Like most farming, fishing is no longer a family business, passed down father to sons and daughters, with boats owned by the same families generation after generation.
Most fishing is done on a big scale. Big ships troll the oceans and collect thousands and thousands of seafood, sort it, ice it and store it until the cargo is filled to the brim and the ships can return to canneries and sorting pavilions.
The salmon in your supermarket may have come from Alaska, and its color may not be anything more than the color of pellets fed the young in a hatchery before the salmon was released for its trip to the ocean to fatten up.
A great many species are becoming exstinct, and their fishing is prohibited in most countries.
Next time you're in the supermarket, check the labels carefully, train yourself to look for sustainable seafood. The Monterrey Aquarium Seafood Watch lists fish that are sustainable.
here in this little town we are lucky enough to have a little seafood shop where the guy has his own boat.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to the fisherman's dream?
ReplyDeleteIs the fisherman dreaming still?
I learned a new word the other day. Pescatarian. Someone who abstains from eating all animal flesh, except for fish.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope there are just enuf. out there to keep the fisherpeople busy, but not so many that they eat up all the fish!
Seems like all kinds of commercial farming/harvesting are going the Walmart mode of bigness. Maybe like the backyard gardens, we ought to do more fly fishing (if we can find a clean stream). Sad state of affairs, for sure.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, just to be mildly annoying, I have to mention that your picture certainly wasn't of any fishing boats - they looked like pleasure craft to me.
Will check Rosaria...because I love fish!
ReplyDeleteThere are still some small fishermen here on the Maine coast, but not nearly as many as in the past.
ReplyDeletei still catch and eat my own...trout and bass...good hit on the sustainable species....
ReplyDeleteComing from a farming community...I see this happen a lot. Corporations are taking over the family businesses and it makes me sad. And also wonder of what the future holds.
ReplyDeleteBoats are typically left at the marinas for decor;)
ReplyDeleteI have been getting my fish from Wholefoods lately as it is labeled so I know if it is wild or not. Costly, but tasty. Next set. Local fish markets down by the docks. Hard though sans car.
ReplyDeleteOOps. Last comment was from me. Hubs never signed out of his email, unknown to me while I commented.
ReplyDeleteThe fish go, then do the fishers. Sadly.
ReplyDeleteThank U for the info on the fish. I have never been much of a fish eater and find that it tends to cause heartburn....maybe because it is not sustainable. Have a great day.
ReplyDeleteOh don't tell me that. I've been eating a lot of salmon lately and although it says "wild" you mean they may have started out as farmed? Dang !!!!
ReplyDeleteManzanita
Wanna buy a duck
For every tractor working the land 25 men were put out of work I assume it is the same for fishing. But don't worry about it because McDonald's is looking for 55,000 new employees nationwide.
ReplyDeleteI love that ellen has access to really fresh seafood! Fish is something I need to add more of to our diet.
ReplyDeleteAs always, your posts are more than just informational Rosaria. We take forever buying groceries because it takes so long to read all the labels; but it's become absolutely necessary to do so.
ReplyDeleteWonder what the Japanese people will do about fishing now that the ocean is becoming a dumping spot for radiation? Lets hope those waters don't effect our fish.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the Monterey Aquarium tip. I wish they had a list of specifc brands/fisheries too.
ReplyDeleteour poor oceans.....poor us!
ReplyDeleteThis is very important and something that I am just learning about.
ReplyDeleteI don't eat seafood very often, but when I do I want to make sure it is sustainable.
Summer is coming and I hope to be fishing for walleye soon.. ish. Yum!
ReplyDeletesometimes fishing is still those families and those boats and that history here in Canada. Robert had the good fortune to fish off Cape Breton on some of those boats with some of those families. when i visited with him out east he walked into a building on the wharf and had fish sloppily thrown at his chest as an offering. and then a beer, of course. his life is richer for his experience. he laments being so far from sea but here we are in Ontario and my father drowned. i'm not the trusting fan that he is. i'll not want him to go.
ReplyDeleteno matter what though we are too far away from our source of food. it's disgusting, really. this year we had the additional good fortune to have a freezer of beef from a farmer on the coast who farmed without steroids et all. the beef tastes different! and i feel better for the eating of it. i'm determined that we should find some next fall locally. however, our local bylaws and ordinances chase the local farmers to the ground, pummeling them with restrictions. i'm not sure what we're trying to do, destroy our food system? make us dependant on big industry? don't we remember the tainted meat scandal a few years ago at Maple Leaf? and there have been others, albeit smaller scandals. we are going to pigeon hole ourselves to death!
xo
erin
We visit a restaurant called The Fish House where we can view the fishing boat that brings in the fresh catches...once we watched while they unloaded the coolers, hooked the big fish on a row of nails for a photograph, and then went to work cleaning them right there on the dock.
ReplyDeleteBut I'm sure that's an exception!!
With Japan dumping radiated water into the sea, mankind proves how shortsighted they are where marine life and the fact that water sustains us is concerned.
ReplyDeleteI need to read the labels...I'm not a big fish eater, but I do like it once in awhile and I'm wishing we were near some fishing areas.
ReplyDeleteIt is almost too easy to just grab food off the counters without looking carefully at labels and such. I know I definitely need to be more careful about this!
ReplyDelete~TRA
http://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com
My wife and I passed on some "artificially colored" fish just this past week.
ReplyDeleteWe use that app on our phones - it's great - you can get a color code for whatever fish you want to order at a restaurant or at the supermarket.
ReplyDeleteI am grateful that the fishing community on Lago di Bolsena is still active. Thankyou for your lovely comment on my most recent post.
ReplyDelete