Fish.

This is a difficult subject for me to blog about for two reasons: there is a significant amount of debate about the numbers of fish left in our oceans and I don't believe either side of the debate, and I really love eating fish.  So I am having a bit of internal conflict.  I know what I needs to said, but I'm not all that excited to say it.

On the bright side, there really is a lot that can be done, if the wider public just educates itself about sustainable fishing.  Unfortunately, the debate is making it hard for people to understand the issues and the solutions.  This issue has been debated to death, and yet fish stocks continue to decline.  I don't think that it's because people don't care.  If you are interested in watching an excellent, if not a bit one-sided, movie about the issue, "The End of the Line" really covers it well.  I don't think anyone knows exactly what is happening with our oceans' fish stocks, however, even if only 1/10th of the depletion that is discussed in the movie has actually occured or is going to occur, that's sufficient reason for me to cut way back on my consumption of fish.

I believe that the public's awareness of overfishing may have only gained widespread notoriety as a result of the "dolphin-unfriendly" campaign around tuna fishing.  I think it's sad that we need something to happen to a likable animal before we, as a group, decide we care enough to do something about it.  Well, despite the awareness of how tuna fishing affects dolphins, and in spite of the fact that our society has decided we care, dolphin numbers are still suffering.  The scariest part is that tuna, marlin and other fish whose stocks are either declining or have collapsed completely, are not cute enough to build a motivating logo about.  They're scary, they're ugly, and people love to eat them.  Realistically, with the way things are going, in fifty years all the types of fish that we most love to eat are no longer going to be available, and all we're going to have is pollock.