Why Eat Responsibly?
As seafood consumers, we love the fish that we eat and our hope is that we continue eating them for a long time. Over the past 2 decades, it has been getting harder to get the fish we love because fewer of them exist in our oceans. This has happened because the number of fish being caught is greater than the number of new fish being added to their wild populations. This is what we call overfishing.
Our demand for fish has a significant part to play in fish populations getting overfished.
Take the month of Shravan or Ganesh festival in India (August to September) for instance. Since these months are considered holy, many Indians prefer not to eat fish during these months. Consequently, it is not economical for fishers to head out to sea and catch fish during this time.
On the other hand, during the Christmas and new year season, there is a high demand for fish and as a result, fishers put extra effort to catch fish. These examples show us that our choices have the ability to steer the demand and subsequently fishing pressure on our oceans.
We can do our bit, not by giving up eating fish altogether but by choosing which fish to eat and when. We can give our favourite fish some rest during critical times of the year like their breeding season. By doing this we make sure that we have enough of our favourite fish to eat during the other times of the year! This is why we should eat seafood responsibly