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73 viewsFish are being depleted faster than their populations are regenerating as the human population and demand for fish grows every year.
According to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture (SOFIA) report of 2008 from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, approximately 80% of the world’s fishery resources are either overexploited (28%) or at maximum exploitation (52%).
The Southern Africa Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) together with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Sustainable Fisheries Programme, is sending out a strong warning of an unbalanced ecosystem and the endangerment of “the existence of a number of key species.”
Charles Clover, journalist and author of The End of the Line: how over-fishing is changing the world and what we eat, discovered this ugly truth after catching salmon on a riverbank in Wales, according to Clover’s article published in The Sunday Times in London.
“It was one of the last of a run of big spring fish that has now virtually died out… I wondered, what was happening in the sea, where they used enormous trawls, long-lines and giant purse seine nets?” Clover said.
Clover joined forces with director, Rupert Murray and producers, Claire Lewis, Christopher Hird and George Duffield to turn the book into a documentary. Essentially, the film warns that if human beings continue fishing at the rate that we are now, by 2048 much of the seafood we have become accustomed to will be gone.
Unlike all too many significant environmental documentaries which fail to reach a wide audience and make the intended impact, this one has became a global phenomenon.
“Somehow, we had done what environmental groups had failed to do before: we had made people care about fish in the same way as they do about other animals,” Clover said.
Now restaurant owners and chefs have begun looking at how and where they buy their seafood in a new way through working with SASSI. According to a press release for The End of the Line, international deli chain Pret a Manger chief, Julian Metcalfe, removed unsustainable tuna from the menu, UK retailers Waitrose and Marks and Spencer stopped selling bluefin tuna, swordfish and skate, and Jamie Oliver, celebrity chef, removed bluefin tuna from his recipes.
Locally, Codfather Seafood and Sushi, located in the popular Camps Bay in Cape Town, is just one of the local restaurants committed to the SASSI Charter. The act of committing to the charter ensures that all seafood offered is legal, sustainable choices are promoted and that seafood is traceable to its origins.
“Our suppliers started bringing us fish that we were very concerned about,” said Jacques Scrooby, manager of Codfather. As a result, fish such as the garrick and kingfish were taken off the menu when Codfather first joined with SASSI. Information about the available fish selection is always displayed at the counter so that customers know what they are buying.
“It’s not about stopping eating fish; it’s about eating the more sustainable ones,” said Samantha Petersen, manager of the WWF Sustainable Fisheries Program.
Fisheries and restaurants are not the only groups that can contribute to the cause. Consumers can have a powerful say in which species of fish are supplied and where they come from.
SASSI’s website offers an easy-to-use database to determine which species of fish are sustainable (green), which are endangered (orange) and which are illegal (red).
An innovative service supported by iVeri Payment Technology allows consumers to know the status of the fish they order by SMS (or “FishMS”). Simply type the name of the seafood species on the menu to 079 499 8795 and you will receive a reply indicating the status color code of the seafood.
To find restaurants in your area that comply with the SASSI Charter or to find out which fish are sustainable, endangered or illegal, go to SASSI’s website at www.wwfsassi.co.za.
Ronen Aires, CEO of Student Village and a concerned global citizen decided to make a single effort to bring the documentary to South Africans after questioning his own conscience when eating fish. He sourced the documentary on a trip to Hong Kong and sent it to the South African chapter of the WWF. Now everyone will get the opportunity make an informed choice when it comes to consuming fish and furthering the cause.
The End of the Line will be screened on October 22 in Cape Town at the V&A Waterfront and Cavendish Centre, in Johannesburg at Hyde Park Shopping Centre and Rosebank Mall, and in Pretoria at the Pavilion Shopping Centre and Menlyn Park.
