consciouseating
Choosing
invisible netting that trap fish head-
long; when they try to escape, they
are caught by their gills
• Trawling – cone-shaped nets
Sustainable Seafood
pulled behind a boat
• Purse seining – netting walls that
encircle schools of fish; innovations
to this method, which formerly killed
hundreds of thousands of dolphins,
now allow the mammals to escape
• Longlining – one- to 50-mile-long
fishing lines strung with smaller lines
of baited hooks, hung at different
depths; hooks hung near the surface
ensnare seabirds and can catch sea
turtles and sharks – deeper longlines
and those using circle hooks are
recent improvements.
Better methods are harpooning
and trolling (a hook-and-line method
that allows fishermen to quickly release
A Sea-to-Table Primer
unwanted catch). Traps and pots, often
used to catch lobsters, crabs, shrimp
by Barb Amrhein and bottom-dwelling fish, are usually
environmentally responsible, but can oc-
casionally trap marine mammals or rake
“Eat fish!” trumpet articles and ads that assure us this
the seafloor.
bounty from the sea is a boon to our bodies. if only it were that
Aquaculture (fish farming)
simple. According to the Seafood Choices Alliance, an inter-
methods.
According to Seafood Watch, a sus-
national program linking the seafood industry and ocean con-
tainability program initiated by the
servation community, more than 75 percent of the world’s fish
Monterey Bay Aquarium in California,
nearly half of the seafood we eat comes
stocks are overexploited: We are consuming fish and other ma-
from farms where fish, shrimp and oys-
rine life faster than their populations can replenish themselves.
ters are raised. In theory, fish farming
is the ideal answer to protecting wild
species from depletion and avoiding
F
ortunately, proactive environmen- grow quickly and breed young, such as
environmental degradation. The reality
tal organizations are working to sardines and anchovies.
is more complex.
provide ongoing solutions—but
Large numbers of fish corralled in
our informed participation is vital. The
Fishing methods.
net pens along coastal waters produce
choices we make at restaurants and
Some commercial fishing methods
tons of feces that pollute the water, and
markets can help save our seas while
damage the seafloor and/or result in
diseases can spread to nearby wild fish.
benefiting our health.
excess bycatch—unwanted fish or
Antibiotics used to treat the penned
The criteria used to determine
animals caught accidentally in fishing
fish can also leak into the surrounding
sustainability include:
gear and then discarded, dead or dying.
waters, creating drug-resistant disease
Most operations suffer from one or both
organisms. Occasionally, farm fish es-
Status of wild populations. of these drawbacks, including:
cape and usurp habitat from area wild
Native stocks must be sufficient to
fish. Inland farms, away from the habi-
sustain fisheries. Slow-growing fish that • Dredging – metal frames with
tats and nurseries of wild fish, may be
reproduce later in life, such as orange attached mesh bags, dragged along
the better way to raise fish, and many
roughy, are particularly vulnerable to the seafloor.
commercial fisheries are exploring and
overfishing. At less risk are species that • Gillnetting – curtains of nearly
refining this option.
 Southwestern Virginia
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