Andy Nichols

Julie Pithers

Calgary is beginning to feel the pressure of a looming reality: the oceans’ wildlife is suffering from over-exploitation. Individuals and environmental groups are taking action in the form of protests and seafood do-not-eat guides in hopes of saving the oceans, which provide much of the world’s food supply, from disaster.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2005, 23 per cent of the oceans’ wild fish stocks were moderately exploited, 52 per cent were highly exploited, 16 per cent were over-exploited and seven per cent were depleted. In other words, the oceans’ fish species are in serious trouble.

CALGARIANS SAVE SHARKS

Julie Pithers is a marketing and communications person with DIRTT, an environmentally friendly Calgary company that manufactures modular walls for office spaces. DIRTT recently became involved with Sea Shepherd, a group that interferes with illegal whaling and fishing. Despite being an avid sushi fan, Pithers is steadfast in her opposition towards oceanic exploitation. “It’s hard to say what the biggest threat to the oceans is today. Over-fishing to the extinction of species, pollution, blowing up reefs… they are all pretty piss-poor ways to take care of our home.”

Pithers played an active role in having shark fin soup removed from all Loblaws stores, the company that owns Superstore. A protest was set to be held at a Calgary Superstore against the grocery chain’s sale of shark fin, but just days prior, the Loblaws company distributed letters to protest organizers and other concerned patrons announcing the decision to remove the product from its stores.

Pithers is pleased with the victory, but says she will continue to harangue companies who sell this product. “The selling of shark fins is a global problem,” says Pithers. “The soup used to be only available to the wealthy in China and Taiwan, and to the smaller immigrant Chinese communities all over the world, but because of the… burgeoning middle-class in China, shark fin soup is now affordable for hundreds of millions more than before. The popularity of shark fin soup has all but wiped out all the larger members of the species: great whites, tiger sharks and hammerheads are considered technically extinct because they are below 10 per cent of [what are considered healthy] populations.”

Pithers has been concerned with the state of the oceans for years, but the plight of sharks worries her most. Removing them from the ocean food chain will have disasterous consequences, she says. “They are the apex predator in the largest environment on the planet,” she says. “The balance of the food cycle is kept in check by their presence. Studies are showing medium-sized fish population explosions that are wiping out smaller fish. These small fish help clean coral reefs of their parasites. By destroying sharks we will destroy the oceans. By destroying the oceans we will lose the biggest carbon dioxide filter.”

SUSTAINABLE SUSHI

Seafood guides, also known as do-not-eat lists, are being published by conservation groups as a simple device consumers can use to aid ocean sustainability. Listed are fish that are over-exploited or harvested in ways that are harmful to the marine environment and the survival of their species. Species tagged “avoid” include bluefin tuna, sharks, tiger prawns, Atlantic cod, Russian king crab and farmed Atlantic salmon. They urge consumers to avoid purchasing these species. The list also includes “best choices” and species that trigger “some concerns.”

The Living Oceans Society is Canada’s largest organization focusing exclusively on marine conservation issues. It is partnered with the David Suzuki Foundation, Ecology Action Centre, the Sierra Club of Canada and Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society. These five environmental groups banded together to launch a program called SeaChoice, a marketing program that promotes sustainable fisheries in Canada. This program launched Canada’s first-ever comprehensive seafood guide in 2006.

Shauna MacKinnon, markets campaigner for Living Oceans Society of Sointula, B.C., claims that there is not a lot of room left for the exploitation of wild fish stocks. “The main goal of the SeaChoice program, and of seafood guides in general, is to help use the power of the marketplace to reward producers who are using environmentally responsible practices,” says MacKinnon. “This encourages more [seafood] producers to adopt environmentally friendly [fishing] techniques.”

“The seafood guides and knowledgeable consumers are a first, and very important, step in the process of shifting the marketplace. When consumers start asking for sustainable seafood, businesses start to listen,” says MacKinnon.

Pithers supports these lists, but feels that they may not be the quick solution that is needed. “The do-not-eat lists are important, because they get people to think about what they are doing and what their actions result in. The hope would be that they result in meaningful moderation, but I think they are such small private statements that they will not work fast enough to stop the over-fishing of several species.”

Sushi has been gaining popularity in Calgary and globally for years, and many activists feel that this has been a large contributor to the declining health of the oceans.

Sumo Grill Japanese Restaurant, situated inside Sunridge Mall in northeast Calgary, is a popular, busy sushi restaurant. It serves a variety of fish and seafood, some of which fall into the category of threatened and over-exploited on the SeaChoice seafood guide. Tuna [yellowfin] appears on the menu, and because this fish is a staple of most sushi restaurants, Pithers feels this species is seriously threatened by the sushi industry. “Its popularity all over North America and Europe over the past 20 years has probably done more to put tuna in jeopardy than any other dish.”

Sumo manager Alex Huang says that while he has heard of do-not-eat lists, he has never seen a customer make reference to one. “The only time people ask about certain fish is when they have allergies,” Huang says. “Never a do-not-eat list.” Huang doesn’t believe that these guides will have any negative impact on his business. “Many times, people know what they want before they come, and that is what they order,” he says.

While many restaurants have signed on with environmental groups in an agreement to order fish only through sustainable means, Huang says that Sumo has never been approached by one of these groups. Like most other sushi restaurants, Sumo orders its fish through suppliers, and since the restaurant is not involved with any sustainable-ocean agreement, it is hard to say where its sushi comes from.

Huang, however, says that if the restaurant cannot sell the product to its customers, they do not order it. “Only good things come through our door,” he says.

One company that has adopted responsible seafood practices is Chartwells, a division of Compass Canada. This company provides food services for many hospitals, universities, workplaces and colleges, including SAIT. Chartwells has already removed Atlantic cod from its menus to be replaced by Alaskan pollock, a more sustainable fish resource. “Having a large company like Compass that provides seafood to institutions across Canada is a major boon for the shift to sustainable seafood,” MacKinnon says.

Both Pithers and MacKinnon urge consumers to be knowledgeable and vocal about these issues. While the future of the world’s oceans remains vulnerable, consumers can improve the state of these ecosystems by making responsible choices.

“The first thing we have to do is inform others and act: write letters, boycott and when push comes to shove, we need to make a scene,” Pithers says. “If we can rise up and let our elected officials know how we feel, the oceans will have a better chance. Since we are surrounded by three of them, Canada should really take the lead on this entire subject.”