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Updated Wednesday, November 4, 2009 9:27 am TWN, The China Post news staff

2048: The end of fish?

Canada's The Star.com newspaper reported last month that the EU is considering rather sharp cuts of 25% in the quota of cod that fisheries will be allowed to collect next year in a bid to stave of the complete collapse of a centuries-old European industry. Experts claim there were as many as 250,000 tons of codfish in European waters in the 1970s, compared to roughly 50,000 tons today. Environmental activist group Greenpeace tells us that Canada got its first taste of the future in 1992, when 40,000 people lost their jobs after the government was forced to close fisheries in order to allow the cod population to recover. The Canadian government's action was somewhat effective, but it's a far cry from the days of explorer John Cabot who was said to marvel in 1497 that the cod in Canada's Newfoundland were so numerous, they practically blocked his ship from moving.

Quite simply, we've reached a fishing tipping point, and Taiwan — while perhaps not the world's worst offender — is still a part of the problem. Taiwanese fishing vessels trawl waters all over the world and many of them employ advanced radar and other modern fishing technologies that enable fleets to wipe out massive schools of fish.

Many people would probably not eat a fish that was caught in, say, Hong Kong harbor as common sense dictates that these remaining fish would likely be contaminated with toxins, heavy metals — including cadmium and mercury — and other pollutants. Unfortunately, pollutants are as fluid as water and travel the currents far and wide. The head of the WWF's Hong Kong marine program Guillermo Moreno told the AFP news service that bluefin tuna caught in the middle of beautiful waters in the vast Pacific Ocean invariably contain mercury.

Fish are a source of nutrition for a huge percentage of the world's population. As an island nation, Taiwan's residents love seafood, and demand for it has only increased alongside the island's increase in prosperity over the last half-century. At the close of his Hong Kong investigation, reporter Lawrence Bartlett poses a valid question: Seeing as fish are being hunted to extinction and are heavily polluted as well, is it still acceptable — from a health and moral perspective — to eat fish?

Vegetarians would obviously argue that consuming fish is unnecessary and their lifestyle choice is certainly worth pondering. But for most of the carnivores of the world, a total ban on fish isn't going to fly. Luckily, there are some options for fish-lovers including sustainable fish farms, wild stream fish and swapping certain “name-brand” fish for other more plentiful species. These plans however would likely require that the price of fish go up considerably, something many people will find difficult to accept. We are faced with two choices: The first is to selfishly enjoy the last few decades of fish before accepting mass extinctions. The second is to take a long-term view and sacrifice for the good of the future.

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