Is eating fish sustainable? Is it ethical? Should we all be vegan?

We Ocean Advocates are not here to tell you how and what you should eat! Everyone’s diet is personal and should reflect your individual health and priorities. Some of us eat fish, some of us don’t. Some of us are vegan, some of us are not! For some communities around the world, fish is a central part of diet, culture and lifestyle and the recommendations below are not targeted in that direction, but toward a large part of the global population for which fish is a luxury and not a commodity.

Image Source: New York Times

Whilst the environmental and ethical implications of eating meat are becoming more mainstream in the media and more and more people are turning to more plant-based diets, many people do not know the equivalent facts when it comes to fish.

Last week we hosted an online lecture by Compassion in World Farming and we thought we should share what we have learnt. It mostly focussed on farmed fish but we will discuss wild fish too later in this post.

There are many ethical concerns with eating both wild and farmed fish. We can liken these to popularised images of caged farming of poultry and slaughterhouses - which are distressing regardless of whether the animal has had a free-range life. Likewise, farmed fish face cramped, unhygienic conditions in farms and face similar distresses in their slaughter.

There used to be some debate around whether fish felt pain. But in the past few years more and more scientists have declared that yes, fish are sentient. Therefore, the welfare standards we hold as ethical for terrestrial animals should be the same for our fishy friends. They are emotional, social, sensitive and playful. Some have very complex brains - like the octopus and many form very complex social interactions both within their own species and most remarkably with individuals from other species.

Farmed Fish

So with regards to farmed fish, many practices can be seen as unethical. Such as the high density of populations that lead to diseases (sea lice, deformities and parasites) as well as being a highly stressful environment. However, environmentally there are still many implications.

High volumes of waste (excrement) pollute waters and flow into natural environments. This can cause algal blooms and oxygen depletion zones which can in severe situations lead to the death of many sea creatures. These polluting waters can also be filled with antibiotics and pesticides leading to increased antibiotic resistance and the same negative impacts that terrestrial pesticides can have. But it’s not just the pollution that can escape the farms, sometimes the fish themselves escape and compete with wild populations for food, putting a strain on ecosystems. Sometimes these domesticated (sometimes genetically modified) fish will go on to breed with wild populations - reducing genetic diversity, producing offspring that have a higher mortality rates.

Fish farms release a large amount of greenhouse gases and also can kill many sea birds that become easily entangled in nets. Further, the acoustic devices used to deter animals from the farms (so they don’t eat the fish) actually can harm dolphins and whales that are highly sensitive to underwater noise.

Did you know farmers can shoot seas that access fish farms?

Carnivorous fish like Salmon, which is farmed in high numbers in Scotland need to be fed fish. There are many problems with this but here are some statistics (from Compassion in World Farming):

• 20% of all wild caught fish is used to feed farmed fish

• It can take 350 wild fish to feed one farmed Salmon

• Scottish salmon eat the same amount of wild fish per year as the entire British population

That’s a lot of wild fish that people could be eating directly!

Source: Compassion in World Farming

Wild Fish

Simply put, the commercial fishing industry is decimating the world’s supply of fish. Trawling and longlines don’t just catch the fish we wish to consume but also whales, sharks, dolphins and turtles - known as bycatch, which is discarded back into the ocean. Trawling also completely destroys entire habitats. You don’t even need to look at the numbers - they are actually too vast to comprehend, the scale of the issue is beyond us. Unfortunately, fish are exploited to a point of near extinction.

What to do?

If more people are transitioning towards eating less meat, the concern is that they may eat more fish as a substitute without realising the impacts.

To combat the devastating reality, some people choose not to eat fish at all. Sylvia Earle, an infamous oceanographer and inspiring woman, will not eat any fish. As simple as that. Check out her thoughts here.

But here are our recommendations...

• Eat less fish! Eat more plants! Reduce the demand for overfished species!

• Choose fish with sustainable certification e.g. the Marine Stewardship Council

Source: Marine Conservation Society

• Check out the good fish guide! It can be found here or you can download the app! It details the fish species to avoid and more sustainable options depending on the species, fishing method, whether they are wild or farmed and their origin location

• Avoid the most common fish species: haddock, tuna, salmon, cod and prawns and try something new! (or if you really want these species, check the Good Fish Guide linked above)

• Choose fish that are caught using more sustainable/ lower impact methods such as handline, pole or line caught, pot, trap or dive caught

• Buy local and seasonal - get to know your fishmonger, ask them for advice - ask them which fish they need to sell that hasn’t been as popular and try something new!

• If you eat farmed fish choose native species and/or herbivorous species (carp and tilapia) and go organic!

• When you eat out check whether the restaurant is SRA certified (Sustainable Restaurant Association)

• I’ll say it one more time for those of you at the back: EAT LESS FISH!

Image source: New York Times