By John Pappalardo
If you haven’t yet seen some of the most important, disturbing reporting ever done about fisheries around the globe, how fish “farming” really works and the devastating damage it does to our oceans, fish stocks, and communities, take a look at recent work published by The New York Times. It’ll blow you away.
For years, fishermen and shellfishermen around here, catching wild fish, growing oysters and clams as natural tides allow, have been saying that something is very wrong with this idea of “farming” fish in pent-up, controlled locations, force-feeding them manufactured food and antibiotics.
Now we know just how bad it is:
Millions and millions of pounds of small fish are being caught and ground up into fishmeal and fish oil, used to feed farmed seafood.
More than 1400 fishmeal factories around the world have been identified, many documented for illegal fishing, pollution, labor abuses, and damage to coastal communities.
A fifth of wild-caught fish globally is used for feed. Roughly 90 percent of fish used to produce fishmeal are edible by people. Removing that life is destroying the natural food web.
So under the guise of “sustainability,” fish are taken out of the ocean, including waters where people depend on those fish for food, ground up and shipped around the world to feed select animals sold to consumers in wealthier countries. And hardworking people around the world, on boats and in factories, are exploited and abused.
Here on Cape Cod we understand the importance of small fish. Herring feed cod, striped bass, tuna, seabirds, and whales. They move energy through the marine ecosystem. We have spent decades arguing over how many fish can be caught and how many must remain in the water to support everything else.
Some of those decisions were necessary, some were mistakes. But the expectation always was that fishermen had to account for what they took from the ocean, their effect on the future.
Now we learn about the enormous amount of wild fish removed to support industrial finfish aquaculture. Where is the accountability?
I have a hard time accepting that we can demand so much from our own fishermen while importing seafood produced with practices that would cause outrage and arrest around here.
When we buy farmed seafood, what do we really know about how it was produced? What went into the feed? Where did those fish come from? What happened to the people who depended on them, or the marine life that would have eaten them?
We’re told we’re making an environmentally responsible choice buying farmed finfish (and paying less per pound). But we now see proof of the opposite.
There is another very important distinction to be made: Not all aquaculture is the same.
Our local shellfish growers have nothing to do with this exploitation. Cape Cod growers of oysters and clams use no manufactured fish feed. Our shellfish feed on what the tides bring, filter particles and improve water quality, provide nutritious food, employ thousands of people, and support the local economy.
We have every reason to support our aquaculture industry and help it grow. They are part of the solution, not part of the problem.
Can the same be said of consumers?
If Americans, including Cape Codders, continue buying huge amounts of farm-raised salmon, farm-raised shrimp, and farm-raised tilapia, the answer is no.
The clearest, most direct way to stop this horrible exploitation of the oceans, fish stocks, and working people is to end the profit in doing so.
For years we have called on our community to buy wild-caught, local fish, even if it might be more expensive per pound than industrial salmon and shrimp. Because what is the real expense? How do we account for the whole production system? The massive carbon footprint? The destruction of fishing communities, environmental impact, and the suffering of those who work the industry?
As consumers, we can take one small, immediate step: Stop buying farm-raised salmon and shrimp.
Let our retailers and wholesalers know why. Urge them to buy and sell only wild-caught and harvested food, preferably landed at our home ports. That in turn means we need to be willing to try new kinds of local seafood.
Here at the Fishermen’s Alliance we are committed to fighting this international scourge brought here under the Orwellian disguise of “sustainability.” I want us to look closely at what this investigation means for our work and where we can help press for change. We will be talking with fishermen, growers, buyers and our members about what kind of effort would make a difference.
Our fishermen have been raising these concerns for a long time. They deserved to be heard before now. They deserve to be heard now.
John Pappalardo is CEO of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.