“I Don’t Eat Meat – I Eat Fish!”

By Anne Laing

We all dream of holidays on tropical beaches, with blazing sun and warm clear waters lapping at our feet. Yet this idyllic scene is coming under increasing threat, as mankind’s impact on the oceans of the world threatens to destroy this wonderful marine environment and ecosystem.

Even now as I run alongside the Thames I see raw sewage discharged and floating off out to sea.

The health food industry has a lot to answer for in this destruction. We often wonder why so many people proudly state they don’t eat meat, but eat fish??

Part of being healthy is knowing where your food comes from, and being educated on how it was reared.

Know that the marketing budget is huge for those businesses that deal in fish and fish products, and of course our own supplement industry is one of the worst offenders!

So much of our fish has been exploited, contaminated and depleted, that as fish oil supplies run out marketers and processors have turned to Krill as the latest miracle cure and the next marine source to plunder.

Krill are tiny shrimp-like crustaceans that are approximately 1 to 6 centimetres long. They live in the ocean, where they feed mainly on phytoplankton. They’re near the bottom of the food chain and are eaten by whales, seals, penguins, squid and fish.

The recent popularity of krill oil supplements has raised concerns that it could threaten the population of its predators who rely on this food source to survive and flourish. It’s like pulling the rug out from under a stack of carefully balanced chairs.

Our oceans used to be a finely balanced ecosystem that operated successfully for aeons before we humans came along. How can we possibly believe that plundering hundreds of thousands of tonnes of fish from these waters every year will not affect this self-governing balance? What have we ever done to actively restore fish stocks in the ocean?

Simply applying quotas and restrictions does not replenish what we have harvested thus far in the pursuit of fishy foods. We have to be more responsible for future generations and clean up our act, and our attitude, towards the oceans.

Supporting the destruction of our natural aquatic ecosystems by continuing to eat depleted fish species, and over-supplementing with fish oils and extracts, is not the responsible way forward in our view.