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A Plague of Lionfish

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

This was unexpected and it is catastrophic, a true ‘Black Swan’ event.

Pacific Red Lionfish invaded the US southeast coast and the Caribbean about a decade ago, and they have now successfully invaded the rest of the Gulf of Mexico, including the coasts of Belize and Texas. They are most common on coral reefs, but they are generalists, and turn up in grass beds, mangroves and rocky caves as well, down to depths of 200 meters.

The Pacific Red Lionfish perhaps looks like seaweed, but in any case it is unfamiliar to small Atlantic fish who are easy prey (ucgs.org).

The Pacific Red Lionfish perhaps looks like seaweed, but in any case it is unfamiliar to small Atlantic fish who are easy prey (ucgs.org).

The invasion probably started from a dumped aquarium on the US south east coast sometime in the 1980s. Now it is the single best example of a successful invasion of a marine fish species. We’re accustomed to invasive marine plants and invertebrates, but fish species are rarely successful. This one is.

Lionfish still had a limited distribution in 2001 (insights.wri.org)

Lionfish still had a limited distribution in 2001 (insights.wri.org)

By 2007 they were common in the Bahamas and parts of the northern Caribbean (insights.wri.org)

By 2007 they were common in the Bahamas and parts of the northern Caribbean (insights.wri.org)

By 2011, lionfish had spread throughout the Caribbean.

By 2011, lionfish had spread throughout the Caribbean.

For a continually updated map of the invasion, check the US Geological Survey website.

With its elaborate fins, stripes and spines, this is one very beautiful fish. The tips of its spines concentrate a powerful neurotoxic venom that protects it from most predators – including any human who handles it too casually. By the time it is an adult it about 45cm (20 inches) long, able to reproduce a few times each month all year long.

The beautiful predator (luis rocha nytimes.org)

The beautiful predator (luis rocha nytimes.org)

It is a slow-swimming predator, eating fish up to about half its size. At the high densities it is now reaching in many communities on many reefs, prey species are declining by 90% or more. The degraded reefs of the Caribbean need an abundance of herbivores if they are ever to recover. so the invasion of lionfish is a further catastrophe in the sad litany of catastrophes that have converted so many of the reefs to algal rubble.

In the Indo-Pacific, large predatory fish like eels, sharks and groupers somehow manage to eat lionfish and help to keep their numbers under control. In the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico we’ve fished out most large fish already, and those that remain are learning to avoid them, not how to eat them without being stunned.

No wonder it is such a successful invader – an efficient and cryptic, with a rapid growth rate and huge reproductive potential, and pretty well free of predators.

So what’s ahead? Either lionfish will become so abundant that they will eat up all the available prey, wreck the available ecosystems, and then starve – a miserable outcome to say the least.

Or we can eat them.

This is an astonishing development. Everywhere in the Caribbean, in the Gulf of Mexico and around Florida we are now encouraged to hunt them down by spear, line or trap. Fishing derbies have emerged in many places. There are no restrictions – just catch and kill as many as you can.

What about those spines and their neurotoxins? Internet videos show you how to handle the fish and clip off the spines. What’s left is free of the toxins.

How to spear a lionfish: Easily done since it swims slowly, but still be very careful. (seabelize.org)

How to spear a Lionfish: Easily done since it swims slowly, but still be very careful. (seabelize.org)

And lionfish are not just safe to eat, but they are tasty. Again, the internet offers lots of advice on pan frying, stewing, grilling and filleting the fish.

So go forth and kill. As many as you can. We may never have an opportunity like this again – a chance to exploit a new fishery, free of any regulations, a last echo of the old days when all fish were superabundant and we were not.

And if you can’t go killing lionfish, ask your restaurant to include them. This is not a trivial matter – if we don’t stop them, lionfish will wreck whatever is left of the precarious reefs in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico.

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Posted in Eat it or not, Marine Conservation | Comments Off

Fishing for the Halibut

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

The Atlantic Halibut is an extraordinary fish, once one of the world’s largest. Old reports suggest males could have grown to 700 pounds and 15 feet (320 kg and 4.7 m). Long lived, slow growing, late maturing, and easily caught by bottom trawls and long lines, they were quickly overfished once people acquired a taste for them. Now not many are left, and the species is labelled Vulnerable or Endangered, depending on the agency assessing them.

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Halibut are bottom dwelling flatfish that prey on other fish as well as crustaceans. This is the Pacific halibut, which has been fished sustainably. Atlantic halibut are too rare to be able to photograph in the wild like this (marinesciencetoday.com)

Fishing along the New England coast and on the offshore fishing banks remains a disaster. Collapsed stocks like halibut recover very slowly, if at all, and even cod, which ought to be more resilient, have failed to show signs of recovery. Quotas are small and getting smaller, and so are fishing fleets.

An 8 foot, 444 pound Atlantic halibut caught off Norway in 2008, no doubt one of the last of this size (tiptheplanet.com)

Whole Foods Market is going to sell only the fish species considered sustainable by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium and the Blue Ocean Institute, and that eliminates the Atlantic halibut – as it should. Plenty of other markets exist, but it sets a good example. We simply should not be eating any wild caught Atlantic halibut.

A very new method of aquaculture involves submerged, ‘deepwater’ AquaPod Net Pens – geodesic spherical enclosures that have been used for cod, salmon, and other species, but not yet for halibut.

Now there is a proposal to farm Atlantic halibut in a bay on the central coast of Maine, starting with one Aquapod about 30 ft in diameter, tethered to the bottom by an 18,000 pound anchor, able to spin out with tide in a 150 ft radius.

An AquaPod Net Pen is lifted by crane onto a barge and then later into deeper water offshore (oceanfarmtech.net)

The halibut would be raised in a hatchery from egg to settled stage, and then moved to the AquaPod, fed fish pellets designed for halibut, monitored to prevent over-feeding, and grown rapidly to marketable size.

An AquaPod is neutrally buoyant, can be rotated to clean, and can be partly emerged or totally submerged depending on ocean conditions (ecofriend.com)

But will it work? There are legitimate environmental concerns about the impact of uneaten food and feces on the existing bottom community, and very careful monitoring is essential. Though the Aquapod would be set in the deeper water where the dozen or more lobstermen who work the bay don’t set many of their thousands of lobster pots, other commercial fishing would be blocked.

Each year farmed fish make up more of the total fish production

Some halibut farming will be helpful. Done right, done carefully, it should work. But AquaPod culture of halibut is very much an experiment, and it needs to occur where other fishermen are not affected, and where coastal communities are sparse. A bay that is saturated with lobsterpots, cottages, summer residents and their boats is not the place for this experiment.

Soon more half of the world’s marketed fish will be farmed – a reflection not just of the collapse of wild caught fisheries but also of the growth of farming.

So let’s farm halibut. Let’s try to farm them in AquaPods. But let’s do it carefully, in places where other users are least affected, and where experimental failure has the least impact.

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Posted in Eat it or not, Marine Conservation, Sustainable fisheries | Comments Off

Still Eating Jellyfish

Tuesday, February 28th, 2012

I reserved Eating Jellyfish as a domain name about 6 years ago, when the prospect of eating jellyfish seemed an absurd outcome of overfishing, coastal development and pollution now clearly associated with the occurrence of schools or blooms of jellyfish. Jellyfish as the top predators in coastal ecosystems are now even more common. As we are forced to adapt, the idea of eating jellyfish is no longer as absurd as it was. And yes, of course, some cultures have a long history of eating certain species of jellyfish: it is just a very alien idea to the rest of us.

Nomura's jellyfish, Nemopilema nomurai, in the Sea of Japan. Like all jellyfish, it grows to full size in a single season. (natruresmightypics)

Recent reports of unexpected and large jellyfish blooms have come from most parts of the world – from the seas of Japan, China and Europe especially, but also from West Florida and the Gulf of Maine. What actually causes the blooms is not certain, for until recently nobody was really interested enough to try to find out.

But what we know is this: jellyfish blooms are associated with coasts of dense human populations where overfishing, eutrophication, habitat modification, invasive species, and a warming climate may all be involved. One of the most famous and clearest cases occurred in the Black Sea, where overfishing, warmer water, and nutrient enrichment from the Danube made for perfect conditions for a succession of jellyfish to explode in number.

Probably the other most famous blooms involve the giant Nomura’s Jellyfish in the Sea of Japan, each a monster, hard to harvest even if you wanted to, and immensely damaging to fisheries and fishing nets.

Nomura's Jellyfish in the Sea of Japan, is a huge challenge to harvest without sinking the boat.(naturesmightypics)

The most prolific and widespread is Aurelia aurita, the moon jellyfish, for it is globally distributed, and capable of explosive growth into very large populations. I have fond memories from when I was kid on the coast of Maine heaving dead washed up moon jellyfish at my sisters.

The moon jelly, Aurelia aurita, beautiful, graceful, and in every ocean (fins.activin.com)

Why are jellyfish so successful in degraded conditions? In a health ecosystem they compete with fish for access to food – mainly zooplankton. Where overfishing has removed the competing fish, they have few limits to growth. In eutrophic conditions, for instance around the mouths of major rivers carrying high loads of P and N, they also tolerating the lower levels of dissolved oxygen that fish avoid: where coastal nutrients increase, so to do jellyfish. The result is a trophic cascade, a regime change, an ecosystem that is free of fish predators, dominated by jellyfish, and of very little value or interest to humans.

Dan Pauly's famous illustration of the impact of fishing down the food chain, a trophic cascade that ends up with jellyfish as the top predator (ecomarres.com)

What’s ahead, then? All of the stresses – overfishing, eutrophication, warming waters, habitat modification, human population densities are all likely to keep increasing along our coastlines.

We can do a couple of things about this. Of course trying to recover such stressed ecosystems, restoring fish as top predators, is the best, but not most likely outcome. Instead, we can also learn which species of jellyfish are actually possible to harvest and eat (some taste horrible). There are also likely to be some yet-to-be discovered medical uses of some species. And perhaps jellyfish have some potential as supplements to animal feeds.

We also need biologists who can help integrate knowledge of jellyfish ecology with that of the whole ecosystem, making jellyfish part of what fisheries scientists must consider in their attempts to manage both fisheries and ecosystems.

Jellyfish as components of fisheries, and jellyfish as components of our own diets, are facts of life in this critical century.

We just have to suck it up. They’re mostly water anyway.

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Posted in Eat it or not, Global warming, Marine Conservation, Pollution, Sustainable fisheries | Comments Off

The End of Shark Finning?

Friday, April 1st, 2011

We have done a lot of horrible and embarrassing things to other species on this planet, but I am not sure if any example is worse than driving sharks toward extinction in large part because of the popularity of shark fin soup.

The story is well known. Sharks – somewhat maligned as vicious predators – are caught by the millions, their dorsal fins and tails are cut off for future soups, and they are then thrown back into the sea to die slow deaths.

Shark fins harvested by one boat, on one trip.

Overall numbers are discouraging. A ninety percent drop in shark populations has occurred in the past couple of decades and most of the 30 species are endangered, a third of them facing extinction. Attempting to get a reliable number of how many sharks are killed annually for their fins is difficult, for it is not in any way a managed fishery. Estimates are in the order of 70 million or more fish per year. Seventy million.

About 95% of the shark fins head to China (including Taiwan and Hong Kong), and much of the rest goes to cities where there is a large Chinese population, like San Francisco and Vancouver. Shark fin soup has been an important part of celebratory banquets in China for about 2000 years, and it has become a very expensive dish associated with the rich elite.

But things are changing, and if it isn’t too late, sharks may get a reprieve. Last year Hawaii banned the sale and distribution of shark fins. California is now considering the same thing. Currently, as well, US federal law prohibits shark finning by US registered vessels, and shark fins cannot be imported into the US unless the entire shark is used rather than discarded.

The scalloped hammerhead shark was recently listed as 'endangered', at risk of extinction, in part because of the harvest of its fins for shark fin soup (metro.co.uk)

None of this, though, applies to ‘foreign’ registered vessels, and of course has no impact on the Chinese market where almost all the action lies.

Now, in China, Chinese lawmakers, led by Ding Liguo and 12 other deputies to the National People’s Congress, are proposing a ban on the trade of shark fins in China. The potential impact is huge.

Of course there is resistance particularly from parts of the Chinese populations in non-Chinese cities like San Francisco, accusing the legislators and environmentalists of racism and cultural insensitivity. There is a point, however, where environmental concern, in this case the actual survival of sharks, trumps tradition. Traditions can be changed – it happens all the time. Not so for extinction.

On top of this – or perhaps driving part of it – is a growing sense particularly of younger Chinese that shark fin soup isn’t necessary as a component of banquets: other expensive food, such as lobster, can make the same impression. A remarkable website, called Shark Truth, and run by Canadian activists of Chinese descent, is having a significant impact in helping to change the tradition.

Shark Truth is running a contest for those who agree not to include shark fin soup in their wedding banquets

The combination of Internet communication, growing disapproval of serving or eating shark fin soup, and laws that actually ban the sale of shark fins in China should actually work. Sharks get killed in other ways of course – they are abundant victims of long-line by-catch – but there should be celebrations throughout the oceans if finning ceases.

This is more than a small success. It recognizes the wastefulness and unethical practice of finning, and it recognizes the importance of sharks as top predators in sustaining the critical trophic structure of marine communities.

Shark fin soup today. Tunafish sushi tomorrow?

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Eating Fish Raw

Thursday, August 5th, 2010

Do you eat fish raw?

If you do, there is probably no harm, and probably more nutrition in it – provided that you are careful.

There isn’t a whole lot of sea food that someone, somewhere doesn’t eat raw. Of course pretty well everyone eats raw fish as sushi, and I don’t think anyone cooks oysters. But we also eat raw scallops, abalone, conch, clams, sea urchins eggs, caviar, and octopus (sometimes with their tentacles still writhing).

Raw oysters, fine sauces. Gulf of Mexico oysters are still not cleared for human consumption, but perhaps they will be soon. (Consumerist.com)

The Inuit have eaten raw seal and whale pretty well forever. In March of 2009, Canada’s Governor General made headlines when she ate some raw seal heart at an Inuit community festival.

Perhaps most spectacular is the Dutch love of young herring that arrive fresh and fat each year around the beginning of June. The first day of the catch is called Vlaggetjesdag, which means ‘flag day’ – unlike the flag days of most countries, it celebrates the arrival of the herring, and Dutch around the world do what they can to join in on their feast.

The herring are about 6 inches or 15 cm long. They are very rich in Omega-3 fat. They are gutted, their heads are cut off, and they may be lightly salted. Then it’s your head up, holding the fish by its tail, sliding the fish gradually into your mouth, and biting off whatever you think you chew or swallow. Hmmm. Very nutritious and beloved by all, but I suspect it helps to grow up with the practice.

Dutch treat - eating fresh, fat herring (design-your-travel.com)

The real thing (bing.com)

Perhaps we should ask what’s the point of cooking any of it? If the fish, or other sea food, is clean and fresh, there is little danger in eating it. But there may be parasites to deal with, and bacteria grow quickly on anything dead and aging.

Parasites are usually fairly obvious – just pick them out if you see any. Usually they are not harmful anyway, for they usually just pass on through you. Cooking kills parasites, though, and is a reason for cooking. Freezing also kills them, and even the best sushi chefs freeze salmon, which is very susceptible to parasite infections, before serving it up. Fresh water fish, like trout and bass, have lots of parasites, and eating them raw is never a good idea. But occasionally someone who eats sushi – eg raw salmon – gets a tapeworm which usually grows to 8 or more feet in length before it the host finally feels lousy enough to get medical help. A rare event, but it happens.

Parasites of marine fish. Photographs of the real thing may wreck your appetite. (fao.org)

The other main problem is the bacteria which accumulate if the fish isn’t fresh or has been handled a lot. Refrigeration is not sufficient, as anyone who has kept fish in a fridge too long knows all too well. Cooking again solves the problem, though the taste of an aging dead fish leaves something to be desired.

Best bet if you are fishing for fish to eat raw? Make sure you are fishing in an ocean, bleed and gut the fish when you catch it, and put it in a bag of ice to take home with you if you don’t want to eat it on the spot.

Best bet if you don’t catch it yourself? Any farmed fish from US, Norway, Britain, Canada, Japan – the standards are high, and there should be no parasites.

For myself, I’ll still cook it.

Seared Pacific halibut, smothered with stuffed olives, red peppers and oregano (foodnetwork.com)

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Certified Fish

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

There’s a little more hope for the world’s declining fish populations.

The Marine Stewardship Council started up about 10 years ago. It has now grown into the single most important global organization responsible for certifying whether the fish you want to buy comes from a sustainable fishery. If it does, then it comes with the MSC certification label, and you can be sure it has met the global standard required for certification.

The MSC logo that you should look for (msc.org).

This is ‘ecolabelling’ at its best. If the label is there, you can feel reasonably sure that you are not doing harm. If the label isn’t there, you probably shouldn’t buy it.

What’s changed recently is that major supermarkets across the US and Canada have declared that within several years, all the fish they sell will be MSC certified. Leading the pack is Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retail company. Wal-Mart is so full of contradictions. By emphasizing that all of its fish products will soon be certified by MSC, they force their many competitors to take similar action. Wal-Mart appears to be taking a leadership role in sustainable fisheries just as it is in some other ‘green’ issues. At the same time, it intends to sell its fish at the lowest price possible, raising all the familiar social justice issues its employees face.

Wal-Mart is everywhere (womensvoicesforchange.org)

Social corporate responsibility clearly has its limits, but it’s good to see that it exists at all.

Any success in improving the sustainabiilty of the world’s fish, shrimp and other marine species deserves our attention. The species and populations that MSC certifies as sustainable are the same ones that the Monterrey Seafood Guide recommends. If you go to the MSC website, you can see the details behind the decisions. How does the process of certification work? What are the criteria for receiving certification? How is the system protected from inclusion of illegal stocks and species? Even information on how you can become a certifier – it’s all there.

Map of some of the MSC certified fisheries. There are a lot of others currently under assessment. (msc.org)

So look for the MSC label on what you buy. Look for it, and ask for it, at the restaurants where you eat your seafood. Congratulate a restaurant owner where you see the MSC ecolabelling in place. Trader Joe’s has recently become enlightened, and is worth a visit if you live near one.

We may have become a consumer society, with all the associated worrisome implications, but it also means that as consumers we have the power to make corporations and businesses more environmentally responsible.

Even Wal-Mart.

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Bluefin Sushi

Sunday, March 21st, 2010

What an extraordinary fish. Bluefin tuna have the potential to grow huge, the largest of all bony fish – the record for one caught is 1496 lbs, and 1000 lbs (450 kg) used to be common. Like all tuna, they thermoregulate, staying relatively warm in cold water, and that lets them chase down colder, slower fish. A magnificent predator.

Their story as human food is well known, for they are by far the most valuable of fish, provided they are frozen quickly and properly as soon as they are caught, decapitated and gutted, and sent to the famous fish markets of Japan. The Japanese pay dearly for their bluefin sashimi (raw slices, dipped in a delicate sauce) and for their bluefin sushi. Communities around the world depend on bluefin fishing, paid for by the Japanese market.

Bluefin sushi, ready to eat (calories-nutrition.buddyslim.com)

As the whole world also knows, stocks of bluefin tuna are in serious decline, and collapse looms ahead. In the Mediterranean, the average size of a captured bluefin in 2001 was 124 kg; now it is close to 60 kg. That’s not just small – that’s too small to have had a chance to reproduce. Reproductive failure is the usual cause of collapse.

The decline of bluefin stocks has been particularly fast during the past decade (wildlifeextra.co.nz)

As a result, bluefin ranching has become widespread, for instance in the Mediterranean, where the small tuna are fed massive amounts of bait fish to grow and fatten them to then harvest, freeze, and send off to Japan. Sounds more sustainable? It isn’t. Each tuna eats many times its own weight in bait fish to grow large enough to become sushi.

Bluefin tuna are grown in 'ranches' along the coast of Spain befroe they are killed, frozen and flown to Japan (photography.nationalgeographic.com)

This past week, bluefin tuna have gathered headlines once again. Despite efforts to ban the global bluefin hunt, the 175 nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (known as CITES) easily voted down the ban. Japan lobbied furiously, and all the countries that need the income provided by their tuna fishing added their support. The hunting and the ranching will continue, at least for another two and a half years when CITES meets next. That is coincidentally about as long the World Wildlife Fund considers it will take for the collapse to occur.

Japan is very defensive. They deny that bluefin collapse is imminent, and accuse the rest of us of attacking their culture. If they had lost the UN vote, they intended to ignore it anyway.

There is, however, a solution. The problem is not eating sushi or sashimi, it is eating endangered species such as bluefin. There are plenty of alternatives. No doubt raw bluefin tastes especially fine to the experienced palate, but surely a secure culture can persist on the backs of sustainable species instead.

And we can help. Though 80% of the bluefin catch goes to Japan, the rest mostly goes to Japanese restaurants elsewhere in the world. Perhaps you also love the taste of sushi and sashimi. If so, the best place to start is to follow the Monterrey Bay Sushi Guide. And where you notice bluefin on the menu, challenge it!

Clearly we can’t wait for the UN to mandate appropriate conservation measures. As always, it is up to us.

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Tilapia

Monday, February 22nd, 2010

(Michael Berrill, oceanactions.com)

Let’s hear it for tilapia.

Tilapia fillets are firm, mild, high in protein, and low in total and saturated fats. Tilapia aquaculture is the world’s third biggest, after carp and salmon. Since you may not be eating carp (it’s mainly a Chinese market), and you may have concerns about eating salmon (mercury contamination, along with the use of fish meal to feed the cultured fish), tilapia may be the way to go when you want to eat fish.

Fresh tilapia fillets (blisstree.com)

There are a bunch of tilapia species, living in fresh, brackish and even salt water, but the most likely farmed species are Nile and Blue. They grow quickly, and to a reasonable size, and they are mainly herbivores, or perhaps opportunistic omnivores. They normally eat algae and detritus, along with the various invertebrates they come across.

They are now raised in fish ponds in many parts of the world, anywhere it’s warm, in what is called ‘extensive’ aquaculture. They are also raised in high density in tanks with recirculating water in ‘intensive’ aquaculture, where they are then fed high-protein pellets that are usually soymeal-based to help them grow more quickly. The tilapia that are produced are heavier than the amount of food pellets they are fed, and the fish are more valuable than the cost of raising them: the culture of the fish is sustainable. You can’t say these things about salmon, cod, tuna or shrimp aquaculture.

Tilapia adults, unfilleted (cichlid.umd.edu)

Is fish meal included in the food pellets? In some commercial products it still is, but it doesn’t need to be, and it shouldn’t be. Even in the remaining cases where it is included, it is a small percentage of the total protein. And new plant protein sources are emerging, for instance peas instead of soybeans.

Tilapia raised in ponds forage mainly on plants like duckweed, which grows unreasonably quickly. In fact, tilapia have been introduced in many places not for food, but to keep duckweed and other aquatic plants under control, and even to keep algae levels low in reservoir water.

Right, I hear you say, but Tilapia doesn’t taste as good a salmon or shrimp. Well, I agree. But these are hard times for our planet, and they are getting harder, and eating tilapia instead of carnivorous fish and shrimp is a positive, helpful act. The fact that you aren’t eating heavy metals such as mercury, along with other contaminants, doesn’t hurt you either. As well, small pelagic herring type fish are not being caught to feed the fish you eat.

Pecan crusted tilapia. Irrestible? (find.myrecipes.com)

For all of these reasons, Seafood Watch, out of Monterrey Bay Aquarium, recommends tilapia farmed in the US as a ‘Best Choice’, and tilapia from Central America as a ‘Good Alternative’. However, it suggests that we still ‘Avoid’ tilapia farmed in China or Taiwan, for the farmers there use a lot of fungicides and bacteriocides to keep their fish healthy, but potentially contaminated, so check out where your tilapia comes from.

Relatively speaking, then, tilapia are a logical food for us to eat instead of farmed salmon or shrimp. And instead of wild caught fish that are endangered or threatened, like many of the tuna species.

Still not convinced? Many chefs say the sauce is all that matters anyway!

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Omega 3 Fatty Acids

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009

Last summer in a cove on the coast of Maine, a fishing boat trapped a school of Menhaden by extending a net across the cove and then encircling the school with a purse seine. The captured school of fish was a very small one, yet it was the only one trapped there in many years. A few decades ago, menhaden schools were sometimes 40 miles long, supporting a large and thriving fishery, and providing food in turn for the mackeral and tuna that followed their migration north along the coast each summer. Now of course these are just memories. The largest remaining schools are still hunted aggressively in Chesapeake Bay.

Part of a small Menhaden school. The fish accumulate Omega-3 fatty acids from the red-brown algae they eat as part of their diet.

Part of a small Menhaden school. The fish accumulate Omega-3 fatty acids from the red-brown algae they eat as part of their diet.

You probably haven’t eaten menhaden knowingly. It’s a very oily fish, of the clupeid or herring family, and its value is in its oils, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids. Wherever it is still hunted, it is hunted for for Omega-3, to feed to humans in capsules of oil, or to feed to farmed salmon. Even to add to lipsticks and paints.

All ‘oily’ fish are rich in Omega-3 fatty acids – for example salmon, tuna, mackeral, and the smaller herring and menhaden. None of them actually make the Omega-3 themselves, but they store it in their tissues. Omega-3 fatty acids are instead produced in red-brown single-celled marine algae, which are browsed by forage fish such as herring and menhaden, which in turn are eaten by the larger predatory fish.

We know now that Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to our own health. We need them as part of our diet to help us avoid atherosclerosis and heart disease. We can get them from eating salmon and tuna, but then they come with contaminants such as mercury. To avoid the contaminants, one company is marketing Omega-3 extracted from Hoki, a member of the hake family caught from deep cold water near new Zealand. This is a slow growing species that currently supports what appears to be a sustainable fishery, but it will not support a fishery that is focussed on harvesting them for fish oil.

If not salmon, mackeral, tuna or hoki, then where do you get your Omega-3? Probably from menhaden. Yet to supply Omega-3 to humans and farmed salmon, schools of menhaden have shrunk to oblivion in many places, and the remaining populations are small remnants of what they were.

This all sounds quite bleak, once again, but there are solutions. The oils can be extracted from fish discards. More promising, red-brown algae can be cultivated directly, and in fact can be cultivated to be particularly rich in fatty acids. The oil is easily removed, and it uncontaminated by heavy metals and pesticides, and millions of fish are not killed. Check out the company Udo for the details.

You don't need to eat a fish to get your Omega-3. (udoerasmus.com)

You don't need to eat a fish to get your Omega-3. (udoerasmus.com)

My own conclusions are that 1) I probably need more Omega-3 in my diet; 2) it should not come from fish, but from cultivated marine algae; 3) all harvesting of menhaden should cease in hopes of letting the species at least partially recover; 4) if we can’t find an acceptable substitute source of fish oils to feed to farmed salmon, we should again consider abandoning the farming of salmon: and 5) at all costs, we should avoid products from Omega Protein of Houston: it still harvests half a billion menhaden each year.

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Actually Eating Jellyfish

Monday, September 28th, 2009

(Michael Berrill, mberrill@trentu.ca)

When I reserved this domain name several years ago, I thought the idea of eating jellyfish was absurd. Jellyfish are about 98% water – if one washes up in the intertidal, it dries in the sun in a few hours to a thin layer of scum. Not a mouth watering image.

It turns out that jellyfish have been eaten for a long time in Asia – and that they can be purchased from Thai and Chinese specialty markets around the world, including the US and Canada. The 2% of a jellyfish that isn’t water is all protein – but that surely is small return.

This has growing importance because of the huge schools of jellyfish that have increasingly accumulated each year around the world’s coastlines over the past few decades. Where overfishing occurs, especially in combination with areas where rivers dump excessive nutrients into coastal waters, ultimately depleting oxygen levels, jellyfish thrive. They don’t need much oxygen, and they can become the top predators in the ecosystem.

Eating them begins to look more and more like an idea whose time has come.

Jellyfish is usually sold already well dehydrated – it then just needs to be soaked overnight, rinsed, dried some more, and then shredded to add to salads or mixed with vegetables. One recipe just calls for lightly grilling the dried pieces – well seasoned of course, for straight jellyfish has little – no? – taste.

Grilled jellyfish (satay_jellyfish.com)

Grilled jellyfish (satay_jellyfish.com)

Not all species have a market, but many of the larger species have potential. The cannonball jellyfish, Stomolophus meleagris, quite common along the Florida and Gulf of Mexico coasts, is a good example – some are now caught, dried and shipped to China and Japan. Who knew?

Cannonball jellyfish (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stomolophus_meleagris)

Cannonball jellyfish (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Stomolophus_meleagris)

For some recipes, check
http://rasamalaysia.com/my-favorite-childhood-junk-food/
http://www.vietnamese-recipes.com/vietnamese-recipes/salad/jellyfish%20chicken%20and%20cucumber%20salad.php
http://universaljellyfish.blogspot.com/2007/07/jellyfish-recipes.html

Jellyfish chips with your beer?

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