Do you Sea-food?
BY FARRAH LEONE
I don’t eat fish but I eat other meat.
Shocker for someone who writes for an ocean science blog, right?
To be honest, some of it freaks me out because of the texture and taste. But I try to stay away from seafood because I feel bad. Not only is there an overfishing crisis but I feel bad about eating a sea creature.
Picture by Dana Tentis
This month’s theme inspired me to look online and see if anyone else felt the way that I did. Cause, even in my own head, it sounded silly to care so much about a fish and feel so removed from a cow. All of the comments I saw on other people’s posts were filled with confusion and even hostility. I started to wonder why pescetarianism is praised while the opposite is met with skepticism.
The first answer I got to this question was found within this quote by Dr. Lissa Wadewitz, who studies west coast fishing in the United States and is a professor at Linfield College.
“Historically, the American public has generally valued fish for their edibility, recreational potential, and commercial worth, not for their appearance, intelligence, or scientific significance,” she points out.
First, we must admit that a lot of humanity does view animals, especially fish, in the way that Dr. Wadewitz suggests. Let’s get real, which one of these is cuter?
A. This Trout B. This Bernese Mountain Dog
Hot take: fish, generally, are not that cute! Our bias towards mammals has nothing to do with us being shallow or having no morals. Evolution has molded people to favor physical features that human babies have. This emotional response is the basis of our survival as a species as opposed to eating our children like spiders. Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989), an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, ornithologist and Nobel Prize winner claimed that these traits are: “large eyes, snub nose, bulging forehead, and retreating chin”. Most marine species, do not have these favorable traits. This trout has almost the exact opposite of every characteristic on that list.
Pictured here a Moray Eel hiding between corals.
The second point Dr. Wadewitz points to is that people generally do not see fish as smart. However, there are plenty of traits of sophistication and ingenuity expressed in the marine world. My favorite example is the relationship between the Moray Eel or Wrasse and the Grouper. When a Grouper is unable to get prey, they make themselves perpendicular to the seafloor and point their mouth towards the location of the escapee. The moray eel catches the prey for the both of them. Before I got into marine science, I thought of fish as passive creatures, just lumbering around the ocean looking for food as opposed to actively forming relationships and planning with animals outside of their species.
Because I am writing for a science blog, I don’t feel the need to defend why I think fish are scientifically significant. They have their niche as prey, predators and movers of nutrients, that help the world go round just like every other species. What I would like to discuss is how separated we are from our food.
I have never lived or even been in an area where livestock had to get slaughtered in front of me for a meal. If I ever had to slaughter my own food, I probably wouldn’t eat meat. But I do live on the ocean, study fish, and see marine life as a part of my daily life. I have formed relationships with marine animals that I have never had the opportunity with livestock. I believe there is a lot of merit in physical interaction in terms of creating values.
I’m not here trying to shame everyone for eating fish. About everything on this planet survives by the death of another creature. That’s just the way it is. The only piece of advice I have real qualification for is to ask you to please eat sustainably. I personally have noticed a larger concern for our oceans within the past few years and one of the biggest things you can do is make sure your food is ethically sourced.
Please take a look at a Seafood guide the next time you decide to eat fish!
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