Canada and the World
Current Events with a Canadian Perspective
Last update
12 September 2011
Endangered Fish
Species off the Menu
According to the conservation group SeaChoice
“most fish stocks have been fully exploited (52%),
over-
A number of conservation groups are trying to persuade consumers to avoid eating certain species of fish. The idea is that by reducing demand, fishers will ease up on the catch giving threatened species a chance to recover.
List of Fish to Avoid
The Monterey Bay Aquarium in California has published a list of 30 species to be
avoided including: caviar, cod, king 
crab, monkfish, orange roughy (left), Chilean
Sea Bass, rockfish, skate, snapper, swordfish, and several kinds of tuna.
Those are all wild-
The list also includes some varieties of fish farmed in ocean pens. The Aquarium says salmon raised in pens where seawater can enter and leave are a source of pollution and carry a danger of transmitting disease to wild salmon. The group also warns against eating tilapia farmed in China or Taiwan.
Orange Roughie Stocks Have Plummeted
A closer look at one species identifies problems typical of many under threat.
Orange roughy is a species in serious danger. Most come from deep waters off Australia and New Zealand. The mildly flavoured orange roughy became very popular in the 1980s and the species was almost fished out.
The British conservation group Bite-
Constant fishing pressure means juvenile fish are being caught long before they can reproduce and maintain healthy stock levels.”
The organization says New Zealand’s stocks have dropped to 20 percent of their original size. Because they take so long to grow and mature, orange roughy stocks will take a long time to recover. However, orange roughy remains a very popular menu item.
Swordfish Boycott to Protect Species
Swordfish has been a restaurant favourite for many years. 
But, the Atlantic swordfish
industry is in trouble.
In the 1960s, the average weight of a swordfish was 120 kilos; today, a typical fish tips the scales at only 40 kilos.
In 1998, an environmental group in the United States, SeaWeb, organized a boycott of restaurants serving swordfish.
The tactic worked, and, says SeaWeb “hundreds of chefs signed the ‘Give Swordfish
a Break’ pledge, while others -
The group came in for some withering attacks from the fishing industry. However, the U.S. government closed some swordfish areas to fishing and international catch quotas were reduced.
A similar campaign for Chilean Sea Bass was started in 2002 and is still continuing.
Pressure Put on Retailers
Meanwhile, in Europe Greenpeace is focussing its efforts on retailers. Through its “From Sea to Shelf” program the environmental organization encourages stores to:
- Remove species on its red list from their shelves;
- Find out exactly which species they are selling and “exactly how and where they are caught;”
- Develop rules for sustainable sourcing to avoid overfished stocks or illegal fisheries; and,
- “Clearly label their seafood and provide information about their policies.”
There have been successes. Supermarket chains such as Kaufland in Germany, Marks and Spencer in the U.K. have adopted the Greenpeace program.
On the other hand, Greenpeace has produced ranking guides that judge retailers by their seafood sourcing policies.
However, in the end, the solution to crashing fish populations is in the hands of consumers and the decisions they make about what to put on their plates.
Image credits
Marc AuMarc
HuntFishGuide.com
Sources
“2011 Culinary Chart of Alternatives.” Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch.
“On Orange Roughy.” BiteBack.com.
“Success Stories.” SeaWeb.org.
“From Sea to Shelf.” Greenpeace.
© Canada and the World, September 2011
All rights reserved
ON THE MENU
Carl Safina is President of the Blue Oceans Institute. He says we should all “Get ready to eat a lot of tilapia.”
Native to the lakes of Africa, tilapia is one of the varieties of fish best suited
to aquaculture. It can be produced by most developing countries with tropical or
semi-
It will grow in fresh water and brackish lagoons, and tolerates incredible crowding.
Tilapia will eat almost anything. Although the fact that it will consume pond scum and sewage may not do a lot for the fish’s popularity as a table variety.
Through selective breeding, scientists have already produced a super tilapia variety that grows 60 percent faster than the wild species.
GREENPEACE
RED LIST
Species the environmental group says should be avoided.
Anglerfish
Tuna
Atlantic Cod
Sharks
Eels
Haddock
Hake
Atlantic Halibut
Greenland Halibut
Hoki
Marlin
European Plaice
Redfish
Orange Roughy
Atlantic Salmon
Tropical Shrimp
Skates and Rays
Soul
Swordfish
Patagonian Toothfish
In Canada, SeaChoice is an organization that helps consumers make sustainable choices when buying fish by publishing its Canada Seafood Guide.
It was formed by several conservation groups including the David Suzuki Foundation and the Sierra Club of British Columbia.