The consumption of fish and seafood is a contentious issue at the best of times; even vegetarians do sometimes eat fish due to both the fact that fish seem further removed [than mammals] from our idea of sentient beings, and also because we know that Essential Fatty Acids (EFAs) are needed for human health. But I think there are some very real health and ethical reasons to completely stop eating fish and other seafood right now, particularly for people who do actually eat fish regularly.
Why? Well, because we have a massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.
I won’t pretend to know much about how to stop the leak (I’m sure there are already ample armchair experts). However, even once it is stopped we will still have a significant clean-up job on our hands, and the pollution will remain for some time.
Obviously the US government will not allow fishing in the water that is being directly affected by the oil spill, but that does not mean that we are ‘off the hook’ so to speak. What happens under the surface of the water is not obvious to the casual observer, but you can count on the pollution spreading further under water than on the surface.
We have two serious issues to look at when we decide whether we are comfortable eating seafood: firstly what types of toxins could find their way into fish and shellfish, and secondly what would be the effects of overfishing in the non-oil-affected parts of the world to make up for the shortfall in the supply of fish?
In terms of toxins, we have a number of different substances building up in fish that are living in oil affected waters. Firstly we have crude oil and secondly we have the dispersant being used, currently Corexit 9500. Crude oil contains both mercury and lead, which are obviously highly poisonous heavy metals. Crude oil also includes benzene, toluene and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), all of which cause cancer. While scientists claim that PAH does not accumulate in fish, they concede that it does accumulate in shellfish. The dispersant Corexit 9500 is a highly poisonous substance, roughly four times more poisonous than oil.
Heavy metals such as lead and mercury cycle through a fish’s respiratory system, eventually accumulating in its body. As some many larger fish are predatory, they receive both the environmental load of toxins, plus the accumulation of toxins from the smaller fish. This pattern continues up the food chain until the largest fish (those that are prized as being for human consumption) have significant accumulations of heavy metals. For this reason, a percentage increase in the heavy metal load due to the environment of the fish will have greater than the percentage increase in heavy metal accumulation in large predatory fish.
Mercury is associated with brain impairments, both degenerative in adults and the development of autism and chromosomal disorders (such as Down’s syndrome) in children. Mercury crosses the placenta in pregnant mothers and has its greatest effect on babies and children due to being significantly more concentrated.
Lead has been proven to be harmful even in the smallest doses tested on laboratory animals. No minimum quantity of lead has ever been accepted as safe. It affects the brain, the reproductive system, the nervous system and the kidneys, especially in children due to the higher level of concentration. Lead has been associated with low IQ, slow growth and hearing defects in children.
The chemical dispersant, Corexit 9500, used by BP to try to break up the oil from the surface of the water is known to be both more toxic and also less effective than other chemical disbursants, requiring a stronger application. I feel that we have a case of misaligned corporate ethics coming into this situation as Corexit 9500 was reputedly banned in Britain over a decade ago due to its highly toxic affects on both the environment and people. How ‘British’ Petroleum ended up with such a large supply then I do not know.
The use of Corexit 9500 in such quantities and at such oceanic depths is unknown in human history, and the exact contents of the mixture are a trade secret. Corexit 9500 increases in toxicity as it heats up, and oil in the water tends to increase the temperature of the water. It is expected that it will affect humans’ respiratory systems, nervous systems, livers, kidneys and also cause blood disorders. Just as with mercury and lead, Corexit 9500 will have a greater impact on children due to their smaller size. At the time that this article was written (early June 2010) over 600,000 gallons of Corexit 9500 have been applied to the ocean’s surface.
Clearly the fish and shellfish living in and around the Gulf of Mexico are going to be off the menu for some time. The government won’t willingly allow the people to eat contaminated fish, so all should be fine right?
Unfortunately however, the Gulf Coast is responsible for about 50% of the total US harvest in its peak season. Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico is estimated to be worth $2.4 billion per year. Not only is fishing an essential part of USA’s GDP, but people are still eating fish and so the demand causes pressure on other fishing localities to increase the supply.
Do not also forget that some fish are highly migratory, particularly deep ocean fish, sometimes travelling up to 200 miles for feeding and reproduction. It is not possible to identify whether any individual fish has ever come into contact with the oil or the disbursant that is choking the Gulf of Mexico area.
In addition to the issue of caught fish containing human-toxic substances, there is also the significant issue of overfishing to contend with. Overfishing occurs when the commercial fishing operation in an area catches the fish faster than the fish can replenish their population. This is happening globally already and will only be made worse if the same number of fish are required from fewer and less-dense fishing areas. According to overfishing.org, almost 80% of the world’s fisheries are fully to over-exploited, depleted or in a state of collapse, and over 90% of the stocks of large predatory fish stocks are already gone. Who can tell what the full impact will be when the ocean ecology is already under stress, and we increase the stress by overfishing from the surrounding areas.
Overfishing also directly impacts the animals and birds who reside in a particular area. As food becomes sparse, ocean mammals and birds will either go hungry or spend more time in fishing waters trying to catch fish to eat. These animals can then be caught in the fishing nets themselves, and if unable to free themselves will be killed and then discarded from the fishing haul.
So while those of us who are not yet affected by the disaster in the USA can sit back and watch everything unfold, it will be our fish stock that will be systematically removed from the oceans to make up for the shortfall in US fishing.
In my opinion, the only way we can feel confident that the pollution will not reach our own bodies via the consumption of fish is to no longer consume fish. Likewise, by saying no to eating fish, we can take an active stance against the overfishing of the waters in our backyards. We need to look into getting our EFAs from other sources such as flaxseeds, spirulina, chlorella and phytoplankton. Fortunately, fish do not create their own EFAs, but instead break down the EFAs in the microalgae food that they consume. Humans are able to do the same, and so we can replace fish in the diet with supplemental sources of EFA. There are already a number of supplements being manufactored for vegans who want to increase the number of EFAs in their diet; your local health food shop should have them available. Personality I only consume fish as the occasional fish oil supplement, but I have already switched over to a marine phytoplankton supplement.
Want to find out more about health, then visit Petra Smirnoff’s site on how to choose the healthiest diet for your needs.
