One fish, two fish… Slow Fish?

One of my favourite memories from my youth is the lazy summer days I spent fishing with my Grandfather. He knew all the best spots in our corner of the Bay of Fundy and how to time our expeditions with the tides. We’d pull into a cove, drop anchor and bait our jigging lines. The water was so clear and the bottom so undisturbed that when you really paid attention you could see the flounder scuttle slightly along the ocean floor. We’d cuss a little at them, an essential step according to “Pappy”, and then we’d jig’em up. I loved taking the wheel to steer the boat back to harbour while “Pap” filleted the fish flawlessly on the side of the boat and washed everything down with sea water. He finished just in time to dock the boat and I would be home and have the fish in a fry pan within 10 minutes.

That is my idea of fresh fish and that was my very slow introduction to the discussion of whether fish in this day and age can actually be SLOW FOOD. The principles guiding SLOW FOOD are that it should be “good, clean and fair”. The fish of my childhood memory was slow fish. It tasted beyond good and was enjoyed with great conviviality, the water it came from was crystal clear and clean and since we only took what we could eat from nearby waters for a minimal amount of fuel it seemed a very fair price to us and to the environment. Let’s see how today’s fish measures up on the scale of these three criteria. The definitions for these three criteria are taken from a paper called, “Taking Back Life: the Earth, the Moon and Abundance” by Carlo Petrini, founder of the Slow Food Movement.

Is fish good? Good, according to Petrini, is defined as “… the superior sensory characteristics of a food or drink.” It is the fulfillment of our “right to pleasure” and should be accessible to everyone and sought out daily.

Properly prepared fish is a beautiful experience. It usually tastes light and delicate and requires subtlety in its preparation. It can bring us the sensation of magnificent oceans, quiet streams and sparkling lakes. Fish is definitely good for us too. A 2006 study by Mozafarrian and Rimm at the Harvard School of Public Health found that fish is the single most important food we can consume for our health. It was found to reduce death from cardiovascular disease by 37% and risk of death from any cause by 17%. Fish gets full marks in this category.

Is fish clean? Fish, through no fault of its own does not always measure up to Slow food’s definition of clean. Clean in this context means “a product must respect the ecosystems and biodiversity through all the phases of its production and distribution chain …” This translates to as little pesticides, pollutants or antibiotics as possible. It also means that we strive to shop as locally as possible keeping in mind that rather than thinking of “Good and clean” in absolute terms that rather, “between two products (one should)… choose the one that is better than the other in terms of those two aspects of quality”.

The fish in our oceans, rivers and lakes and the way in which it is produced and harvested challenges the principle of clean. PCB’s, methyl mercury and dioxins are the major contaminants found in fish.

Even though PCB’s were banned twenty years ago they do not biodegrade but instead they bioaccumulate in the fat stores of fish that eat in contaminated soils of rivers and lakes that were used as toxic waste dumps two decades ago. The majority of mercury found in fish comes from coal fired energy plants. Bacteria in the microscopic flora that small fish eat converts the mercury which falls from the atmosphere into our waters into methyl mercury and as fish are predatory, each subsequent fish feeding on its smaller counterparts builds up more and more methyl mercury in their bodies. Swordfish, King mackerel, golden bass are fish that can live to be 100 years old and their levels of methyl mercury are not thought to be safe for pregnant women. Dioxins in fish come mainly from the run off from farmlands treated with pesticides and fertilizers. Fish farming practices also contribute to pollution issues.

From 1964 to 1995 fish farming went from 7% of the world’s supply to 65% and along with that came practices that include antibiotic use and feeds made of fish meal high in PCB’s. Fish is not stacking up so well in the “clean” department but it is possible to find small fish farms with “best possible” practices and some farmed shellfish are actually healthier then their wild counterparts. Labelling of fish as to source of origin, harvesting methods and use of antibiotics would help inform consumers as to a fish’s “clean” status.

What about “Fair”? Fair, “…speaks of social justice, of respect for workers and their know-how, of rurality, of decent living conditions, of suitable compensation for work done, of accessible prices, of gratification in producing well and in consuming quality products, of the definitive liberation of farmers, of the right to seeds.”

Certain fish are so sought after that humans risk life and limb to secure them: Alaskan king crab fishing has been named the #1 most dangerous job on earth. Some fish are so popular that they have been fished to near extinction. One country might have quotas for fish that would maintain their stocks while the neighboring country and countries from around the globe ignore those standards and fish regardless of the cost to humanity and the ecosystem. Species of fish indigenous to the Northern Atlantic may be brought to a farm on the west coast of Canada only to escape and make irreversible changes to that ecosystem. These examples are not “fair” practices. They are irresponsible and go against all that “Slow” stands for.

So, one out of three is our score for the slowness of fish. I love fish and this saddens me but I will continue to eat it with the following guidelines.

1. I will check www.seachoice.org to see which types of fish are plentiful, healthy and well managed.
2. I will get to know anyone I buy fish from and they will have to know where their fish is coming from.
3. I will check www.blueoceans.com and boycott the fish that are endangered.
4. I will write letters to urge that fish be labeled for source of origin and any antibiotics used in its management.
5. I will still eat a wide variety of fish for my health and enjoyment and I will make it as good, clean and fair as possible in the noble “search for happiness” which is Slow Food International’s and my own, “ultimate end of our actions”.