Green Blog

This time of year, when many Christians are observing Lent, you see lots of fish on sale at the supermarket and lots of seafood specials at restaurants.  There are two environmental questions that may come to mind if you are considering a meal of fish.  One is how the fish will affect you– does it come from an environment contaminated by mercury or anything else that is harmful?  The other is whether the fish has been caught in a way that is sustainable (doesn’t harm the fish species by overfishing, and doesn’t cause other harm to the environment).

A pamphlet I received from the American Heart Association had some advice about kinds of fish to eat and to avoid.  Families that include young children or women who are pregnant or breastfeeding will want to avoid fish that are high in mercury, such as shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish.  Since albacore (or “white”) tuna contains more mercury than “light” tuna, it is best to limit it to once a week if it could affect a developing child.  Teenagers and adults are not as vulnerable to mercury.  If you catch and eat your own fish you can check local Fish Advisory information (available where you buy your fishing license, and on an information page from the Department of Public Health).

Sustainability is a trickier topic.  I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, and we sometimes watched news broadcasts from Canada that came over the river.  I didn’t understand a lot of it at the time, but there was a major crisis going on in the Canadian fishing industry.  The populations of some fish had shrunk so much that people worried there were not enough adult fish left to keep those species going.  Fishermen were worried about their way of life, and whether government limits on their fishing would prevent a future with no fish to catch.  My family enjoys folk music, and we had discovered some favorite Canadian musicians by the time I was in high school.  I remember titles like “No Herring Left in the Bay,” the lyric “it’s good that the smelt has no lovelier name,” and descriptions of young people leaving fishing towns to find work.

Some of that came back to me when I read World Without Fish by Mark Kurlansky.  The author (and sometimes his cartoon alter ego, Kram) explains the intertwining problems that might lead to a future without fish.  These include pollution and global warming as well as overfishing.  He uses fishing for cod in Canada’s Grand Banks as an example of how a community and an economy can be devastated by overfishing, and how even a years-long fishing ban can’t always bring back a population of fish.  He also makes an example of Orange Roughy, a fish I ate regularly and grudgingly during Lent, until it was suddenly no longer available.  The book does not characterize the situation as hopeless.  The author sees sustainable fishing as the best way forward, and gives readers a set of tools for choosing fish wisely: where and how a fish is caught is important!

One tool he discusses in the book is the list of Seafood Recommendations from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.  It is now available as an app as well as a printable pocket guide.  You can find plenty of information about what makes a good choice of seafood and why.  Details like whether the fish are farmed or wild caught matter– but the sustainable option can vary by the species.  There are also labels for certified sustainable seafood.  However, there are concerns about whether all the seafood with these labels is really sustainable.  More businesses want to sell only sustainable seafood, which is a commendable desire, but there may not be enough sustainably fished seafood to meet the demand for it.  Kurlansky concludes his book with guidelines for fish eaters: “Beware of fish that is very inexpensive,” for example, and “Beware of new types of fish that are suddenly being seen everywhere.”  He also emphasizes that “We need more information and we should demand it.”