Yesterday the developing “aquacultural” practice of open ocean farming questioned our appetite for More Fish Please, so today let’s continue evaluating our habits by looking at fish farmed closer to shore.

Humans love their salmon as sure as they love their beef or even more so than in countries other than Texas. Whoops! Texas is a state but I wager it devours enough cattle to feed a small country. Fish are full of healthy oils which do wonders for the brain and the heart, so let’s have a 72 ounce fish-eating contest. Why not? More of a good thing is better, right?

Let’s challenge humanity to change our perception and look at fish as ONE source of healthy fats amongst many other foods. Take coconut for example.

Falsely vilified in the past as evil artery-blocking slop by the corn industry (Hmmm. Follow the money and the politics behind that one) we now know that the coconut is in fact excellent for healthy cholesterol levels with its medium-chain fatty acids. It can feed the brain to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s and repair cognitive function (Google it). Coconut oil also does not go rancid and carcinogenic when used in frying. No other oil can boast that claim to fame.

YEEEHAAA for the coconut! And you taste marvellous, darling!

Did you also know that coconuts float? Now there is an opportunity for a savvy sustainability-minded business person.

Instead of creating fish farms all along our coastlines, we can cut down our consumption of fish to say…none…or once a week just to be safe if you fear (False Expectations Appearing Real) not getting all the nutrition you need from other protein sources. Then we can use the ocean’s natural currents to transport the coconut procession across the water. Of course, we’d have to get a head start because it is a bit of a trek for the sea-faring bobble heads.

But getting back to the fish farms, there are small steps we can take to reduce the plethora of problems coastline factory fishing produce. First, here is a list of the top ten problems I shamelessly lifted from FootAndWaterWatch.Org. They are now officially Woman Not Waiting polka-dots:

  • Competing/Conflicting Interests— other interests humans might have on coastlines. I vote for the marine preserve one :-).
  • Escapement— now why would the prisoners want to escape anyway? It couldn’t be disease, overcrowding, and the water is bluer syndrome, could it?
  • Growing Exotic / Mutated Species— Yuck! Blame Dr. Evil for that market. Now everyone wants ill-tempered mutated sea bass (click here for the video clip).
  • Growing Genetically Modified / Transgenic Organisms (GMOs)— Skinny Mermaid Salmon anyone?
  • Habitat Impacts— the chain gang shows up to build the little fish prisons
  • Inefficiency— not of the monetary kind but of the fish-wasting kind. Fish eat lots and lots of smaller fish. WE could be “disposing” of the smaller fish’s digestive by-products instead.
  • Mitigation Plans for Hazards— who cleans up the mess when things go wrong? Molly Mermaid?
  • Human Health Concerns— now this one is ironic. Isn’t the whole raison d’être of the farms the fact that fish are healthy for us?
  • Unexpected Environmental Harm and Abandoned/Bankrupt Facilities— again, Molly Mermaid had better be on the job
  • Water Pollution— my personal pet peeve. I will expand no further lest I explode into a rant unbecoming of a Woman Not Waiting.

Can you think of any more?

Now, here are a few compromises we can make to lessen our impact. Just like Small Is the New Big explains, everything we do is significant.

YOU are significant in everything you do and every living being you touch. What a wonderful feeling to know that you matter in more ways than you may be consciously aware of…yet. More polka-dots?

  • more coconut bean and veggie curry please— a dollop of brown rice too
  • honey, please pass on the fish— or give me the little one the salmon usually eats
  • yummy inland-farmed salmon fillet— à la David Suzuki
  • fish-free pot-luck— creative complete protein and brain feeding yum-yums at their best, without tofu please
  • weekly wild catch— the one you brought home last night on your fishing trip…no, no, not the hottie you lured in the waist-high waders…the fish…tsk tsk.

Any other ideas?

Saving our oceans can be fun.