Oceans
Fishing&theOceans
Trillions of lives, vanishing reefs, and an industry that hides its scale beneath the surface.
What 'sustainable' really means
There Is No Sustainable Way to Eat the Sea
Fish are the most heavily harvested animals on Earth — and the least counted. The standard unit in fisheries data is the tonne, not the individual life. By the most careful estimate, between 1 and 2.7 trillion fish are killed for food every year, plus hundreds of billions of crabs, squid, lobsters and shrimp.
Aquaculture — fish farming — was sold as the answer to overfishing. It now produces more fish than wild capture, but most farmed fish are carnivores: salmon, trout, sea bass, tuna. They are fed wild-caught fish, ground into pellets, at a ratio of three or four kilos of wild fish for every kilo of farmed.
And the science on whether fish feel pain is no longer in serious dispute. They have nociceptors, they exhibit pain-avoidance learning, and they produce opioids to dull suffering. They are not vegetables that swim.
Health
The Mercury, the Microplastic, and the Omega-3
Pregnant women are told to limit tuna because of mercury — a heavy metal that bioaccumulates up the marine food chain. A 2024 study found microplastics in 99% of seafood samples tested. The fish are not the problem; we are.
Omega-3 (EPA and DHA) is the one nutrient seafood is rightly associated with — but fish do not produce it. They get it from eating algae. Algal-oil supplements deliver the same omega-3 directly, without the mercury, microplastic or marine life lost.
If a single fishing trawl can level a forest of cold-water coral that took 8,000 years to grow, the question isn't quotas — it's continuing at all.
What to do
What Helps, Honestly
If everyone in a high-fish-eating country (Spain, Japan, Norway) swapped one weekly fish meal for a plant-based version, the impact on bycatch and reef stress would be vast.
Plant-based 'seafood' has improved dramatically: jackfruit fish tacos, chickpea 'tuna' salad, banana-blossom 'fish' and chips, marinated tofu sushi. None of them are pretending to be fish — they're just doing the same job on the plate.
Oceans
One meal at a time, the ocean recovers.
And the science on whether fish feel pain is no longer in serious dispute. They have nociceptors, they exhibit pain-avoidance learning, and they produce opioids to dull suffering. They are not vegetables that swim.
Newsletter
One short letter. Once a month.
A handful of recipes, a story worth your time, and one thing you can do this week. Nothing else.
We never share your email. Unsubscribe in one click.