Eating fish is not as innocent as it seems. Why? Because there are many dirty practices behind fishing, artificially farmed fish in small vats and fish caught in oceans full of plastics. The higher the demand, the more problems.
Small fish, big problems
Doctors have been telling us for decades that eating fish is healthy. Fish contains healthy, omega-3 fatty acids, proteins, vitamins, and minerals. That’s right, BUT! With exaggerated demand comes exaggerated prices. We don’t just mean the financial one.
The more people want to eat fish that, moreover, do not even occur naturally in the area where the individual lives, the more production is needed to catch and import them.
What are the problems with over-demand and over-fishing?
– Disruption of the underwater ecosystem. If more fish are caught than the local underwater ecosystem can handle, bacteria, algae and the like will start to accumulate in it. The imbalance affects not only local but also global waters.
– Marine species imbalance. If one species is caught, another will multiply. This in turn leads to a serious disruption of the food chain in the seas and oceans.
– Energy consumption for increased fishing. Do you know how much energy is needed to catch a kilogram of fish? Gasoline, electricity, and fish cleaning also consume a lot of water. So, in the end, fishing also pollutes the environment.
– Transporting fish to distant places is the last point behind this unhealthy cycle. Because people do not want to eat locally caught fish, various seafood specialties, therefore, travel frozen and thousands across different countries. Such fish and its nutritional value can be debated, but what is even worse? Nevertheless, emissions and fuels are needed for transport, which only contributes to global pollution and climate change.
The solution is simple. If you do not want to give up fish meat, choose at least local fish species, ideally caught in controlled fishing.