Fish
It used to be a no-brainer that fish was
beneficial for us in every way: all the right
fats, a great source of protein, fresh,
delicious, and all around good, it was one of
nature’s most perfect foods. Well, here’s another
one humanity has screwed up royally. Ok, that
makes for a gloomy start but it’s so true...
What to Do?
Get to know your local fisherman or woman, if
there is one in your area. Find out if their
practices are
sustainable: what kind of
nets do they use? If there is a fish farm in
your area,
research their methods
before buying from them. Some fish farmers
are tinkering with closed loop,
eco-conscious methods. Ask which, if any
chemical or medical inputs they use and tell
them you don’t want any of those!
If you live in the midwest, like me, make fish a
rare treat. Unless you have a tested and clean
waterway in your area (a scarcity, to be sure)
then the fish isn’t local and therefore, not
sustainable. It’s hard to come to terms with the
idea that we can’t eat whatever we want, as often
as we’d like, but get used to it. With depleted
fisheries and toxic waterways now the norm,
protect your family by providing safe alternative
sources of omega 3’s, like organic flax oil.
So How Did Things Get So Bad?
Overfishing
All sorts of seafood can be found
on menus and in freezer cases around the country,
much of it arriving from half a planet away; more
than 80% of the fish Americans eat is imported.
There are fewer and fewer local fisheries in
business, due to massive overfishing by
multinational conglomerates. Since WWII,
populations of large ocean fish have dropped by
90%, due to the unsustainable practices of these
companies.
Pollution
Point source pollution, like oil
spills and chemical dumps, combined with
non-point sources, like run-off from roads and
agricultural fields, have left the world’s oceans
in dire straits. Today there are huge patches of
ocean called dead zones, the name says it all.
These are areas, such as the one the size of New
Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico, where nothing at
all can survive. The dead zone in the Gulf of
Mexico is caused by an overabundance of nitrogen
in the water, the result of fertilizer runoff
from the heartland. The excess nitrogen provides
a food source for algae, which then reproduce
massively and deplete the water of oxygen,
resulting in die offs of all marine life that
need that oxygen to survive.
What Does This Mean For Us?
Besides the horror of knowing we are destroying
some of earth’s most diverse and abundant
ecosystems, we must realize that we are a part of
the food chain we are corrupting. Pollutants in
our oceans don’t just go away, many of them
settle to the bottom sediment where they are
ingested by fish that inhabit the sea floor.
These toxins, which include toxic metals, PCB’s,
and chlorinated pesticides, accumulate in the
bodies of fish and remain there. When these fish
become a meal for successively larger creatures,
the toxins biomagnify, they become more and more
concentrated. When you or I eat that fish, we get
a hefty dose of toxins like mercury, which causes
brain and neurological damage in infants and
children. The levels of toxic chemicals are so
concentrated in seafood now that much of it is
dangerous to eat. Additionally, the amount of
toxins varies from fish to fish depending on how
much exposure there was in any particular area.
The levels of mercury and other toxins stated by
the EPA and FDA are only averages; the amount in
your meal may be much, much higher.
The most alarming statistic I came across comes
from research by the Centers for Disease Control.
In their 1999/2000 study, 8% of women between the
ages of sixteen to forty-nine (
reproductive age, people)
had mercury levels above the safety limit
set by the EPA. You can be sure those
numbers haven’t improved in the last ten
years.
Can’t Fish Farming Fix This?
What about fish farming, it’s a huge and growing
business, can’t we get safe fish there? Well, not
really.
These systems can be land based, in huge tanks,
or in a body of water with barriers to prevent
escape. Either way, the population of fish is
highly concentrated and produces pollution from
excess food and wastes. Vaccines, antibiotics,
disinfectants, and herbicides create further
pollution, and leave unhealthy residue in the
flesh of the fish. Even if this weren’t the case,
farmed fish are fed an unnatural diet of corn,
soy, and other fillers, which means their meat is
much lower in the omega 3 fatty acids present in
wild fish. Farmed salmon are fed large quantities
of dye so their soggy, white flesh will appear
vibrant and orange like that of their wild
counterparts. So fake, so gross!
The impact on wild fish populations is also
catastrophic. Besides the pollution fish farms
create, the fish often escape (on average 15%)
and overtake the surrounding ecosystem,
eliminating indigenous populations within a few
generations. There is even a new variety of
genetically modified salmon ready to go on the
market; it is slower moving, faster growing, and
reproduces quickly. These gm fish attract more
mates, but their offspring are not as hardy,
meaning they will overtake a system then die off,
leaving no fish at all where a wild population
once flourished.
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