I went to an interesting lunch yesterday sponsored by Fast Company Magazine (and yes – I know Al Gore is on the cover of the latest issue – It’s still a good magazine). The speaker at the lunch was the CEO of EcoFish, Henry Lovejoy. Lovejoy founded EcoFish to address the growing problem of depleting fish stocks. The company only sells fish that are caught in sustainable fisheries.
I have to admit, I was skeptical at first. Who wants to pay more for fish just because they come from sustainable fisheries? Aren’t there “plenty of fish in the sea” as we are often told? Turns out, there aren’t. Henry presented two slides that I found simply shocking. The first showed the biomass (the weight) of fish in the North Atlantic in 1900, the second showed same information but in 2000. The difference is scary. Take a look for yourself here. The flash demo shows the change in the biomass over the entire century, but if you really want to be blown away, just compare 1900 to 2000.
It seems to me that this is a pretty big issue that isn’t getting anywhere near enough attention. And compared to global warming, this issue is real and immediate.
August 14, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Thanks bringing attention to this issue. Overfishing is a big issue and fisheries are a great solution and a good option for developing countries.
Fish is my favorite food and getting more expensive all the time. Have you checked out the prices at Whole Foods recently? We need some more competition in the market….