Four Fish
by Seth Weidenaar
I always assumed fish was a healthy alternative to meat. There were occasional arguments challenging this idea, but they were usually squashed quickly. Shrimp was said to have a high amount of cholesterol, but then someone decried the cholesterol to be of a healthy variety. Tuna was claimed to contain a high level of mercury, but no one stopped eating it; mercury must not be that scary. The argument that stated fish from polluted waters would cause poor health seemed to be a sound one. Yet, no fish eater assumed that the fish on their plate came from a polluted body of water; such a fish would never make it to a market. For the most part, these thoughts are correct; however, the debate over fish is a much larger one than these few arguments. Paul Greenberg explores this debate in his book Four Fish.
Greenberg centers his look at fish as food upon the question of wild fish versus farmed fish. Which option is better for the eater, and which is better for the planet. He asks the question, “Must wildness be eliminated for the purpose of conservation?” early in the book; he then uses that question to explore the plights of four famous food fish: salmon, bass, cod, and tuna.
The section on salmon takes the reader to a wild salmon fishery in Alaska and then to several salmon farms around the Northeast United States and Canada. While dwelling on salmon farms, he tells the story of how the salmon farming industry began in the 1960s. This story of salmon husbandry, and the other stories of fish husbandry in the book, prove to be incredibly fascinating – something that I did not expect. The facts about salmon were a bit unnerving. Wild salmon were once prevalent creatures found in many rivers and streams across numerous countries. Now, all the salmon that we see; whether sitting in the Safeway cooler, or smoked in a Ziploc package, is farmed. The process of farming salmon leads to the possibility of the farmed salmon escaping and breeding with wild salmon. This could potentially lead to the end of wild salmon. The farmed salmon also need to consume roughly three pounds of ground up fishmeal to produce one pound of edible salmon flesh. When Greenberg approaches the point of commenting upon the endeavor of farming salmon he states, “we should have chosen something else.” However, like many other seemingly foolish industries, the multi-billion-dollar salmon farming industry is too large to stop now.
Greenberg then shows the reader the sea bass phenomenon. Sea bass is fare found on fancier menus than I regularly see, so I found this section less relevant than the one on salmon. Yet, the story of the domestication of the sea bass involves Italian fishermen using explosives, French health nuts, a Greek entrepreneur taking a business gamble, and an Israeli endocrinologist trying to solve Israel’s food shortages. This story was a delight to read, even if I may not taste a sea bass in the near future.
The section on cod was more relevant to me and equally as interesting as the section on the sea bass. Cod is a strange looking fish that has a white, flaky flesh that has fed America for years as fillets or as a multitude of frozen and breaded products. The plight of cod has been dire; overfishing has led to the closure of productive cod fishing waters for the species’ protection. But, that may not be enough and Greenberg shows some cod alternatives: Alaskan pollock, Vietnamese tra, and African tilapia. While these are great alternatives that leave the reader feeling optimistic about the status of frozen fish sticks in the supermarket, the bad taste of human destruction lingers. With this lingering thought, Greenberg changes the topic to the bluefin tuna.
The story of the bluefin tuna is truly a tragedy. The fish was once thought to be disgusting due to its dense, bloody flesh. When faced with a shortage of other fish, chefs and diners turned to bluefin tuna and have not looked back, even though the tuna sits perilously upon the edge of extinction. Greenberg suggests that the only true solution to the bluefin tuna problem is to close commercial fishing in all waters and switch to eating other more prevalent and manageable fish, like Amberjack. This change in philosophy about the bluefin tuna would require thinking of the fish not as food but as an animal – something most people might be unwilling to do. This section is tragic; however, do not panic. Bluefin tuna is typically found in very high-end sushi restaurants; the steaks found in upscale markets like Trader Joe’s are from the less endangered yellowfin tuna.
The treatment of fish as an animal is one of the more interesting conclusions the book reaches. I, along with many others, have never thought about the levels of life in the sea. I only thought of the health benefits of eating fish; I always assumed that the sea was like a farm with crops that always grew back automatically. This is not true, and unless we start thinking of some seafood as animals that need to be saved, we will not have that seafood available to us for much longer. You may or may not agree with the presentation of the argument, but the truth of fish extinction is still a reality.
I found Greenberg’s other conclusions to be a bit less convincing than this one. But, conclusions aside, Four Fish turned normally unglamorous fish into an exciting topic. Greenberg’s prose and storytelling prowess make this a fish tale worth reading
