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I enjoyed reading your evaluation of the northern cod. Greenberg used a great example of how useful and important census can be when bringing up Ted Ames’ interviews with older generations and discovering a much larger area of cod spawning grounds that were previous unknown and one that the government management program being set-up would have likely, then, been excluded. That just seems to scream how useful and important it is to look at older generations when researching previous fish populations!
I agree, the historical population is neglected. When programs are set-up for restorations of sorts there should be careful consideration to a collective timeline including multiple generations of individuals living in the area. When using historical, local knowledge, a more comprehensive idea of what the original normal level was can be obtained.
There’s no solid evidence proving genetically engineered food is flat out bad, but I think we should still approach the option carefully. For example, consider corn. In Mexico there is real concern in preserving and protecting the original varieties of Native Mexican corns from the monopoly of GMO corn and modification of Native corn by GMO corn. Consider: who knows about red, black, or blue corn? Yet, who doesn’t know about yellow corn?
I think we should be very careful in our hunger for production. In the excitement and search for finding a single, efficient solution, we might forget about the diversity around us.
I think salmon farming has great potential if improved upon. In that regard, something that really struck me from Greenberg’s book was Thierry Chopin’s work in integrated multitrophic aquaculture. He described this as an “ecosystem-management approach to aquaculture”. The idea of using the focus of farming salmon to produce multiple outlets is brilliant. Greenberg goes further to mention that this “…polyculture for some reason got lost.”. I think re-embracing this idea would be an incredible part of improving current farming.
Domesticated salmon certainly seems to a sort of saving grace. Paul Greenberg mentioned that “Every year three billion pounds of farmed salmon are produced… three times the amount of wild fish harvested”. Offhand, that seems to take a lot pressure off of wild salmon, but I think it’s important to consider the affects farms have on wild populations. For example, tamed and wild salmon breeding, tamed salmon taking wild salmon resources only be unable to breed later on, and the pollution farms release into the rivers.
I think it’s also interesting to consider if tamed fish survived and reproduced with wild salmon. They would introduce their “domesticated” genome, something built around just being effectively farmed, to a salmon refined to survive. How much would that affect wild salmon further down the road? That’s introducing traits normally “eliminated”.
I can see where you’re coming from in your personal experience. In the community I used to live in, there wasn’t even an inkling of a worry of overfishing. However, I think when it comes to the oceans and seas, fish are being treated as a resource and being exploited. There needs to be a heavier focus on sustainability and giving fish stocks the chance to recovery appropriately.
I also rated fish stocks at 7. My reasoning doesn’t come from personal experience in commercial or recreational fishing, so it’s interesting to read a firsthand account. I’ve read a lot about fish harvests being lower, yet the demand for fish still being high. Despite fishing management, it seems many fish are not given enough or any time to recover. I think it’s also important to think about the food web fishes are a part of and how much their depletion is effecting other marine life.
