Lent. For many Trinidadians this means eating lots of fish. One of the best places to do this is at Maracas Beach. That means bake and shark! But is this the right choice? Or should we eat shrimp or something else instead? How do we make sure that our family fun day does not become a wreck for the environment?
The oceans are in big trouble. Fish stocks are poorly managed and many are collapsing. Scientists say that 85 per cent of the world's fisheries are either fished to capacity or overfished. We don't want our beach day to add to that in a negative way; we must choose our seafood wisely.
Maracas vendors offer bake and shark, bake and kingfish, bake and shrimp and bake and flying fish. Papa Bois Conservation published a seafood guide authored by Dr Amy Deacon and marine biologist Robin Ramdeen. According to this guide eating sustainably means leaving shark and shrimp off the menu. Kingfish can be eaten, with a cautionary note attached. Flying fish remains as the one sustainable choice.
Here is why. Shark off the menu. Let's start with shark. Sharks have been long treated as a fisheries resource but many scientists now believe that sharks should be considered wildlife. What does this mean, fishery resource vs wildlife? Compare the lifecycle of a fish like mahi mahi (what we locally call dolphin) to that of sharks.
Mahi Mahi have a short life cycle of about four years and they mature and reproduce quickly. Their population can double in less than 15 months. These qualities mean that, once well managed, their stocks can replenish quickly enough for sustainable commercial harvesting to be possible.
Sharks on the other hand mature slowly. They have long gestation periods and few offspring. It can take a decade or more for some shark species to reach sexual maturity. Shark reproduction time has a lot more in common with whales or humans than with mahi mahi or other fish. Scientists say that we are killing off sharks twice as fast as they can reproduce.
Up to 100 million sharks are killed each year. Up to 25 per cent of shark species are in danger of extinction by the year 2050. Sharks are a keystone species. That means that they keep the ocean ecosystem in balance and productive. Without sharks the marine ecosystem will collapse and there will be much less fish to put on our bake at Maracas.
From a health perspective shark meat also carries a cautionary note. Shark is high in mercury and pregnant women and children should not eat it.
Shrimp off the menu. Shrimp is often caught by trawling. Trawling can be compared to scraping the sea bottom with a spatula. It causes high levels of bycatch and damage to the marine ecosystem. Local Fishermen have blamed trawlers for much of the decrease in fish stocks. Government announced a ban on industrial class shrimp trawlers but so far this has not been made into law.
Eat kingfish with caution. Kingfish seems relatively resilient to fishing. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List but stock assessments are scarce so the local population status is unknown. So maybe the advice should be eat only once in a while. Kingfish is also high in mercury content. Pregnant women and children should avoid it.
Flying fish is on! The only right seafood choice at Maracas is flying fish. Flying fish have fast life cycles. They appear to be resilient to fishing pressure. Fast reproduction, tasty and low in mercury. Flying fish is the perfect on a bake.
The onus is on you, the consumer, to make the choices that determine the health of the oceans. Choose wisely. Vendors please take note, there are many healthy and sustainable alternatives. The Papa Bois Conservation sustainable seafood guide offers lionfish, flying fish, dolphin/mahi mahi, squid/calamari, carite, tilapia and wahoo as best choices for sustainability and health.Think before you eat! Remember, Trini tradition is about eating good food, not about eating species to extinction.