Our demand for fish is rising in popularity due to the claim that it is healthier for you and is somewhat easy to come by. Of course, with such a high demand for these fish, consequences of course arise. During the Ted Talk, speaker Paul Greenburg explained the different ailments and issues that fishing creates.
The first fish that he mentioned was the shrimp. He stated that in order to catch 1 pound of fish, 10-15 pounds of waste fish are caught and die. This fish can be used for fish food. Shrimp is also very carbon intensive. One may suggest that we could switch to farming shrimp which although is a good idea and lessens the likelihood of catching other kinds of fish or marine life, Mangrove Forests, where the shrimps would live, are slowly being depleted and destroyed from this farming. The second fish that was mentioned was the tuna. Tuna is in extremely high demand and is in even worse of a position since it is a k-species. The tuna are also really bad for aquaculture. The third fish that was mentioned was the salmon. Dams all across the U.S. prevent the salmon from reaching their spawning grounds and therefore are unable to properly reproduce. Such a high demand for salmon make it difficult for salmon as well. The last fish is the white fish that has changed in species over the years. Currently the Alaska Polach is in high demand and 2-3 billion fish are taken out of the sea each year and thus may be depleted in the next few years.
Greenburg did, however, mention other species that we should perhaps turn to instead of these four fish that would be much more sustainable for the environment. The first one is the muscle. This is high in omega-3 and protein, filters lots of water, and is great in carbon emission. The third species is seaweed. Seaweed is also great at water filtration and you can also feed it to cattle and it also requires no extra water for growth because it already lives in the water. The final fish is the clupeids. This fish is usually used to feed salmon but instead can be fed to humans. He mentioned an ideal fish that he has not yet discovered. This fish would be high in omega-3, protein, it would be vegetarian, oily, adaptable, and fast growing.
Greenburg did seem optimistic in the future. Of course there is room for growth and we need a lot of change for us but I think if people became more conscious of this information and what their fish eating habits do to the environment, they may be more likely to make the positive change.
