6 shocking facts about seafood production

[Chloe]

By Katherine Martinko

Gone are the peaceful afternoons of waiting for a fish to bite the line. The seafood industry is a vicious and brutal one, both for animals and humans. Farmed fish are subjected to terrible lives, wild fish are caught unfairly and mindlessly, and all face inhumane deaths. Even humans are enslaved to put cheap shrimp on your dinner table. Here are just a few reasons why you should think twice about eating fish, or go out and catch it yourself.
1. Fishing vessels are essentially war shipsFishing vessels are now outfitted with radar, echo sounders that were once used to locate enemy submarines, satellite-based GPS, navy-developed electronic navigation systems, and satellite-generated images of ocean temperatures used to identify schools of fish. The fish don’t stand a chance.
2. The amount of bycatch is horrifying“Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might have to be five feet across.” -- Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer
For every pound of shrimp on your dinner table, 26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the sea. ‘Bycatch’ refers to all the additional creatures that are caught in the highly inefficient methods for harvesting seafood. Shrimp trawling is pretty much the worst, throwing 80 to 90 percent of its extra catch overboard in order to get to the shrimp. While shrimp makes up only 2 percent of the global seafood market by weight, its harvest is responsible for 33 percent of global bycatch.
3. If you buy shrimp from Thailand, you support slave labourA recent report in the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour) reveals the shocking extent of slave labour used in Thai shrimp production. Men are bought, sold, and kept on fishing vessels for months on end. There are reports of 20-hour shifts, beatings, torture, execution-style killings, and enforced methamphetamines to keep going. These vessels produce fishmeal, made from ground-up ‘trash’, infant, or inedible fish, which are then used to feed farmed prawns and shrimp. These are then sold in mainstream supermarkets, including Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, and Costco.
4. Tuna are caught using very controversial “Floating Aggregate Devices”Paul Greenberg writes for Civil Eats (http://civileats.com/2014/07/08/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-american-seafood-supply/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-things-you-should-know-about-the-american-seafood-supply) that, because tuna live out in open water, they are attracted to any large floating objects. Fishing vessels have learned to capitalize on this interest, and toss FADs into the water to draw tuna from far away. This “skews the dynamic of the ocean” by making them such easy prey.
5. Farmed or wild? Neither is any goodFarmed fish are subjected to foul water conditions, crowding to the point of cannibalization, nutritional deficiencies, and abundant sea lice. There are no legal requirements for the humane slaughter of fish. Wild fish are caught by long-lines (which can be as long as 75 miles), which can kill far more than their target species; trawling, which is the equivalent of clearcutting the rainforest (see bycatch above); and purse seines, which rope in entire schools of fish, while tangling and ripping apart fish in the process.
6. The seahorse population has decreased 50% in 5 yearsSeahorses are an indicator species, representative of the general health of the underwater world, but their estimated population has been cut in half (http://www.saveourseahorses.org/the-seahorse-dilemma.php) over the past five years alone. Seahorses get caught up in trawling nets. Each year 150 million seahorses are caught for traditional Chinese medicine treatments, where they are sold, dried, for US $600-3,000 per kilogram. Another 1 million are caught and dried for ornaments and trinkets. Many (1 million per year) are caught for the aquarium trade, despite their low rates of survival – less than 0.1% survive the first 6 weeks, before learning how to eat frozen food.6 shocking facts about seafood production : TreeHugger (http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/6-shocking-facts-about-seafood-production.html)

[Peter1469]

When I was growing up in Southeast Louisiana I used to go fishing with my dad and his friends in the salt water marshes. We could go out with 3-4 people and catch over 250 speckled trout (which is why I ate fish at least 3 times a week for years). Then in the mid 1980s the regulations for commercial fishers changed and they came through and cleaned the area out. After a year of almost no fish may dad sold his boat.

I heard that it came back since then. But then the BP oil spill screwed it up again. People say that it has come back since then, but I have no first hand knowledge of that.

[Mister D]

I buy wild caught only.

[Peter1469]

I buy wild caught only.

Yes, factory fish farms produce an inferior quality fish.

[Captain Obvious]

I buy wild caught only.

Smoke 'em while you got 'em.

[countryboy]

By Katherine Martinko

Gone are the peaceful afternoons of waiting for a fish to bite the line. The seafood industry is a vicious and brutal one, both for animals and humans. Farmed fish are subjected to terrible lives, wild fish are caught unfairly and mindlessly, and all face inhumane deaths. Even humans are enslaved to put cheap shrimp on your dinner table. Here are just a few reasons why you should think twice about eating fish, or go out and catch it yourself.
1. Fishing vessels are essentially war ships

Fishing vessels are now outfitted with radar, echo sounders that were once used to locate enemy submarines, satellite-based GPS, navy-developed electronic navigation systems, and satellite-generated images of ocean temperatures used to identify schools of fish. The fish don’t stand a chance.
2. The amount of bycatch is horrifying

“Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might have to be five feet across.” -- Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer
For every pound of shrimp on your dinner table, 26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the sea. ‘Bycatch’ refers to all the additional creatures that are caught in the highly inefficient methods for harvesting seafood. Shrimp trawling is pretty much the worst, throwing 80 to 90 percent of its extra catch overboard in order to get to the shrimp. While shrimp makes up only 2 percent of the global seafood market by weight, its harvest is responsible for 33 percent of global bycatch.
3. If you buy shrimp from Thailand, you support slave labour

A recent report in the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour) reveals the shocking extent of slave labour used in Thai shrimp production. Men are bought, sold, and kept on fishing vessels for months on end. There are reports of 20-hour shifts, beatings, torture, execution-style killings, and enforced methamphetamines to keep going. These vessels produce fishmeal, made from ground-up ‘trash’, infant, or inedible fish, which are then used to feed farmed prawns and shrimp. These are then sold in mainstream supermarkets, including Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, and Costco.
4. Tuna are caught using very controversial “Floating Aggregate Devices”

Paul Greenberg writes for Civil Eats (http://civileats.com/2014/07/08/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-american-seafood-supply/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-things-you-should-know-about-the-american-seafood-supply) that, because tuna live out in open water, they are attracted to any large floating objects. Fishing vessels have learned to capitalize on this interest, and toss FADs into the water to draw tuna from far away. This “skews the dynamic of the ocean” by making them such easy prey.
5. Farmed or wild? Neither is any good

Farmed fish are subjected to foul water conditions, crowding to the point of cannibalization, nutritional deficiencies, and abundant sea lice. There are no legal requirements for the humane slaughter of fish. Wild fish are caught by long-lines (which can be as long as 75 miles), which can kill far more than their target species; trawling, which is the equivalent of clearcutting the rainforest (see bycatch above); and purse seines, which rope in entire schools of fish, while tangling and ripping apart fish in the process.
6. The seahorse population has decreased 50% in 5 years

Seahorses are an indicator species, representative of the general health of the underwater world, but their estimated population has been cut in half (http://www.saveourseahorses.org/the-seahorse-dilemma.php) over the past five years alone. Seahorses get caught up in trawling nets. Each year 150 million seahorses are caught for traditional Chinese medicine treatments, where they are sold, dried, for US $600-3,000 per kilogram. Another 1 million are caught and dried for ornaments and trinkets. Many (1 million per year) are caught for the aquarium trade, despite their low rates of survival – less than 0.1% survive the first 6 weeks, before learning how to eat frozen food.6 shocking facts about seafood production : TreeHugger (http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/6-shocking-facts-about-seafood-production.html)
Some of that sounds pretty exaggerated and hyperbolic. For instance, not all fish farms are as described in the list. Also, modern fish finding equipment has been around for a long time, and even available to the recreational angler. To equate fishing vessels with "warships" is just plain silly.

Having said that.....nice to see you Chloe. We've missed you. :)

[Mister D]

Smoke 'em while you got 'em.

I don't have a smoker. :smiley:

[Redrose]

The only fish we eat is what my husband catches and fillets. In restaurants, I only eat shellfish, most often Maine lobster, never shrimp, I don't like shrimp. Hopefully, there isn't a problem with lobsters from Maine.

[Mister D]

Shell fish have a lot less mercury.

[Captain Obvious]

I don't have a smoker. :smiley:

You have a crock pot now so that's a start.

;)

You took that out of context too, btw.

[Mister D]

You have a crock pot now so that's a start.

;)

You took that out of context too, btw.

I know. :wink:

[countryboy]

Shell fish have a lot less mercury.
They also have a lot of cholesterol. Prolly what makes 'em taste so good.

[Mister D]

They also have a lot of cholesterol. Prolly what makes 'em taste so good.

I think that may be the "good" cholesterol though. Plus there is virtually no fat.

[Peter1469]

I don't have a smoker. :smiley:

I want to get one. Not conducive to high rise apartment life.

[Captain Obvious]

I want to get one. Not conducive to high rise apartment life.

Go for it, your neighbors will love you. ;)

We have a simple charcoal one and we use it half the time for slow cooking, not smoking. Ribs in foil on the smoker - fucking awesome.

Smoking meats on it is tricky but stuff like salmon is fantastic. Jerky is easy too.

[Peter1469]

Go for it, your neighbors will love you. ;)

We have a simple charcoal one and we use it half the time for slow cooking, not smoking. Ribs in foil on the smoker - fucking awesome.

Smoking meats on it is tricky but stuff like salmon is fantastic. Jerky is easy too.

I like sausage in the smoker. No jokes.

[Captain Obvious]

I like sausage in the smoker. No jokes.

lol! The urge is strong!

It would have to be fresh sausage (unsmoked), never tried that but it shouldn't be on the smoker long and it would be a good way to render fat out of it.

[Peter1469]

lol! The urge is strong!

It would have to be fresh sausage (unsmoked), never tried that but it shouldn't be on the smoker long and it would be a good way to render fat out of it.

Absolutely. I am not talking about stuff that is packaged and found in the refrigerated aisle of the grocery.

[PolWatch]

Farmed seafood does not taste like seafood...if you have only eaten shrimp in most large restaurants, you ain't had real shrimp. Unless you have eaten soft shell crab that has never been frozen...you have never tasted the best. The shrimp nets have TED's (turtle extruder devices which are just large holes in the nets to allow sea turtles and other large sea life to escape. Most of what is caught is eaten but there is some caught that the seagulls get.

The Gulf Coast fishing industry is the ultimate small business...most of them in this area are family owned and some have been in operation for over 100 years. The imported seafood is a real threat to small fisherman on the Gulf Coast. The industry is slowly recovering from the BP spill but that was the final straw for many family boats.

I have lived on the Gulf most of my life and expect to eat fresh seafood several times a week...in fact when my husband was offered a very good job in upstate New York I told him I would go but it sure would be expensive to ship Gulf seafood that far north. (He took a job in Tennessee....we could carry enough in an ice chest to last a couple of weeks)

http://www.eatalabamawildseafood.com/

[donttread]

By Katherine Martinko

Gone are the peaceful afternoons of waiting for a fish to bite the line. The seafood industry is a vicious and brutal one, both for animals and humans. Farmed fish are subjected to terrible lives, wild fish are caught unfairly and mindlessly, and all face inhumane deaths. Even humans are enslaved to put cheap shrimp on your dinner table. Here are just a few reasons why you should think twice about eating fish, or go out and catch it yourself.
1. Fishing vessels are essentially war ships

Fishing vessels are now outfitted with radar, echo sounders that were once used to locate enemy submarines, satellite-based GPS, navy-developed electronic navigation systems, and satellite-generated images of ocean temperatures used to identify schools of fish. The fish don’t stand a chance.
2. The amount of bycatch is horrifying

“Imagine being served a plate of sushi. But this plate also holds all of the animals that were killed for your serving of sushi. The plate might have to be five feet across.” -- Eating Animals, by Jonathan Safran Foer
For every pound of shrimp on your dinner table, 26 pounds of other sea animals were killed and tossed back into the sea. ‘Bycatch’ refers to all the additional creatures that are caught in the highly inefficient methods for harvesting seafood. Shrimp trawling is pretty much the worst, throwing 80 to 90 percent of its extra catch overboard in order to get to the shrimp. While shrimp makes up only 2 percent of the global seafood market by weight, its harvest is responsible for 33 percent of global bycatch.
3. If you buy shrimp from Thailand, you support slave labour

A recent report in the Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jun/10/supermarket-prawns-thailand-produced-slave-labour) reveals the shocking extent of slave labour used in Thai shrimp production. Men are bought, sold, and kept on fishing vessels for months on end. There are reports of 20-hour shifts, beatings, torture, execution-style killings, and enforced methamphetamines to keep going. These vessels produce fishmeal, made from ground-up ‘trash’, infant, or inedible fish, which are then used to feed farmed prawns and shrimp. These are then sold in mainstream supermarkets, including Walmart, Tesco, Carrefour, and Costco.
4. Tuna are caught using very controversial “Floating Aggregate Devices”

Paul Greenberg writes for Civil Eats (http://civileats.com/2014/07/08/10-things-you-should-know-about-the-american-seafood-supply/?utm_source=feedly&utm_reader=feedly&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=10-things-you-should-know-about-the-american-seafood-supply) that, because tuna live out in open water, they are attracted to any large floating objects. Fishing vessels have learned to capitalize on this interest, and toss FADs into the water to draw tuna from far away. This “skews the dynamic of the ocean” by making them such easy prey.
5. Farmed or wild? Neither is any good

Farmed fish are subjected to foul water conditions, crowding to the point of cannibalization, nutritional deficiencies, and abundant sea lice. There are no legal requirements for the humane slaughter of fish. Wild fish are caught by long-lines (which can be as long as 75 miles), which can kill far more than their target species; trawling, which is the equivalent of clearcutting the rainforest (see bycatch above); and purse seines, which rope in entire schools of fish, while tangling and ripping apart fish in the process.
6. The seahorse population has decreased 50% in 5 years

Seahorses are an indicator species, representative of the general health of the underwater world, but their estimated population has been cut in half (http://www.saveourseahorses.org/the-seahorse-dilemma.php) over the past five years alone. Seahorses get caught up in trawling nets. Each year 150 million seahorses are caught for traditional Chinese medicine treatments, where they are sold, dried, for US $600-3,000 per kilogram. Another 1 million are caught and dried for ornaments and trinkets. Many (1 million per year) are caught for the aquarium trade, despite their low rates of survival – less than 0.1% survive the first 6 weeks, before learning how to eat frozen food.6 shocking facts about seafood production : TreeHugger (http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/6-shocking-facts-about-seafood-production.html)

Some of that is very enlightening, the slavery, the waste. As for the catch methods this isn't about fair chase this is for food. Seven billion people have to eat and the vast majority of them never hunt, fish, gather or garden

[countryboy]

I like sausage in the smoker. No jokes.
:drumdude:

[Peter1469]

Some of that is very enlightening, the slavery, the waste. As for the catch methods this isn't about fair chase this is for food. Seven billion people have to eat and the vast majority of them never hunt, fish, gather or garden

Some American Indian tribes died out because they over fished....

[Chloe]

Some of that is very enlightening, the slavery, the waste. As for the catch methods this isn't about fair chase this is for food. Seven billion people have to eat and the vast majority of them never hunt, fish, gather or garden

when there is nothing left and when the oceans are so polluted and dead that it makes life unsustainable then what will 7 billion people eat?

[Peter1469]

when there is nothing left and when the oceans are so polluted and dead that it makes life unsustainable then what will 7 billion people eat?

Each other. :shocked:

[Perianne]

when there is nothing left and when the oceans are so polluted and dead that it makes life unsustainable then what will 7 billion people eat?

Instead of getting their seafood from the ocean they will have to buy it at the grocery, like most people do.

[Peter1469]

Instead of getting their seafood from the ocean they will have to buy it at the grocery, like most people do.:shocked:

[Bob]

Yes, factory fish farms produce an inferior quality fish.

I can taste the crap they feed farmed fish. Matter of fact, here in CA, the state puts farm fish into the lakes and reservoirs. Might as well fish for crap.

[Bob]

Farmed seafood does not taste like seafood...if you have only eaten shrimp in most large restaurants, you ain't had real shrimp. Unless you have eaten soft shell crab that has never been frozen...you have never tasted the best. The shrimp nets have TED's (turtle extruder devices which are just large holes in the nets to allow sea turtles and other large sea life to escape. Most of what is caught is eaten but there is some caught that the seagulls get.

The Gulf Coast fishing industry is the ultimate small business...most of them in this area are family owned and some have been in operation for over 100 years. The imported seafood is a real threat to small fisherman on the Gulf Coast. The industry is slowly recovering from the BP spill but that was the final straw for many family boats.

I have lived on the Gulf most of my life and expect to eat fresh seafood several times a week...in fact when my husband was offered a very good job in upstate New York I told him I would go but it sure would be expensive to ship Gulf seafood that far north. (He took a job in Tennessee....we could carry enough in an ice chest to last a couple of weeks)

http://www.eatalabamawildseafood.com/

A local man who is 95 and very experienced at fishing told me that CA dumps farm fish into the water the state has control over. I tried some trout from one of our lakes. They tasted to me like crap. I have tried farm fish from Costco. More crap.The wild fish was okay. I have decent luck with Smart and Final but due to the difficulty of getting decent fish, don't eat as much as i perhaps should. Funny that my doctor has not told me to eat a lot of fish. Nor the dietician.

(on the state farm fish. I noticed as well when up in the mountains, signs telling us the fish dumped into the lakes are farm fish)

[Chloe]

Instead of getting their seafood from the ocean they will have to buy it at the grocery, like most people do.

Im not sure if you are being serious or not. The grocery store does not create seafood, it comes from the sea. If fish and marine species are wiped out and if the oceans are too polluted or empty to sustain enough life then what exactly will be sold at the store?

[Perianne]

Im not sure if you are being serious or not. The grocery store does not create seafood, it comes from the sea. If fish and marine species are wiped out and if the oceans are too polluted or empty to sustain enough life then what exactly will be sold at the store?

I saw a thing on TV one time talking about the plight of small farmers. They interviewed someone who said "Who needs farmers? I get my stuff from the grocery store".

[Chloe]

I saw a thing on TV one time talking about the plight of small farmers. They interviewed someone who said "Who needs farmers? I get my stuff from the grocery store".

Oh ok, I'm sorry. I didn't think you were being serious but you never know.

[Perianne]

Oh ok, I'm sorry. I didn't think you were being serious but you never know.

No need to apologize, sweetie. My humor is a bit dry sometimes and is not always clear. But I think I'm funny. :)

[The Xl]

I saw a thing on TV one time talking about the plight of small farmers. They interviewed someone who said "Who needs farmers? I get my stuff from the grocery store".

Some people are brilliant.

[Perianne]

Some people are brilliant.

It was probably someone in their twenties. Right? lol
The Xl

[PolWatch]

Someone was explaining why there was a sign on the side of the highway warning of a deer crossing...they were asked why the deer didn't walk to a red light to cross the road. (I don't know if this actually happened, but I liked it)

[Perianne]

Someone was explaining why there was a sign on the side of the highway warning of a deer crossing...they were asked why the deer didn't walk to a red light to cross the road. (I don't know if this actually happened, but I liked it)

I heard a thing on youtube that this goofy woman called into a radio show and asked why they put deer crossing signs at the most dangerous places, instead of places like school crossings.

[Perianne]

Instead of getting their seafood from the ocean they will have to buy it at the grocery, like most people do.

Peri, you are silly sometimes. But I did see this:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/13/laboratory-grown-beef-meat-without-murder-hunger-climate-change

Laboratory-grown beef: meat without the murder, but would you eat it?

[Peter1469]

Peri, you are silly sometimes. But I did see this:

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/13/laboratory-grown-beef-meat-without-murder-hunger-climate-change

Laboratory-grown beef: meat without the murder, but would you eat it?




Not me. I will be dead before I felt that the safety trials were over. But the rest of you eat up.

[The Xl]

It was probably someone in their twenties. Right? lol
@The Xl (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=865)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-rwro8doozUw/T755eP-AslI/AAAAAAAABPU/nCWLy9hg7Dg/s1600/triple-h-angry.gif

[The Xl]

Oh, and it's nice to see you back and making threads, Chloe

[Bob]

Someone was explaining why there was a sign on the side of the highway warning of a deer crossing...they were asked why the deer didn't walk to a red light to cross the road. (I don't know if this actually happened, but I liked it)

Why do you suppose deer know the right path to take?

Anyone at all can reply.

We know the highway department puts up signs.

[donttread]

Some American Indian tribes died out because they over fished....

Well that and not being smart enough to you know move

[donttread]

Why do you suppose deer know the right path to take?

Anyone at all can reply.

We know the highway department puts up signs.

I find deer crossing signs to be very sexist. Where are the does and pawns supposed to cross?

[Matty]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Wc_YVmV1c

[PolWatch]

gee, I thought it was a joke, but that woman was serious!

[Peter1469]

gee, I thought it was a joke, but that woman was serious!

Dumb serious.

I would like to run into her during happy hour. :shocked:

[donttread]

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=C4Wc_YVmV1c


That's funny, but nobody is that dumb.

[Don]

That's funny, but nobody is that dumb.

Oh Yeah?

http://youtu.be/1JWuFGMq3ZA

[Private Pickle]

Mmmm seafood...