Choosing Sustainably Managed Fish Varieties
How to Help Stop Overfishing and Save Threatened Fish Species
Sep 24, 2009
Sprats, anchovies, kina, pilchards and blue mackeral are the least threatened of all New Zealand's wild fish species and feature at the top of a list called the Best Fish Guide, compiled and promoted by the Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society.
Threatened Fish Species in New Zealand
First launched in 2004, the Best Fish Guide ranks 77 commercial wild New Zealand fish species along a traffic light colour sceme and aims to help consumers choose the most sustainably managed fish varieties. Its author Forest and Bird society senior researcher Barry Weeber says every commercial fish species in New Zealand is under threat and being overfished. No fish has ever made it to the green "best choice" category of the list but sprats, anchovies, kina, pilchards and blue mackeral are at least now, five years after the first edition, only a few points off . Those species might well feature there in future if fishing management were to improve.
More than half the fish on the list are in the endangered red zone with the ever beleaguered orange roughy predictably right at the bottom - the worst possible "worst choice".
Fish in the amber zone are less at risk but under threat regardless.
Recipes Using Sustainably Managed Fish Species
The Best Fish Guide is available for download on the Forest and Bird Society website. There too are recipes supplied top kiwi chefs using fish identifiied on the list as less threatened. Recipes currently on the site use blue moki, bluenose, Doubtless Bay dory, Albacore tuna and kingfish. Therefore people will need to look elsewhere for recipes using sprats, recipes using anchovies, recipes using kina, recipes using pilchards and recipes using blue mackeral.
Click here for a tasty fish pie recipe that uses sustainably managed fish varieties
The rankings of some species on the Best Fish Guide list might surprise. For instance, while many consumers might guess that orange roughy is the most threatened species, few might realise that even the humble creek eel is severely at risk from overfishing. It too features well down the red zone. Likewise does barracouta - even though its not a fish reputed in culinary circles!
Ministry of Fisheries Data about Fish Stocks and Fisheries Management
In compiling the Best Fish Guide, Mr Weeber relied on Ministry of Fisheries data. But that information was significantly lacking. Forest and Bird is concerned that the Ministry has been underspending its research budget when further research is so vital, he says.
"Of the 75 fisheries assessed, 44 have never had a quantative stock assessment and 26 have only had a partial stock assessment or the stock assessment is more than 10 years old. It is extremely difficult to properly manage a fishery if the most fundamental information - the size of the stock wihich is being exploited - is not well understood....(without this information) it is (also) impossible to assess whether the fishery is sustainably managed," Mr Weeber says.
Damage Caused by Deep Sea Fishing Methods
As well as fish species being threatened by New Zealand's under-regulated fishing industry, so too is the marine floor and huge numbers of other marine species including some that are already endangered, Mr Weeber says.
Coral "forests" are being damaged and destroyed by deep sea fishing methods and non-target fish are being brought to the brink of extinction when killed as by-catch.
Endangered Dolphins and Fishing Nets
More than 12,000 Hector's and Maui dolphins are thought to have been killed in fishing nets since 1970. Since 1980, more than 2,000 globally threatened New Zealand sea lions have been legally caught as allowable by-catch 'quota' for the southern squid fishery.
Mr Weeber believes the Best Fish Guide is having an impact on New Zealand's fishing industry.
Best Fish Guide Wallet Cards
Since the first edition, more than 400,000 wallet card sized versions of the Best Fish Guide have been distributed, helping consumers make better choices, Mr Weeber says.
Greenpeace and Sustainable Fishing Practice
The Best Fish Guide has been influential overseas, he says. Greenpeace has promoted the guide in Europe and used its assessments in its report on supermarkets in the United Kingdom and fisheries. The UK supermarket Waitrose decided to stop selling New Zealand orange roughy in part because of its abysmal ranking in the Best Fish Guide.
While some fisheries management planning is improving, there is still much work to do, Mr Weeber says. Forest and Bird is continuing to lobby Government for sustainable fisheries management plans.
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