Health of fish populations. In measuring the health of a fish stock,
what counts as “enough”? It generally means the population
can repopulate itself. That means not fishing faster than it
takes for that to occur, as often happens with commercial fish-
ing practices under business as usual.
Who gets to decide? That’s where responsible fisheries
management comes in, with management agencies setting
official catch limits to put fishermen in a given area on clear
notice and equal footing. Given the scale of the overfishing
that has already happened, the extent of the oversight needed
varies by location and species. Some species that are depleted
but not completely wiped out simply need time to recover, and
for that, we have Marine Protected Areas. You can think of
them like state or national parks. They’re designed to lure fish
into propagation mode, so the full ecosystem can rejuvenate.
Surely the place that gets the gold star for responsible fisheries
management is Alaska’s Bristol Bay. The approach there is rig-
orous, the waters are pristine, the habitats are healthy, and the
salmon stocks are at record highs.
Type of fishing gear used. Industrial fishing boats use imprecise
gear—gillnets, longlines, bottom trawls—that drag up all kinds
of life other than their target catch, from sharks to sea tur-
tles, and even innocent birds flocking around the boats that get
caught in the tangle. That’s because some of these contraptions
can span fifty miles. Bottom trawling, along with giant metal
baskets called dredges, drag not only through the water but
along the bottom of the ocean floor. That sweeps up creatures
it shouldn’t, like clear-cutting a forest, while also disrupting
habitat—coral reefs, sponges, and the homes and food sources
for marine life who live there. This method is also about three
times as damaging as non-trawling in terms of greenhouse
gas emissions. Using traps and pots to catch prawns instead,Stuff That comes from animals 109Conscious Eater_02 PT_4th patches.indd 109 10/23/19 1:31 PM