Concern about sustainability of world fish populations isn't new, but for the consumer it can pose a few problems, as writer Brian Palmer is at pains to point out in "Guides to Sustainable Fish Can Help...."
Selecting fish from a menu or from a seafood market can present a lot of choices, based not on just the kind of fish, but where, how, and when it was caught. So, like telephone company deregulation or the Affordable Care Act, the felt need to choose what you're eating based on its "sustainability" adds to the complexity - and the stress - of modern life. But, argues Palmer, the very complexity of the guides being issued is a positive sign; a sign that more people care, and are learning to make distinctions, even if perhaps many of the restaurants and fishmongers they go to are a little behind the trend.
They might save themselves some trouble by heeding the advice of one trendy chef I heard the other day: Ultimately, no fish is "sustainable." Fish do reproduce themselves, but can't do so indefinitely as human demand for them grows exponentially. The lesson? Enjoy fish when you can, but think of it as an occasional, special, and nutritious treat rather than everyday fare that you should eat in large quantities daily. And blame yourself for the human population explosion.
It's necessary to take issue with one point in Palmer's catalog: Eating meat is not an "ethical" dilemma -- ecological yes, but not ethical. Nor is it "cruel" to the animals we slaughter for food. Anyone who thinks otherwise should watch the excellent series of shows aired recently on the Discovery Channel, entitled "North America." Every living creature is the prey of another, and even though the series goes out of its way not to show any "too cute" critters being devoured, it nevertheless demonstrates that being eaten is natural, but never fun for the ingestee, nor an ethical dilemma for the ingester.
Blending ethics into eating will almost certainly lead humankind down a blind alley. Right next to Palmer's article in today's paper was another short feature, reporting that researchers have found that vegetables continue to "live" after being picked. Will we soon be persuading ourselves that it's not ethical to eat vegetables either?