“Dolphin Safe,” “No by-catch,” or claims like “Eating fish is better than eating beef,” which is all completely bogus! Fishing costs more damage to the environment than cows or any industrial cattle. Millions of tons of bycatch are being caught each year. These include turtles, sharks, Albatros, and cetaceans(otherwise known as whales), most of which are endangered. So don’t let a little sticker that says “Dolphin Safe” fool you. If you are thinking of becoming a pescetarian for the environment or if you’re just a fan of fish, you need to identify that the fish you are eating is sustainable, boycott unsustainable fish!

Illegal-Unreported-Unregulated Fishing(IUU) is the practice of illegal fishing. Typically foreign fishing trolleys enter forbidden territories to catch a particular species of fish in large bulk. The Chinese widely seek sharks as it is an ingredient for the famous shark fin soup. Approximately 100 million sharks are killed each year because of this practice. Believe it or not; we are more deadly to sharks than sharks are to us. Only three fatal shark bites occur in the U.S. each year, which is a minuscule amount compared to other causes of death that might be overlooked; like gun violence. IUU also harms fish and the economy; 30 percent of fish sold is IUU fish, which means 30 percent of the economy is being stolen by these IUU’s, because these illegal businesses don’t collaborate with bigger names that fish “legally”, furthermore all the money being earned doesn’t go to tax either, it goes straight to the buyers and traders: Every second, 816kgs of illegal fish are being caught. That’s 211 fully packed Boeing 747s every day! This past year has cost the fishing industry over $23 billion due to IUU! 30 percent of IUU happens in Indonesia. The many clustered islands make for easy trade. As a half Indonesian and I’ve gone diving there before, and it is just so beautiful. Places like Raja Ampat are rich in different species of coral and fish. Sadly, all this is being erased without a second thought. IUU has also heavily affected countries like Somalia; Somalia is a country that was once a thriving nation that heavily relied on fish for the locals to survive lost against commercial and illegal fisheries. The fish that the locals once thrived from were stolen from them by large trolleys, Somalia’s pirates were once humble fishermen that were forced to resort to hijacking ships to feed their families.

Illegal fishing might be destructive, but significant “trustworthy” companies lie about the fish that they sell which claim to not catch any bycatch. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA) is an organization that has the job of making sure companies are who they say they are and makes sure a minimal amount of bycatch is caught and no false stickers are put on products; like, “dolphin-friendly”.

A recent Netflix documentary called “Seaspiracy” investigated illegal activities in fisheries and found that tons of bycatch were being caught by “dolphin-safe” companies. Dolphins, sea turtles, sharks, and rare sea birds such as the Albatros are all being caught and brutally killed, and thrown away. This is called bycatch, the accidental catching of other species while hunting for a more sought-after species, like tuna or mackerel. Up to 40% of fish caught is bycatch, which is totally mind-boggling and unsustainable! 

People called “observers'' are sent out to monitor if any illegal fishing is being committed and monitor the rate of bycatch. Obviously, companies don’t want to be exposed for anything controversial, so these observers are at high stakes. They are getting in the way of fisheries. Tragically, 15 observers have mysteriously disappeared or been killed. The killings/disappearances have been linked to fisheries. One story is of Keith Davis. He was an observer before his mysterious disappearance. He was passionate about fish and the environment and loved going out to sea. His last mission was an expedition that lasted three months west off the South American coast. One day Keith was separated from all the others on the boat. He hadn’t been seen for days before fellow crew members reported him as missing. A search effort was made but was called off after only three days as it was deemed hopeless. It is still debated what happened to Keith, but the other cases might answer what happened to Keith.

Fishing nets are one of the most harmful plastics in the ocean. It is especially deadly for marine life because nets are built for catching fish. They are a floating death trap for marine life. They account for up to 10% of the world's plastic and considering the deadliness of nets, that's a lot. These fishing nets get accidentally cut loose in the ocean and end up floating away. Sharks, turtles, whales, and birds get entangled in the nets and eventually starve or suffocate to death. Fishing boats also sometimes drag nets along the seabed in order to catch mussels and clams, occasionally along with fish(otherwise known as bottom trawling), this is extremely harmful to coral reefs which house a vast majority of marine life in the ocean.

Farmed fish might be the way for you, but sadly, the food fed to farmed fish contains fish caught in wild oceans. Two fish are killed for every farmed fish fed. It’s just collateral damage. Furthermore, there are certain harmful oils in the feed that pollute the surrounding ocean. So if you thought buying farmed fish was any better, think again. Brands will do whatever it takes for the consumer to buy what they are selling. However, farming freshwater fish is the best way to go since they are easy to catch and farm, so if you are still insisting on eating fish, you should be eating freshwater fish. They are so much more sustainable. For instance, they don’t need a wide-open space for farming, they can be kept in small industrial farms with the risk of polluting the surroundings, and they don’t need unsustainable feed. You can just feed them bread crumbs if you would like. This might sound a bit far-fetched, but if you don’t support the fishing industry's illegal actions, why not start catching your fresh fish? You might as well help out the environment by having a bit of fun!

Please, if you don’t want to support the deaths of millions of tons of life every year, stop eating wild-caught or farmed marine life. It harms the environment just as much as plastics and greenhouse gases. The oceans are vital as well. The oceans provide for us, but we must not take advantage of that, or else there will be nothing left for us! “If the oceans die, so do we”- Ali Tabrizi.