The Least Sustainable Seafood in the World

Seafood plays such a large part of Asian culture and diet but the more we read, the more we realize that the oceans are becoming overfished through aggressive commercial fishing methods that are not sustainable in the long run. Planet Green has gathered together a list of “Least Sustainable Seafoods” to inform and hopefully change our eating habits. In the thick of the list is shark’s fin, a traditional delicacy at many Chinese weddings. However, we’re finding that modern weddings our replacing this tradition with alternative dishes in a collective protest to save our oceans. We hope this trend continues.

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The Least Sustainable Seafood in the World And Why You Should Avoid It
www.planetgreen.com
by Sara Novak

More and more people are getting out their handy pocket sustainable seafood guides and that’s a great thing. But there are some fish that for the most part should never be eaten no matter where you are. For one reason or another these guys have been hit hard with overfishing or the methods in which they are fished have dire consequences for the planet. So if you see these fish on a menu skip them and if you see them at the fish market pass them by. Of course this list is subject to change over time, but for the time being, there are plenty of tasty, sustainable alternatives, so opt for those instead.

1. Blue Fin Tuna
This is an obvious one but it still tops the list. TheWorld Wildlife Fund recently warned that Atlantic bluefin tuna will be wiped out completely by 2012 if we don’t halt the overfishing of it. According to the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas, bluefin’s numbers have decreased an alarming 97 percent since 1960. The only way to halt their extinction is to halt fishing almost entirely for a period of time.

2. Swordfish
While this is number two on the list it is more commonly eaten than bluefin tuna in our country. The reason why these guys are in so much trouble is because swordfish, which can get up to a massive 2,000 pounds are often caught at a weight of 200 pounds. This is well before the fish have matured and before the females have spawned. Additionally, the minimum weight that a swordfish can be caught is 41 pounds but when the fish are under this mark they are often thrown back into the ocean, dead.

3. Chilean Sea Bass
According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Chilean sea bass is caught with bottom longlines, which damage the seafloor and lead to high rates of bycatch, meaning the death of seabirds, turtles, and other nontarget species. The aquarium also points out that more than half of Chilean sea bass sold was caught illegally. Chilean sea bass is a slow-growing fish that takes years to reach reproductive age, so it has been particularly vulnerable to overfishing. They can live to be six feet long and more than 50 years old, but fishermen are reporting smaller and smaller weights and lower catches according to the Daily Green.

4. Shark/Shark Fin
Brian wrote about how everyday “fishermen” catch sharks, by pulling them out of the ocean, cutting off their fins, and throwing the still-living remains back into the ocean, where they slowly bleed to death. Forty million sharks are slaughtered in this barbaric manner for their fins every year, according to National Geographic. Shark populations are declining at a dramatic rate and without this natural predator the ocean’s food chain will go completely out of whack.

Read the full article.