The Severe Problem
A Fishes Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM Gary Lowenthal
October 2019

We need our oceans to be healthy, and so do the fishes who live there, and you can help simply by changing a few things on your plate!

overfishing

The problem is multi-fold:

  • We’re hauling a trillion fishes from the sea every year. We’re literally emptying the oceans of fish. Populations are way down, and this is affecting other marine life that depends on fish.
  • The way that fishes die from the fishing industry must be intensely painful if not terrifying for them. What would it be like to be pulled underwater, unable to breathe, until you expire? I imagine that’s what fish are feeling as they’re pulled out of the water, desperately writhing and flapping. Other fishes are crushed to death, or die from a severe case of the bends, in which internal organs rupture from the rapid change in pressure.
  • Half the fish killed live in filthy crowded fish farms. They can barely move or engage in any natural behaviors. Fish normally have quite complex lives, filled with activities and relationships. They are quite intelligent.

The solutions are also multi-fold:

  • Gardein hit it out of the park with their Fishless Filets. These are a direct replacement for breaded fish filets. I can nearly guarantee you’ll like them. A trifle greasy - just like the products they replace.
  • I’ve already mentioned chickpea salad. So versatile, and most recipes are mostly whole food-based. In addition to this being the new tuna salad (in which the tuna gets to live and be free), check out the Mideast versions of chickpea salads.
  • There are a range of new “vegan seafood” products coming out on the market, including Miyoko’s plant-based cream cheese with lox. Fish Feelis a great resource for keeping up on this (and the reasons to be interested).
  • You also help fish when you don’t eat other animal products, since fishes are often ground up as part of livestock feed.

Another benefit to not eating fishes is that leftover fishing equipment kills sea turtles, birds, and other marine life (orders of magnitude more than plastic straws do, although those cause harm as well).

We need our oceans to be healthy, and so do the fishes who live there, and you can help simply by changing a few things on your plate! Thank you!

The severe problem...and the “I can do this today” solution.

The problem is multi-fold:

  • We’re hauling a trillion fishes from the sea every year. We’re literally emptying the oceans of fish. Populations are way down, and this is affecting other marine life that depends on fish.
  • The way that fishes die from the fishing industry must be intensely painful if not terrifying for them. What would it be like to be pulled underwater, unable to breathe, until you expire? I imagine that’s what fish are feeling as they’re pulled out of the water, desperately writhing and flapping. Other fishes are crushed to death, or die from a severe case of the bends, in which internal organs rupture from the rapid change in pressure.
  • Half the fish killed live in filthy crowded fish farms. They can barely move or engage in any natural behaviors. Fish normally have quite complex lives, filled with activities and relationships. They are quite intelligent.

The solutions are also multi-fold:

  • Gardein hit it out of the park with their Fishless Filets. These are a direct replacement for breaded fish filets. I can nearly guarantee you’ll like them. A trifle greasy - just like the products they replace.
  • I’ve already mentioned chickpea salad. So versatile, and most recipes are mostly whole food-based. In addition to this being the new tuna salad (in which the tuna gets to live and be free), check out the Mideast versions of chickpea salads.
  • There are a range of new “vegan seafood” products coming out on the market, including Miyoko’s plant-based cream cheese with lox. Fish Feelis a great resource for keeping up on this (and the reasons to be interested).
  • You also help fish when you don’t eat other animal products, since fishes are often ground up as part of livestock feed.
  • Another benefit to not eating fishes is that leftover fishing equipment kills sea turtles, birds, and other marine life (orders of magnitude more than plastic straws do, although those cause harm as well).

We need our oceans to be healthy, and so do the fishes who live there, and you can help simply by changing a few things on your plate!

Thank you!

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