Concerns about over fishing, threatened species, harmful PCBs, farmed fish welfare and the impact of diseases spreading from farmed to wild fish make eating fish a controversial area. Now a 2016 study by Bournemouth University, UK and Universidad Estatal Penisula de Santa Elena, Equador reveals that over fishing, shark finning and whaling are likely to hasten climate change.

The predator fish that we like to eat are needed to keep down the stocks of smaller fish and zooplankton to limit the emission of CO₂ from this biomass. In addition whales, moving between the depths and surface of the sea, deliver essential nutrients to the photoplankton, sea plants, that absorb CO₂.

What we can do is to eat only a moderate amount of sustainable fish.

When shopping, look for the blue and whilte MSC, Marine Stewardship Council, logo.

Ask restaurants if their fish is sustainable too many don’t even think about it. 

Source: Centre for Conservation Ecology and Environmental Sustainability, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Bournemouth University, and the Facultad Ciencias del Mar, Universidad Estatal Penisula de Santa Elena, Avda. Principal La Libertad, Santa Elena, Ecuador

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