It’s not just cod. Tuna and salmon are in similar dire straits along with many others on their road to seeming extinction. Recently there have been dramatic stories that seem right out of the movies as poachers with a “mere” 85 tons of endangered fish are pursued for weeks through rough seas by heroic officials. But with world demand soaring and world production flat at a (probably unsustainable) 100 million tons per year (for now), the pressure on the fish and the fishermen will only get worse. “If we continue the way we are, in a few decades our definition of fish will have to change; people will not know real fish, they will only know processed stuff that is shaped like fish,” expert Dr. Daniel Pauly says.
Considering what’s going to be the main ingredient in tomorrow’s “processed stuff,” I’m out to lunch across the street – while there’s still time.
I grew up around Key West (Florida). In many areas in the late 70s and 80s where there simply were no fish to catch (and where the water was dirty and polluted) I saw on my last trip clean, clear water, and decent fishing. Nothing like what my father remembers it to be as a child, but definately improving from my childhood.