Four Fish

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Four Fish

• Paul Greenberg

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Four Fish

• Wild Harvest of the Ocean is now 90 million
  tons/yr. (catch 170 billion lbs.) thus we are
  REMOVING more fish (per year!) than can
  naturally restock themselvesthis leads to
  exploitationillegal
• Amt. 6X greater than in 1950!
  fishingdomesticationaquaculturegames in
  science with farmingignorance (on purpose?) of
  ocean policy andextinction? Or (at least) a
  1,000 sushi dinner
• We need 4 or 5 oceans to support our demand!

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Four Fish

• The King of Fish (Salmon)
• The (used to be) Commoner (Cod)
• Holiday Fish (Bass)
• One Last Bite(Tuna)

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Four Fish

• MAJOR ISSUES
• - Trophic Structure (need more feed than fish
  produced/caught and thus ruining ALL marine food
  webs)
• - This can lead to pollution/bad
  conditions/biomagnification of contaminants
• - Habitat Destruction (fishing methods hurt a
  lot more than target)
• - Livelihoods of fishermen?
• - Price of demand (to expensive to eat
  healthy?)

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Four Fish

• MAJOR ISSUES (cont.)
• - Farming uses open ocean areas as pens,
  best use of ocean?
• - Are these animals really wild?
• -Maritime history lost?
• - Laws/Enforcement issues?

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Four Fisha travellers story

• Salmon lead cavemen to mouths of rivers (they
  came to us!)
• (Sea) Bass lead us to nearshore/coastal rocks and
  reefs (but in the ocean!)
• Cod lead us (so brave!) offshore to continental
  shelves (and long fishing trips)
• Tunathe final frontierleads only a true
  fisherman for the hunt to the open sea

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Salmon
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Salmon
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Salmon

• 1st wave representative of human exploitation
• Domestication was launched ON PURPOSE to head of
  extinction

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Salmon

• Wild Alaskan
• Nova Scotian (lox in NY!)
• Atlantic (all farmed)
• Pacific (king/sockeye/pink/chum)these are the
  great migrators and best sustained (most
  common/cheapest in markets today) but are 40
  extinct (you eat farmed)

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Salmon

• THE KING OF FISH
• Needs clean, free-flowing, freshwater (to spawn)
• Swim (upstream) against the current
• Do not eat after they spawn so must reserve a lot
  of fat to make trip back (the good for us fat
  we eat it for) thus very strong (hence name
  king)
• (Wild) Filter Feeders (zooplankton)

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Salmon

• Problem?
• They typically need clean, free-flowing,
  freshwater (to spawn) and are strong enough to
  swim (upstream) against the current
• However, we have found that only WILD species can
  actually do this (what few we have left) and
  farmed (that are released) genomes have lost
  that instinct
• Long Term implication???

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Salmon

• Problem?
• But still we farm (pg. 49 book)
• PCBs
• Wild salmon eat differently (zooplankton) than
  farmed (fish pellets) too
• So? less value to us?? more fish out to
  produce them? (trophic structure NIGHTMARE)

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Salmon

• Future?
• Eat Wild Salmon RARELY as the delicacy of all
  delicacies! ( prices reflects)
• Or eat a(n) AqaAdvantage (genetically modified)
  version - eats less and is always female/sterile
  so doesnt impact wild stock (cant mate)
• Closed System Aquaculture (separate stocks)
• Science get them to eat something else (algae)
  impact trophic structure(s) less?
• Pg. 74 book

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Cod (USA)
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(No Transcript)
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Cod

• (Now) Lives further offshore where continental
  shelf slopes off (but can live/feed a lot closer)
• Gather, closer to bottom, in these areas annually
  to mate a congregation
• But fishermen knew of this event and created
  large scale trawlers to catch them (in mass s)
• Large-scale trawling habitat destruction too
• Their prey collapsed as well (eat
  alewives/herring need rivers!) from
  mills/industrialization

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Cod

• Gadiform (also haddock/hake/pollack) make up 1/3
  of all britians (sea)food diet because its
  cheap (think fish-n-chips) and flaky/white
  (tasty!)
• Gadiforms are lazy (move slowlybecause they
  live in colder waters) thus not a lot of red
  meat (muscle) and not a lot of blood through
  bloodline (doesnt taste fishy)
• (Lazy) dont travel to far/fast (easy to catch)
  easy to contain (eat directly from
  surrounding environs as filter feederswill eat
  almost anything but prefer small fish)
• Store oil in liver (not flesh) thus can be
  stored longer (great industrial fish)

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Cod

• Used to have so many you could walk across the
  water on their backs (the commoner)
• Most common characteristic was its very high
  abundance
• Cape Cod (New England most common fishing
  areas) closed 1994 (Fed. Govt)
• Now we have industrial fishing (factories) to
  turn it in to a commoners staple (canned)

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Cod

• McDonalds Filet-o-Fish was Cod only .25
  (1962)
• But we selected for larger fish (removed from
  stock) when smaller ones reproduced the genome
  was changed (not as viable/large)
• First fish to introduce OVERFISHING concept ? and
  cod crisis (1994) lead to the Sustainable
  Fisheries Act
• (note) Filet-o-Fish now pollack (same thing is
  crab in California Roll)

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Cod

• What will replace it?
• Alaskan Pollack (now) but issues w/ fishing
  methods (mid-water trawl only?) and amts
  decreasing (increased pressure) so - what later?
• Hoki (gadiform/lives in same area), Basa, Tra and
  Tilapia (these are FRESHWATER FISH!) all breed
  easy and dont disrupt oceanic food chains
• Note All have MSC (Marine Stewardship Council)
  certification of Sustainability but isnt it
  odd (sad!) that were replacing a saltwater fish
  w/ a freshwater species???

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(Striped) Bass (local)
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Chilean Sea Bass (Patagonian Toothfish)
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Bass

• Means any white, meaty fish in that family but
  typically refers to European Sea Bass
• Bass means bristle (germanic) 5 (odd)
  spines (rays) on dorsal side
• Others are Branzino, Chilean Sea Bass
  (Patagonian Toothfish), Striped Bass (here!)
  (the future?!) Asian Sea Bass (barramundi)
• A Perciforme (order of fish that are perch
  shaped) that can dive deep w/ a developed swim
  bladder thus more white meat w/ less bones in
  the way (good/easy to eat) but not too deep (easy
  to catch)

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Bass

• Holiday Fish because now (pretty) expensive
• Lives in shallow, coastal, waters so 1st fish we
  easy reached (so easily outstripped by early
  settlers)
• Swim bladder prevents extreme depths
• Anadromous Many spawn in freshwater live in
  seawater (need both conditions)

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Bass

• Humans select to domesticate animals that are
• Hardy
• Endowed w/ an inborn liking to man
• Comfort-loving
• Able to breed freely
• Needful of only a min. amt. of tending
• see pg. 90text

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Are Bass good for this?nope

• Humans selected to domesticate bass but
• Do not easily breed in captivity (they actually
  change their hormones when stressed)
• Even when they figured out how to inject
  artificial hormones the fish actually cleaved
  them (again no go)
• Eat fish in wild (need to many) or rotifers
  (freshwater zooplankton) in captivity but these
  (in high s) lead to bacteria and you need
  phytoplankton to control them (i.e. hard to
  feed). Tried sea monkey too (same issue)
• But something good did come of it

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Bassthe ROSETTA STONE?

• This was the fish (when studied) that unlocked
  the secrets of development for every major
  commercial ocean fish species.
• Hormones for breeding, dietary changes, juvenile
  development/needs, environmental factors and
  implications (light cycles needed in captivity
  etc.)
• Template now used for almost ALL fish we eat!

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(Atlantic) Bluefin Tuna
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Bluefin Tuna
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Tuna

• Pgs. 206 215
• Deepwater zones past the continental shelf so
  harder to get tobut a true fishermans dream
  to catch
• STATELESS FISH - Deepwater zones mean they are
  PAST the EEZ and regulations are very hard to
  enforce
• Gold Rush of wild food (sushi)

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Tuna

• 48 species fastest, most powerful fish in the
  world (tuna, in greek, means to dart)
• Lightening fast ( 40 mph)
• (Largest Atlantic Bluefin) has a range that
  encompasses entire ocean and can easily be 14
  and 1000-1500 lbs.
• WARM-BLOODED (tail development for vibrationnot
  effort!)
• Others include longfin albacore (canned)
  yellowfin/bigeye (ahi) but not in as much
  dangereventually (replace all) w/ Jack?

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Tuna

• Of 48 species (largest) Atlantic Bluefin most
  prized
• Single fish price (at market) in excess of
  150,000 (hence s have crashed)
• Over 90 of (ABT) species extinct/overfished
  why?
• Pressure and very slow growing (7 years to sexual
  maturity and longer for giants) so cant
  restock popultion

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Four Fish

• Now lets return to 2 slides from the
  beginningwhat do you think?????

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Four Fish

• MAJOR ISSUES
• - Trophic Structure (need more feed than fish
  produced/caught and thus ruining ALL marine food
  webs)
• - This can lead to pollution/bad
  conditions/biomagnification of contaminants
• - Habitat Destruction (fishing methods hurt a
  lot more than target)
• - Livelihoods of fishermen?
• - Price of demand (to expensive to eat
  healthy?)

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Four Fish

• MAJOR ISSUES (cont.)
• - Farming uses open ocean areas as pens,
  best use of ocean?
• - Are these animals really wild?
• -Maritime history lost?
• - Laws/Enforcement issues?

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What should you eat?

• Hook and line fisheries (pay attention to
  methods) for habitat destruction minimalization
• Vegetarian fish (watch what you eat eats) for
  lower trophic structure impact
• Aquaculture species with sound husbandry
• Dining on a 500 lb. fish is the equivalent of
  driving a Hummer (dont eat the big fish or
  support industries that do!)
• What else? (MSC, BOI seafood watch etc.)
• ?? Eat Whale?? (whats the difference!?)

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(LT) How to Make it Better?

• Pg. 246 252 book
• Reduce global fishing pressure
• Create significant no-catch areas
• Global protection of species that migrate (watch
  markets)
• Protection of lowest trophic structure species
  too!
• Aquaculture species that are efficient,
  nondestructive to wild systems, limited in ,
  adaptable, function in a polyculture
• KEEP THE LAST WILD FOOD WILD!

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(LT) How to Make it Better?

• Educate yourself ( others)
• - Know what you order/buy (see next 2 slides)
• - know COOL (Country of Origin Labeling)
• - Know how caught
• - Know how preserved shipped (i.e. Frozen at
  Sea may decrease carbon footprint)
• - Is wild really WILD? (or farmed?)
• - No such thing as organic fish

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Albacore (tuna)
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Bluefin (Tuna)Note Yellowfin looks similar