The Blue Revolution

Food Chain Radio Podcast with Michael Olson

Nicholas Sullivan, Senior Research Fellow, Tufts University and Author, The Blue Revolution: Hunting, Harvesting, and Farming Seafood in the Information Age

Can we catch fish so there will be fish left to be caught?

Given the technologies of the information age, we-the-people have become very adept at catching fish.

In fact, if we could get away with it– like we got away with killing all the buffalo– we would probably go out and catch all the fish in the sea. And why not? There are a lot of hungry people that need to be fed, and there is a lot of money to be made!

But we simply can’t get away with it. If we catch all the fish in the sea, there will be no more fish to catch. Who will then feed all those hungry people? And how would we make any money fishing?

Therefore, some of us are taking steps to establish sustainable fisheries. That is simply a fishery where fisherman can go back year after year and catch fish, but only to the extent that the fish they do not catch can reproduce themselves and the fishery.

Certainly not all of us are taking those steps. And if you think about the business of setting up sustainable fisheries, it’s a lot like the business of managing greenhouse gases. Some communities will eliminate all their wood burning fireplaces; other communities will build coal burning power plants! But that is our world, and it does lead us to ask:

Can we catch fish so there will be fish left to be caught?

(The Blue Revolution, Nicholas Sullivan, sustainable fisheries, cod, scallops, Atlantic salmon, the Grand Banks, Georges Bank)