What's Good for Us and the Oceans

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What’s good for us and the oceans

Seafood is good for our health. But the world’s growing appetite for ﬁsh isn’t so good for the creatures that inhabit our oceans. Roughly 30 percent of the world’s ﬁsh stocks are “overexploited”—in danger of collapse— according to the United Nations Food and Agri- cultural Organization. Another 57 percent are fully exploited—at or close to their sustainable limits. Then there’s the threat from climate change and radoma/fotolia.com.

pollution. Here’s how to ﬁnd ﬁsh that protect your health

Illustration: and the oceans. Continued on page 3.

The contents of NAH are not intended to provide medical advice, which should be obtained from a qualified health professional. The use of information from Nutrition Action Healthletter for commercial purposes is pro hib ited without written permission from CSPI. For permission to reuse material, go to copyright.com and search for Nutrition Action. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is the nonprofit health-advocacy group that publishes Nutrition Action Healthletter. CSPI mounts educational programs and presses for changes in government and corporate policies. © 2013 BY WWW.NUTRITIONACTION.COM © 2013 by Nutrition Action Healthletter, a division of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest. COVER STORY

What’s good for us and the oceans

Q: Anchovies can be more than None of those other species are valu- a pizza topping? able. In fact, many of them lose money Barton Seaver A: I happen to think that ancho- because of the ice, the labor, the gas, the is director of vies are delicious and wonderful. space in the hold, and all the expenditures the Healthy and I’ll take a pile of anchovies, grilled that go into catching the fish. So it often Sustainable Food up with a side of nut pesto, and goes overboard dead. Program at the put that onto a salad of fresh Each of those species is equally profit- sliced heirloom tomatoes, or able for sustaining the human body, but Center for Health stewed into a tomato sauce for they’re not profitable to the industry. and the Global pasta. I’ll take that any day of the We’ve created a system that skews toward Environment at the week. And yet, people don’t have waste and skews toward demand, rather Harvard School of access to those anchovies. than supply. Public Health. He is also a National Geographic Q: Is some seafood thrown out? Q: Because we ask for only 10 species? Fellow and the first Sustainability Fellow in A: Yes. By some estimates, 30 to A: Right. When you walk into a store and Residence at the New England Aquarium. A 40 percent of all that is captured say “I want cod,” you get whatever cod graduate of the Culinary Institute of America is unwanted by-catch, meaning is available, from wherever. When you that about a third of all seafood walk into a store and say “I want what- and an award-winning chef, Seaver is the caught is tossed overboard dead, ever seafood is freshest and best fits my author of For Cod and Country (Sterling Epi- bringing no benefit to humans. price point,” you get a better piece of fish, cure, 2011) and Where There’s Smoke (Sterling For example, in some fisheries because you’re asking for quality, not for Epicure, 2013). He spoke to Nutrition Action’s up to 10 pounds of seafood are species. Bonnie Liebman by phone from Boston. discarded for every pound of fish that is caught. Q: Why? Q: Are our oceans in trouble? A: In America, we eat about 16 A: They certainly are, for a host of pounds of seafood per person per year. reasons, from pollution to overfishing And about 95 percent of that comes from to acidification due to climate change only 10 species. And three of them— caused by increased carbon dioxide in the salmon, shrimp, and tuna—account for atmosphere. For a long time, we have not more than 60 percent of our seafood had a very healthy relationship with our consumption. oceans. We’re beginning to understand In American fisheries alone, there are how our irrational relationship with the hundreds of available commercial species, ocean is leading to deleterious health and yet we eat only 10. We have the most effects in humans. robust fishery management in the world, Q: How is our relationship irrational? but we do not take best advantage of what A: We don’t use what we take out of the the oceans can provide. So when we ask ourselves, “How do we oceans very well. About 20 percent of the Some fisheries end up with 10 pounds of entire global wild capture is not used to get more salmon?” we’re asking the wrong by-catch for every pound of fish caught. feed humans directly. question. The problem is that we make For example, the Peruvian anchoveta is demands of the ocean rather than asking Q: Do unfamiliar fish taste odd? the world’s largest single-species fish- what the ocean can provide for us. A: Come on over to my place for dinner and I’ll convince you otherwise. We have ery. And 98 percent of its anchovies are Q: Fishermen can’t sell unpopular fish? created these taboos or biases that are cooked down to a mush to create fishmeal A: When a cod net comes back into a really quite detrimental. and fish oil that goes to feed pigs, chick- boat, up with it comes pollock, cusk, ling, radoma/fotolia.com (top). Photo: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (right). Administration Atmospheric and Oceanic National Photo: (top). radoma/fotolia.com Each of those species is absolutely deli- © ens, and farmed salmon. And now we’re whitefish, dogfish, monkfish, wolffish, cious when treated as it should be. If you seeing this great influx of supplements, you name it. Yet when that fisherman treat bluefin tuna and cod the same way, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals enhanced comes back to dock, only cod commands you are not going to get the same result. Illustration: with omega-3s from fish oil. a high price. > > > > >

© 2013 BY WWW.NUTRITIONACTION.COM NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER JULY/AUGUST 2013 3 BaitCOVER & SwitchSTORY Looking for seafood that’s not endangered or raised on !sh farms that damage the environment? Here’s a list of substitutes from acclaimed chef Barton Seaver.

But the difference Instead of... Try... saying, “Maybe we between cooking cod should look outside of and dogfish and wolf- Atlantic bluefin tuna pole-caught yellowfin tuna, blackfin tuna, alba- those 10 species to see fish and monkfish and core, wahoo what is sustainable.” pollock and haddock Atlantic cod Atlantic or Pacific pollock, Atlantic haddock Q: Should we avoid and hake and cusk is Atlantic halibut Pacific halibut farm-raised fish? not all that different. A: It’s a common mis- My favorite thing to do Chilean sea bass (Patagonian Alaskan sablefish toothfish) conception that wild with those fish is to just seafood is good and turn the oven to 275 freshwater eel Spanish mackerel farm-raised is bad. But degrees, lightly salt and grouper haddock, pollock, farm-raised barramundi, globally, farm-raised oil the fillet with olive lemonfish seafood now accounts oil, and throw it in. orange roughy tilapia, haddock, pollock for about half of pro- Q: At that tempera- shark domestically farmed sturgeon, lemonfish duction and consump- ture, won’t it take tion. So aquaculture shrimp Oregon pink shrimp, Maine pinks, U.S. farm- longer to cook? is here to stay. And it raised shrimp, Fisherman’s Daughter wild A: Yes. Your fish is go- Sonora Coast shrimp runs the gamut from ing to take 25 minutes environmentally just to cook. Meanwhile, snapper farm-raised barramundi terrible to restorative. you can cook some sturgeon/paddlefish (wild- sturgeon (domestically farmed) In some cases, it can broccoli and make a caught) even increase the brown rice pilaf. But yellowtail (imported) Kona Kampachi health of the oceans you’ll get all of that that it is raised in. succulent meat, with Source: National Geographic Ocean Initiative (ocean.nationalgeographic.com). For example, farm- all of the moisture and raised clams, mussels, richness in the fish, in- Q: Is it hard to find unpopular fish? and oysters remove the stead of having it dried out by high heat. A: Yes. If Americans only eat 10 species, excess nutrients that get into water systems You get a piece of fish that’s done to grocery stores are only going to stock 10. from agricultural runoff and pollution. perfection, not one that’s scorched under But stores are beginning to carry some of Nutrients like nitrogen and phospho- the broiler at 700 degrees. The difference these options, and they need consumer rous have created an abundance of phyto- between undercooked and overcooked at participation. plankton in marine and estuarine systems. 700 degrees is 30 seconds. The difference As giant retailers like Wal-Mart, Whole Well, why don’t we grow some delicious in a 275 degree oven is 10 minutes or so. Foods, Target, and Safeway and small farm-raised mussels down there that will mom-and-pop stores begin to look at sell- actually take in those nutrients and give Q: Why don’t people try new fish? ing sustainable seafood, they’re seeing that us fabulous protein? They increase the A: They say, “I’m nervous that it’s going quality of water and increase the profit- to make my house smell like fish.” But if ability of waterfront communities. you’re focusing on buying quality, not They also preserve tradition and heri- species, your house won’t smell like fish. tage by allowing families to continue to Q: And you might save money? prosper in waterfront communities. We A: Yes, because cod is king and it com- need to save fishermen as much as we mands that high price. But if you put cod need to save the fish. in a category of “flaky white fish,” it has a Q: Can salmon be farmed sustainably? whole host of company. You can find the A: Yes, but not if you create an econom- most-available, best-priced species, and ic system that creates the most salmon then cook it simply: put it under a fresh at the lowest price. Not if you’re paying tomato salsa with olive oil and diced red for anchovies in Peru to be milled down onion on top. in energy-intensive production, paying One trick to open people up to new for it to be shipped to Norway to feed to fish is to give them a familiar flavor. They salmon that are grown in densely packed might not know what hake tastes like so pens of just salmon, and then having your it might be a little intimidating. But put salmon air freighted to San Francisco. If a little fresh pico de gallo on top with a Who needs cod? Ask for the freshest that’s the system we’re relying on, then little bit of fresh cracked black pepper and flaky white fish instead. you’re putting economic pressures on a Lsantilli/fotolia.com. beautiful Tuscan olive oil, and people say, © biological system that is not sustainable. “I might not know the fish, but I know there isn’t enough from those 10 species to fulfill the market demand. So they’re

Photo: what the dish is going to taste like.”

BY BONNIE LIEBMAN

“Study: Fish oil’s work against heart attacks limited,” ran the headline in USA Today in decline that occurs as healthy people age, May. It was the latest disappointment from recent trials testing fish oil pills on people but few studies have been done.5-7 at high risk for heart attacks. Yet many studies that follow fish eaters for years find a Depression. The largest trial done lower risk of heart disease, stroke, memory loss, depression, and a dozen other health so far was an industry-funded one of problems. What gives? 432 people with major depression. EPA (1,050 mg a day) plus DHA (150 mg Heart Attack & Stroke so much that fish oil adds nothing.4 a day) had a modest benefit among “The key question now is whether fish those who didn’t also have anxiety disor- “People who eat a diet that’s high in fish oil helps people at average risk who are not der, but most studies have been disap- 8,9 have a lower risk of heart attacks and taking multiple medications,” says Manson. pointing. strokes in many observational studies,” To find out, her Vitamin D and Ome- Vision loss. DHA (350 mg a day) plus says JoAnn Manson, chief of preventive ga-3 Trial (VITAL) is giving a total of EPA (650 mg a day) didn’t slow the medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospi- 1,000 mg a day of the two major omega-3 progression of macular degeneration or tal in Boston. fats in fish oil, EPA and DHA, to 25,000 prevent cataracts.10,11 But those studies, which observe a lower men and women with no history of heart Type 2 diabetes. Oddly, some U.S. stud- risk in fish eaters, can’t prove cause and disease or stroke. Results are due in 2017. ies have found a higher risk in people who effect. “Fish may replace foods—like red eat the most fish, while Australian studies meat—that increase risk,” notes Manson. have found a lower risk.12 Stay tuned. “Or fish eaters may have other behaviors that lower their risk.” The Bottom Line To prove cause and effect, researchers need a trial that randomly assigns people to Manson is hoping that the VITAL trial take either a placebo or fish oil pills (since sheds light on those and other questions. it’s tough to find a placebo for salmon or “Our main goal is to look at cancer and tuna, and there’s evidence that it’s the ome- cardiovascular disease,” she says. “But ga-3 fats in fish oil that protect the heart). we’re also looking at diabetes, memory Early trials on fish oil—from Italy in loss, depression, atrial fibrillation, cardiac 1999 and Japan in 2007—were encourag- function, bone health, fractures, falls, ing.1,2 “But the recent randomized trials knee pain, asthma, thyroid disease, and are casting doubt on the heart benefits of autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid omega-3 fats,” says Manson. arthritis and lupus.” The latest: researchers gave more than In the meantime, she says, “aim for two 6,200 Italians at high risk for a heart servings of fish a week. Unless you have attack either fish oil (1,000 milligrams a Until we know more, stick with fish, high triglycerides, there isn’t enough evi- not fish oil pills. day) or a placebo. After five years, there dence to take fish oil supplements.” was no difference in deaths or hospital Fish oil does have one clear benefit. If 1 Lancet 354: 447, 1999. 3 admissions for cardiovascular causes. you have high triglycerides, talk to your 2 Lancet 369: 1090, 2007. What could explain fish oil’s flops? 3 N. Engl. J. Med. 368: 1800, 2013. doctor about taking 2,000 to 4,000 mg a 4 “These trials are in people with a Arch. Intern. Med. 172: 686, 694, 2012. day of EPA plus DHA. 5 Neurol. 71: 430, 2008. history of heart attack or those with a 6 Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 91: 1725, 2010. high risk of heart disease,” says Manson. Beyond Blood Vessels 7 JAMA 304: 1903, 2010. “Many of them are taking statins, aspirin, 8 J. Clin. Psychiatr. 72: 1054, 2011. What about benefits beyond the heart? 9 ACE inhibitors, and other medications Mol. Psychiatr. 17: 1272, 2012. Here’s what we know so far: 10 JAMA 2013. doi:10.1001/jama.2013.4997. goldenangel/fotolia.com. that lower their heart disease risk.” And 11 JAMA Ophthalmol. 2013. doi:10.1001/jamaophthalmol © since some drugs work through similar Memory loss. DHA doesn’t seem to slow .2013.4412. Alzheimer’s disease or the usual cognitive 12 Diabetes Care 35: 918, 2012. Photo: pathways as fish oil, they may lower risk

Q: What’s the alternative? do we introduce seaweed, sea cucumbers, with animals’ creating fertilizer for the A: Salmon is a carnivorous species. So we scallops, other species that can take ad- fields and being fed off of the fields. can figure out how to use selective breeding vantage of the waste cycle of salmon? When we say that aquaculture is bad, to reduce the fishmeal they need but still There are also species of catfish that are we tend to vilify the species, but it’s the grow healthy salmon that are resilient to naturally disease resistant because they’re system, not the species, that matters. disease, and therefore need few antibiotics. highly resilient to the problems caused by Q: Why eat low on the food chain? How can we introduce other species, highly dense populations. And you can in- A: The marine food chain is like a such as wrasse, that are naturally going to troduce other species so you utilize whole pyramid. At the base you’ve got your feed off of parasites such as sea lice? How systems of nutrients—much like farms do > > > > >

© 2013 BY WWW.NUTRITIONACTION.COM NUTRITION ACTION HEALTHLETTER JULY/AUGUST 2013 5 What We Eat Makes a Difference Your dinner has less impact on the ocean if it’s from lower down on the food chain. Try !sh from Level 2 (like clams, scallops, tilapia, or sardines) or Level 3 (like cat!sh, trout, or sole) rather than Level 4 (like tuna, sword!sh, mackerel, or mahi mahi).

LEVEL LEVEL LEVEL LEVEL TOP PREDATORS INTERMEDIATE FIRST-ORDER PRIMARY PRODUCERS PREDATORS CONSUMERS 4 When you eat 3 2 1 or100 pounds or 1,000 pounds 1 pound of level 1 organisms of a level 4 fish, 10 pounds of level 2 fish of level 3 fish it’s like eating ...

But if you consume pound 1 pounds or pounds of level 3 fish, 10 100 of level 2 fish of level 1 organisms it’s like eating ...

Mariel Furlong, NGM Staff, and Alejandro Tumas Source: Sea Around Us Project, University of British Columbia Fisheries Centre National Geographic Ocean Initiative (ocean.nationalgeographic.com). photosynthetic flora and your fauna like fruits, grains, and nuts. This is what the Q: What about stores that sell previ- plankton. There is a vast bulk of biomass science has told us for a long time. ously frozen fish? churning out in unbelievable quantities. Small but enjoyable portions of deli- A: That shortchanges the consumer of One step up you have filter feeders like cious, sustainable seafood should be a many benefits. If it’s frozen, it can stay in clams, mussels, scallops, oysters, sardines, regular part of our diet, though, to take the freezer until you use it on your sched- and schools of fish in huge quantities. advantage of the heart-healthy omega-3s, ule. Why thaw it and start the process of The next step up you have your first- the nutrients, the lean protein. spoilage? Retailers are playing to a taboo level predators—catfish, trout, sole, and Moreover, every time we eat a small, about frozen fish. others. And at the tip of the pyramid delicious portion of seafood and vegeta- Q: What does Harvard’s Healthy and you’ve got your big predators—sharks, bles, we’re not eating red meat, which has Sustainable Food Program do? tuna, swordfish—the tigers and lions of a detrimental impact on climate change, A: We work with a number of partners the sea. We’re choosing seafood higher and our health, and on fisheries. You can’t eat to help people understand that our higher up on the food chain, and that’s a hamburger six days a week and get all health, and that of our children, depends not the way the ocean is designed to work. your omegas in one day and be fine. on the health of the environment, and Q: Should we never eat predators? Q: What’s a small serving? that we must do everything we can to A: It’s okay to eat them sometimes, but we A: When I was running my restaurants, protect it. need to place most of our burden on the we did 4½ to 5 ounces. But we weren’t Environmentalism is often a story sardines, the herring, and the anchovies— cheating anyone. Our customers were get- about how we have harmed ecosystems. the small, silver fish that occupy most of ting delicious dishes like scallion risotto However, humans are also harmed by our oceans. We need to eat mussels and with wood-grilled sardines, topped with environments. You can’t have healthy oysters, which are inherently more effi- a pistachio-roasted garlic pesto, infused people without a healthy environment, cient. By the time your anchovy becomes a with a little bit of orange zest. because we can be no healthier than the tuna, you’ve eaten 100 pounds of seafood By the time you were done, you were environment that our food comes from. (see “What We Eat Makes a Difference”). very satisfied. And we were treating our Q: Hence the National Geographic Anchovies are delicious. I’d take 100 guests with respect by not giving them Seafood Decision Guide? pounds of anchovies for a pound of tuna more than they wanted. A: Yes. It was built around the idea that any day. Q: Should people avoid frozen fish? many people are not interested in sus- Q: Is tilapia a good choice if you want a A: No. The technology of freezing fish has tainability, but everyone is immediately fish that’s low on the food chain? evolved to the point where it’s compara- interested in health. A: It’s a really good option because it’s ble to, if not better than, fresh fish. I try not to stand on my pedestal and clean, lean protein, it’s environmentally Historically, seafood was frozen as a tell you why you should care about friendly, cheap, widely available, and it last-ditch effort to keep it from spoiling. the oceans. Instead, I invite you to talk has a long shelf life. If fish wasn’t sold by Friday, it was frozen about dinner and ask, “What do you so it could be sold when demand was up. care about?” We can talk about health, Q: Can we eat sustainable seafood in So it was a crappy piece of fish to begin wellness, delicious food, jobs, culture… large quantities? with. whatever. A: We’re not going to save ourselves, our But these days, fish is pulled from the And then I can use your own words to wallets, or the oceans by eating sustain- water, filleted, and frozen within hours. repeat back to you why you already care able seafood alone. The only way forward That sounds pretty good to me. about the oceans. is for us to eat mostly vegetables, greens,

Use this table, which is adapted from the National Geographic Sea- Sustainability Mercury Omega-3 Food Chain food Decision Guide (ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/take- Mahi mahi (imported) action/seafood-decision-guide) to !nd !sh that meet your needs. Mahi mahi (US) Green circles are best, yellow and orange are in between, and red Monkfish (US) are worst. (Grey means missing information.) Seafood in bold is Mussels (farmed) low in mercury and has no red circles. See key below for more details. Octopus Orange roughy Oysters (farmed & wild) Pangasius/Basa/Swai Sustainability Mercury Omega-3 Food Chain Anchovy, European Pollock, Alaska (US) Arctic char (farmed) Sablefish/Black cod (AK & Canada) Barramundi (US) Sablefish/Black cod (CA, OR, & WA wild) Black sea bass (US North Atlantic) Salmon (AK wild) Catfish (US) Salmon (CA, OR, & WA wild) Chilean sea bass/Toothfish Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic) Clams (farmed & US wild) Sardines, Pacific (Canada & US) Cod, Atlantic (Canada & US) Scallops (farmed) Cod, Atlantic (imported) Scallops (wild) Cod, Pacific (US non-trawl) Sharks Cod, Pacific (US trawl) Shrimp (Canada & US wild) Crab, blue Shrimp (imported) Crab, Dungeness Shrimp, pink (OR) Crab, king (US) Snapper, red (US) Crab, red king (Russia) Soles (Canada & US) Crab, snow Squid Crab, stone Striped bass (farmed) Crayfish/Crawfish (China farmed) Striped bass/Rockfish (US hook & line) Crayfish/Crawfish (US farmed) Swordfish (imported) Eel, freshwater (farmed) Swordfish (US) Flounders (Canada & US) Tilapia (China & Taiwan) Grouper (US Atlantic) Tilapia (Ecuador & US farmed) Grouper, red (US Gulf of Mexico) Trout, rainbow (US farmed) Haddock Tuna, canned, albacore Halibut, Atlantic Tuna, canned, light Halibut, Pacific (US) Tuna, canned, albacore (troll/pole) * Herring, Atlantic (US) Tuna, canned, light (troll/pole) Lobster, American/Maine Tuna—albacore, bigeye, bluefin Lobster, spiny (Brazil) Tuna —skipjack, yellowfin Lobster, spiny (CA, FL, & Mexico) Yellowtail (Australia & Japan farmed) Mackerel, Spanish (US) Yellowtail (California) * An industry-funded study found average mercury levels in the “moderate” range. Key

See www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/content/media/MBA_ Sustainability Ranking Best Good Avoid SeafoodWatch_RecommendationProcess.pdf.

Mercury Level Low Moderate High less than 0.1 parts per million, between 0.1 and 0.3 ppm, above 0.3 ppm.

Omega-3 Content High Adequate Low takes one 6 oz. serving a week to get an average of 250 mg a day of omega-3, takes 2 servings a week, takes more than 2 servings a week. Food-Chain Level 1 2 3 4 See “What We Eat Makes a Difference,” p. 6.

For more information: National Geographic Ocean Initiative (ocean.nationalgeographic.com), ocean.nationalgeographic.com/ocean/take-action/seafood-decision-guide.