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depopulated. Pollution is certainly the main cause
and anyone who knowingly pours toxic substances
into the waters is a criminal who we must nonviolently
put into the condition that he can no longer
do any harm. Therefore we must use only
biodegradable detergents, washing machines and
dishwashers with ozonizers, forbid the use of toxic
paints, prevent the transportation of petrol by sea,
abolish nuclear experiments and so forth. The second
cause is indiscriminate fishing. In order to triple the
catch, you don’t have to triple the number of fishing
boats: you have to triple the fishing stocks! We have
been able to see that near rocks, sunken ships or
coral reefs, sea life flourishes, billions of little fish, if
left to grow undisturbed, become big like their
mothers and fathers, and they move from the fishing
stocks to all the surrounding areas. So, you don’t
have to go out to sea every day to collect semi-empty
nets of tiny fish. There must be vast reserves of fish,
everywhere, where it is banned to put out nets, and
fishermen must go to sea every now and again, when
allowed, so as to get overflowing nets. By extending
fishing stocks on a global scale we can triple the
catch and half the effort.
The multinational fish-farms that produce bass,
salmon, tuna… want to take over the fish
business. In just a few years their aim is to hold
75-80% of the world’s fish market. For now, they
have already reached 50%. In this way it will no
longer be possible to fish your own fish or to live
honestly without your own boat by fishing and
selling a couple of panniers of fish. We will have to
eat only their fish.
A PLATE OF SUSTAINABLE FISH
There are five species on the “black list”: yellow
fin tuna, Mediterranean red tuna, sword fish,
Atlantic cod and tropical prawns. And if, for the
first four, the problem is to be found in reducing the
population or in the fishing methods that fail to
respect the environment, for prawns, the no is due
to the farming methods that often entail the
destruction of mangrove forests and even de-routing
rivers (a practice that deprives the local population
of fundamental water resources). In general, it is
better to go for oily fish like anchovies, sardines,
mackerel and mussels. While, among farmed fish, the
environmentalist organisation recommends choosing
those coming from Italy, or Scottish and Swedish
salmon.
GUIDE TO FISH EATING
Considering the disastrous situation of the fishing
industry and the state of fish stocks, what should
we do to lighten our “imprint” on the oceans
Greenpeace presents the “Guide to fish eating” to tell
people which products “can” be eaten and which
ones should be avoided. The principle at the basis of
the guide is “In order to avoid the worst, sustain the
best and change the rest”. Avoid the worst, means
that there are products that should not be eaten
under any circumstances. Greenpeace has developed
evaluation principles – eight for fishing and eight
for aquaculture – to demonstrate the unsustainable
aspects in the various production activities in the
sector. On the basis of these parameters, Greenpeace
indicates five species in Italy which should not be
bought (except for specific exceptions):
THE FIVE SPECIES WE SHOULD NOT BUY
ACCORDING TO GREENPEACE
YELLOW FIN TUNA
Type: mainly in tins.
Provenance: Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Atlantic.
Line and bait fishing in the Atlantic is more
sustainable.
Notes: this species is in serious decline. Fishing
methods also with high accessory catches. Pirate
fishing possible.
RED TUNA
Type: mainly fresh.
Provenance: The Mediterranean. Traditional fishing
with tuna boats is more sustainable.
Note: species in serious decline. Frequent pirate fishing.
SWORD FISH
Type: mainly fresh.
Provenance: mainly the Mediterranean.
Note: species in decline. Accessory catches. Frequent
pirate fishing.
TROPICAL PRAWNS
Type: from aquaculture, usually frozen or thawed.
Provenance: Indo-China, Latin America.
Notes: serious damages to coastal habitats
(mangroves) and local fishing stocks. Serious
breaches of human rights.
COD (dried salted cod or stockfish)
Type: preserved with or without salt (respectively,
dried salted cod and stockfish)
Provenance: North Atlantic. Icelandic stocks and
stocks from the Barents sea are in the best conditions.
Notes: stocks generally in very poor conditions.
Destructive fishing equipment. Pirate fishing.
The Guide warns that there is a series of products
on the Italian market whose origin (type of fishing,
etc.) is not clear. Some productions exist that are
generally more sustainable than others (such as oily
fish and farmed mussels) but it should be warned
that it is difficult to disregard evaluations case by
case. The basic rule of the Guide is to seek
information: we have the right and the duty to know
what we are buying and the environmental and
social costs of what we buy. There is much to be
changed. Most of national production, and the fish
products on the market, derive from trawling or
aquaculture. In the real world things are not black
or white: not all trawling has the same level of impact
(even if it is a generally destructive fishing system)
and not all aquaculture is sustainable. Consumers
have a great responsibility. For example there are
some market niches that want to buy (knowingly
or not) illegal types of fish. Purchasing this small fry
and therefore promoting fishing for them is a crime
that applies to every other type of species.
Information about the conditions of stock in the
most critical situation in the various Oceans of
the World can be obtained from the website:
www.greenpeace.org
USA: OPERATION SUSTAINABLE FISH
The time for sustainable fish has arrived in the USA.
From supermarket chains such as Whole Foods, where
before you buy fish you can check to see if it is a
species at risk, to the restaurant Hook in the village
of Georgetown (Washington DC) where all the dishes
are prepared from fish not at risk and produced by
local seas, the watchword is: not to contribute to the
dilapidation of the fishing resources of the oceans.
But there is more. A veritable control organisation
has been launched through the web. Established as
the Blue Ocean Institute, they have created a service
to which you can send the name of a fish to check
if it is a local species or, on the other hand, if it is a
species at risk. Other institutes such as the Monterey
Bay Aquarium, one of the main oceanographic
stations in California, have even established a
partnership with a hundred or so restaurants around
the United States. These have committed themselves
to serving only ocean-compatible fish and in return
the famous aquarium guarantees their reliability
with the guarantee brand. The American aquarium
has launched on on-line program, the Seafood Watch
Program, which aims at educating the public on
compatible eating and on the status of the
exploitation of the world’s fishing grounds.
In order to spread an eco-compatible culinary
conscience, in the USA it is essential to reach
restaurants, since most imported fish ends up in the
country’s eating-places. This is the case for defence
of the Marlin (a type of blue tuna), sword fish and
all other fish species with a beak and of which,
according to the International Game Fish Association,
Americans are the greatest consumers in the world.
In the case of the Marlin, the danger of extinction
is so serious that the IGFA, together with the
National Coalition for Marine Conservation and
the Billfish Foundation, has launched a campaign
to make the public aware of the situation in the
hope that American restaurants will finally decide
to eliminate sword fish and blue tuna from their
menus. But in the great restaurant world, as you
can imagine, the war on overfishing species at risk
is fought above all on the Sushi Bar front. This
sector absorbs 70 per cent of fish not coming from
fish-farms. So, the environmentalists have begun
their battle, with the most disparate means. In
2008 Greenpeace unmasked the superstar chef
Nobu Matushia, showing that in his London
restaurant he had sold sushi using Atlantic tuna,
one of the species most at risk. So, the number of
people who have decided to serve exclusively
sustainable fish has started to grow, such as the
Tataki Sushi Bar & Grill in San Francisco, where
the chef not only serves ocean-compatible fish, but,
in order to ensure that there are no doubts about
the provenance of the catch, has even hired an
expert on sustainable fish.
With regard to what has been said, I believe we must
also take immediate action in Italy to avoid further
damages and to get over the point of no return. We
chefs are the operating arm that can act immediately
and with awareness; it is our responsibility,
as operators in the sector, at least to establish barriers
against this national and world problem. I invite
our President to ensure that the Federcuochi produces
a joint document to submit to the Ministry of
Agricultural and Forestry Policies and the
Environment and the Ministry of Territorial
Protection. Also, in virtue of the news we have, using
our network of provincial and regional associations,
we could circulate a highly detailed handbook about
which fish are sustainable and which are not. I
believe this is a “battle” to be fought in order to
protect many species of marine fauna that are
close to extinction.
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