Choosing eco-friendly fish and seafood
By Desiree Chevalier
Lance Writer
October 29, 2008
 Fish and other seafood have been touted as one of the leanest and healthiest forms of protein for the omnivorous. However, the conscientious consumer may be shocked to find that not all seafood found in the supermarket is plentiful in the wild; many species commonly found in local supermarkets are declining rapidly or are caught using methods that result in huge amounts of waste (in the form of other water-bound creatures) or environmental destruction.
Many species that make it to your grocery store were caught in countries with fewer or more lax contaminant regulations.
For the vegans and vegetarians, this article will most likely encompass some of the reasons why you have chosen to leave meat out of your diet.
While most people know that sitting down to a bowl of shark-fin soup or some sort of whale dish is likely not the most environmentally-conscious thing to do, many make uninformed decisions when out at the supermarket or in a restaurant. Be advised that the list of the “eco-worst” fish includes far more than sharks; many can be found in massive piles at the local deli counter or sushi bar.
But rather than feeling guilty and woeful about your most recent sushi splurge, look to the future and try to keep some of the following information in mind when purchasing or ordering fish and other seafood.
Seafood
First of all, don’t worry—your Christmas shrimp ring may not be as bad as you think. Check labels to see where your shrimp came from. Imported shrimp and prawns are an “eco-worst” choice for three reasons. First, they pose a health risk to humans since most of them have high levels of contaminants.
Second, the catch method results in a massive amount of bycatch; bycatch is all the other organisms that are captured and usually killed in the process of fishing for a specific type of fish or seafood (i.e. dolphins caught when fishing for tuna, hence “dolphin-free tuna”).
Third, shrimp “farms” are inherently destructive to many important ecosystems such as the mangrove forests, which are known to reduce the impact of devastating tsunamis abroad. The best choices for shrimp are U.S. farmed shrimp, spot prawns from Canada, or pink shrimp from Oregon. U.S. shrimp farms have recently revamped their ecological standards, moving farms from sensitive coastal regions to agricultural lands in an effort to minimize environmental damage.
Scallops are also an “eco-worst” choice due to their catch method and overfishing which has resulted in population decline. Most scallops are caught using a method called dredging, which severely damages seafloor ecosystems. Bycatch is also high in scallop catches, often including the threatened sea turtle.
Fish
A fish not all people may be familiar with, orange roughy, is frequently available at the supermarket and in restaurants, despite its rapid decline in the wild as a result of overfishing. Orange roughy mature slowly and have long lives, meaning they are frequently captured and killed before they reproduce.
Better choices include U.S. farmed striped bass and catfish. High levels of mercury also make this fish relatively harmful if consumed more than once a month. Bluefin tuna, used frequently in sushi under the names “hon maguro” or “toro,” are considered to have such a high concentration of mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) that they are not safe for consumption in any quantity.
Overfishing has also resulted in a rapid decline of wild bluefish tuna populations, and as one of the only species of tuna that matures slowly, many are caught before reproduction, hastening the decline of the fish. Better choices are albacore from the U.S. or canned light tuna.
The Environmental Defense Fund organization provides plentiful information on their website, www.edf.org, including a seafood selector that allows you to see some of the poorer choices and why they are harmful to the environment. Less harmful alternatives are also provided, with reasons why they are less harmful or safer for consumption.
Before you go out next time for fish or seafood, check out some of the website’s picks for “eco-best” fish and seafood and try to stick to those guidelines. Unfortunately for most endangered and threatened fish and sea-creatures, international fishing and lax regulation means that change must be demanded from the consumer; in other words; eat, just bring your brain along to help you make some better choices for yourself and the environment.
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