous waters to be completely depleted.
These same fishing farms where fish are overfished can also make the living habitat and environment incredibly toxic, seeping chemicals into the ocean. Compacting fish into tightly packed spaces during their entire lives, mixed in with antibiotics, parasites, feces, etc., can produce potentially as much waste as a town of 2,000 people.
Fishing farms also need to harvest other smaller fish to feed the fish that we eat. This can lead to additional overfishing for wild fish, with one pound of salmon requiring five pounds of wild fish to feed it. Collecting wild fish causes major damages to the overall environment, with the UN measuring that 95% of the ocean damage can be attributed to bottom trawling, a procedure large fishing boats use to collect fish by dragging nets at the bottom of the ocean floor.
And, as world temperatures begin to rise, the ocean habit continues to change too quickly for the natural wildlife to adapt. Ocean acidification is damaging to creatures like coral, clams and oysters, which can lead to major problems with the rest of the ocean food chain. Products like sunscreen and plastic containers also end up in our ocean, damaging these same wildlife as we previously discussed.
Human Cost
With the rise of pollution in our lakes, rivers, and oceans, sea life ingests harsh chemicals, and it eventually makes its way to our mouths and bodies.
Gold mining and coal burning leads to mercury pollution and builds up in a fishs' tissue. Mercury poisoning has severe impacts on a human's nervous system and can cause reproductive issues.
Plastic consumption: with over 10 million tons of plastic dumped in the ocean every year, there are 51 trillion microplastic particles in the ocean that find their way into fish and into our bodies when consumed.
If you've read our piece on milk, you might recall that milk isn't actually necessary for humans to get sufficient calcium (it's all a marketing tactic by companies). Similarly, the seafood industry has been advocating for people to eat more omega-3 fatty acids, which is a very important nutrient, but can be received from plant based products (chia seeds, brussel sprouts, algal oil, hemp seed, walnuts, flax seed, perilla oil), without the harsh chemicals that come from eating fish.
What about the people who fish and harvest fish? Fisheries are an important source of livelihood and income, especially for people in developing countries. The FAO estimates that fisheries and aquaculture support 10-12% of the world's population. However what is less known is the human cost. Fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, killing over 24,000 people every year.
The fishing industry also has illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) practices which has fueled slavery, especially in Southeast Asia. IUU accounts for up to 30% of the global seafood harvest. Because of severely overfished areas, such as the Gulf of Thailand, fishing operations have had to travel much farther out to sea due to low catch per unit effort. This increases the cost of fishing and the number of people willing to take on these tasks. So, captains resort to human trafficking to assemble this crew. This crew works for little to no money and are frequently beaten, starved, and imprisoned in cages.
Thailand, one of the largest exporters of fish, is the main supplier for the US. In 2018, the US implemented the Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP) to watch out for IUU fish coming in. However, there are lots of loopholes that fishermen can get around, the SIMP doesn't account for human trafficking or collect information about the crew, how long the ship has been at sea, or any details about the operation. If there were stricter policies in place then fraudulent behavior could be more easily condemned.
Fish Cost
Our waterways are polluted with all sorts of trash: sewage, chemicals, microplastics, illegally dumped garbage, etc. But the worst pollution affecting fish is the fishing gear, which kills and mutilates millions of sea animals every year. Humans kill more fish in a year than all other animals combined and with every pound of fish caught, 5 pounds of other fish are caught/killed/discarded.
And because fish have been depleted from the oceans due to overfishing, many fish are farmed instead. Thousands of them are cramped into tiny pens, where disease spreads quickly and the water stays dirty. Farmers add antibiotics and pesticides which the fish ingest, and by extension, so do humans.
Ingredients
When shopping for fish watch out for these ingredients:
Antibiotics: Look for “all-natural” and always make sure any claims are verified by a reputable third-parties.
Preservatives: erythorbic acid, sodium erythorbate and sorbic acid.
STPP: sodium tripolyphosphate, used to make fish look glossier and firmer.
Artificial coloring: used to make fish appealing looking and sometimes carbon monoxide is used.
Fishing Today
As with all of the complex problems we tackle, it’s difficult to make a sustainable dent without targeting the entire process. A few of the main problems scientists and economists have identified include:
Lack of fishing data that track fish products throughout the process.
Fishing capture, collection and distribution is inconsistent and done in bulk, making it difficult to determine the initial traits of the fish like its age and health.
Relationships between distributors and farmers make it difficult to incentivize sustainable practices, including cultural preferences for fishing in different countries.
No enforcement by regulators to ensure standard practices are held.
For When Fish Are Friends
If you're looking for alternatives that aren't so fishy, consider these!
Note that we are not sponsored to show any of these brands.
Gardein | ~$3-$6 | Buy in a store near your
Good Catch | ~$3-12 | Buy online or in a store near you
Jinka | ~$9 | Buy online or in a store near you
What You Can Do
Consider switching where you get your omega-3 from! Choose from our alternatives.
Ensure you are consuming sustainably sourced fish — try to find traceable products.
You can learn more about seafood slavery by watching "Ghost Fleet" and the environmental impact of seafood by watching "Seaspiracy".
Buy reef safe sunscreen and recycle your plastics correctly.
Donate to conservation organizations such as World Oceans Day.
Help your friends out — share this article with them! 🐟
Questions or comments on this piece? Suggestions on what we should cover next? Send us a note.