Oceana and chefs present 4 actions to save the oceans and feed the world
Press Release Date: June 8, 2015
Location: Madrid
Contact:
Marta Madina | email: mmadina@oceana.org | tel.: Marta Madina
In honour of World Oceans Day, Oceana has presented 4 simple actions that enable regular citizens to contribute the campaign Save the Oceans, Feed the World. The actions are result of an on-going collaboration with some of the world’s most famous chefs—including Joan Roca, head chef of El Celler de Can Roca, recently awarded World’s Best Restaurant 2015—who have assisted Oceana in drawing up the list.
Many of the actions have been taken from Oceana’s own critically acclaimed book, The Perfect Protein (a new digital/Kindle edition is on sale now exclusively at Amazon.com in English, Spanishand Portuguese). The book explains how we can transform commercial fishing from its current degenerative state into something sustainable that benefits us all. It also features sustainable seafood recipes from 40 of the world’s best chefs.
“Chefs are important culinary role models and key influencers on the food we eat,” explains Lasse Gustavsson, Executive Director of Ocenana in Europe. “We are delighted so many of the world’s top chefs have recognized the importance of this campaign and are helping to raise public awareness about the state of the oceans and how we can all make a difference because our food choices today directly influence the state of our oceans. By chosing to eat sustainable fish we can all help save the oceans and feed the world. Seafood also tastes great and has well-documented health benefits”.
4 actions you can take to help save the oceans and feed the world:
- Eat small fish
- Not juveniles, but fish that are small when adult.
- Sardine, anchovy, herring, sprat and small mackerel are the best examples.
- Generally speaking smaller species are more sustainable.
- Higher omega-3 content by weight.
- Cleaner – larger fish such as swordfish and tuna tend to live longer and accumulate toxins, especially mercury, whereas shorter-lived small fish contain negligible amounts.
- Eat local fish
- Europe have put in place policies for rebuilding European fisheries enforcing the Common Fishery Policy so if you are buying local fish, you are probably getting a fish that is well if not perfectly managed.
- Go wild and avoid farmed fish
- There’s one major sustainability problem with farming fish: if the fish is carnivorous, e.g. salmon, it eats other wild fish in the form of processed fish meal pellets. So when you eat farmed salmon, you’re eating wild fish all the same. Just how much fish it takes to fatten a salmon to market size varies around the world, but it could take a staggering ten pounds of wild fish to create just one pound of salmon.
- The only exception is shellfish, such as clams, mussels and oysters.
- Don’t eat shrimps or prawns
- Shrimp farming usually involves the destruction of a coastal habitat such mangrove forests that would otherwise be a nursery area for wild fish. Wild shrimp are also a problem as they are caught using nets with very small holes which catch a lot more in the process. Typically, 3-5 kg of non-shrimp bycatch is hauled up for every 1 kg of shrimp.
Oceana is working to restore the biodiversity and abundance of the world’s oceans so that they can better support a world population forecasted to grow from 7 billion people to 9 billion by 2050. One aspect of this work is educating people about forage fish – small species such as anchovy and sardine that are often used as feed for livestock but could provide millions more tons of heart-healthy and delicious protein to feed hungry people if eaten directly.
The chefs include: Grant Achatz (Alinea, USA); Gastón Acurio (Astrid y Gastón, Peru); Ferran Adrià (el Bulli Foundation, Spain); Andoni Luiz Aduriz (Mugaritz, Spain); Juan Mari and Elena Arzak (Arzak, Spain); Alex Atala (D.O.M., Brazil); Massimo Bottura (Osteria Francescana, Italy); José Luis González (Gallery Vask, Philippines); Brett Graham (The Ledbury, UK); Rodolfo Guzmán (Boragó, Chile); Daniel Humm (Eleven Madison Park, USA); Normand Laprise (Toqué, Canada); Enrique Olvera (Pujol, Mexico); René Redzepi (Noma, Denmark); Heinz Reitbauer (Steirereck, Austria); Joan Roca (El Celler de Can Roca, Spain); Pedro Subijana (Akela?e, Spain); Joachim Wissler (Vendôme, Germany); Ashley Palmer-Watts (Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, UK).
The Perfect Protein: English, Spanish, Portuguese
Learn more: Save the Oceans, Feed the World
