- Overfishing could result in increased prices for fish.fish market image by Alexey Stiop from Fotolia.com
Scientists use the term overfishing to refer to situations where fishing activities cause severe reductions in the population of a particular fish species. In addition to contributing to the extinction of fish species and disrupting ecosystems by putting large gaps in the food chain, overfishing can also have negative impacts on the culinary industry. - If overfishing continues to reduce fish populations, the end result will be less fish for fishermen to catch and less fish coming to market. This is true both in terms of the overall quantity of fish that fishermen bring in and in terms of the varieties of species they are able to catch. In the culinary industry, this means that fish markets, particularly those dealing in wholesale, may experience shortages of product, while restaurants may not be able offer the diverse array of fish species they could. According to National Coalition for Marine Conservation, many fish populations are already beginning to dwindle due to overfishing. These include blue marlin, swordfish, bluefin tuna, red snapper and cod.
- As of 2010, the customer demand for seafood was enormous, and the world's culinary industries do everything they can do to meet it. This demand is what drives the fishing industry to catch as many fish as possible as quickly as possible. It is also a primary underlying cause of overfishing. According to the basic economic principle of supply and demand, as the world's supply of fish dwindles due to overfishing, and demand for fish exceeds the supply, prices will undoubtedly climb. This means the culinary industry will have to pay more for fish, which could have a severe economic impact.
- In an effort to curb the costs of paying for fresh-caught fish, whose numbers continue to fall as a result of overfishing, the culinary industry is starting to rely more heavily on farmed fish. According to DFW Earth, the most common types of fish farms consist of netted enclosures, which are either offshore or in an inland waterway. Farmers grow the fish in groups of hundreds or even thousands, which often makes for cramped and unsanitary conditions. According to CNN, the National Fisheries Institute argues that farmed fish are just as healthy as fresh-caught fish, and perhaps even healthier for you in the case of salmon, due to higher levels of omega-3 fatty acids. However, there are still some concerns. Studies by the Environmental Working Group and the journal Science show that some types of farmed fish are contaminated with hazardous toxins, such as polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins and methylmercury.
