Where Have All The Fishes Gone?
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Where Have All The Fishes Gone?
This blog has been a long time in the making. It took several drafts, gradually putting the pieces together. World Oceans Day, coming up on June 8, seems a fitting occasion to finally publish. So here goes:
I don’t want to sell fish fertilizer any more.
Which is serendipitous because now the second of my two suppliers no longer carries any.
Don’t get me wrong: Fish works wonderfully in the garden. Plants love it. The soil food web loves it, especially the fungi. Fish is integral to making fungal dominated compost and compost tea. I will freely admit that I’ve been selling lots of it over the years, and the money’s been good.
But here’s the thing: Anywhere I look, I see signs that it is time to stop.
Would I leave you in the lurch? But of course not! I carry several viable alternatives to fish fertilizer — see below.
But first, let me explain, starting with wild caught fish.
Once seen as an abundant and seemingly endless resource, fish populations in oceans, lakes, and rivers have plummeted globally in just a few decades while prices have risen sharply. Relentless industrial scale exploitation of wild fish for food, feed, and fertilizer are driving many species to the brink of extinction. Even in the vastness of the high seas, fish don’t stand a chance against the technology used to detect and hunt them. This has catastrophic effects up and down the ocean food chains. With easier catches depleting, bottom trawlers currently scoop up the last of the least desirable species, leaving the seafloor a wasteland.
What about farmed fish then?
Aside from ethical questions (is it okay to confine large numbers of migratory animals to a comparably tiny pen?), ocean based fish farming today is still far from a sustainable alternative. Though feeding technology is improving, it still takes processing 2-5 lbs of wild fish into feed to produce 1 lb of farmed fish. Mass escapes are common; pollution is significant; disease and parasites pose constant pressure inside the pens and beyond. Negative spillover effects on wild fish populations are well documented. Land based fish farms can only partially mitigate these problems.
With unsustainable fisheries meeting the “multiple whammy” of species extinction and biodiversity decline, water acidification and coral reef habitat loss, plastics and other pollution, increasing traffic and engine noise, ghost nets, deep sea mining, and last not least climate change, things don’t look so good for the world’s oceans. BC’s few remaining southern resident orcas can tell you all about it.
I cannot say with certainty whether all, or any one, of these factors directly relate to my specific fish fertilizer brand. The ingredients listed are “wild fish by-products”. But in the interdependent ocean ecosystems, everything is connected. It would be naive to assume it being somehow, miraculously, exempt. So I’ve come to the point where I just can’t justify selling it anymore. There’s a few jugs and bottles left and once they’re gone, fish is off the Pantry menu.…!
I do not believe the current level of industrial scale fishing has a future. That said, I do believe there is a future for small scale sustainable operations that rely on careful monitoring of stocks and strict catch quotas, such as Community Supported Fisheries (a concept similar to CSA, Community Supported Agriculture). If such a source becomes available, I will consider it.
In the meantime, I am pleased to offer you alternatives: Besides insect frass (coming back soon) and sheep wool pellets (new and oh so wholesome), the most exciting and effective is the organic, non-GMO, soy bean protein based Amino-Nitrogen. Yes, it does cost more. But you need so much less of it, making it effectively a much better deal. Example: As a soil application, liquid fish calls for 900ml per 1,000 sq ft of garden, or ten gallons per acre — while Amino-N requires only 30ml per 1,000 sq ft, or one litre per acre. That’s over thirty times less! I have tested it on my houseplants and garden, and both are responding rapidly and beautifully with healthy green growth. Bonus: No fish smell :-)
For a deeper dive (ha! see what I did there?) into the topic, check out the links below. I also recommend the book, “What a Fish Knows” by Jonathan Balcombe (New York, 2016). After reading, you may just find yourself in the seafood market one day and suddenly not “see food” any more… From the book’s prologue: “The science of fish sentience and cognition has advanced to a point that it may be time for a paradigm shift in how we think about and treat fishes”.
Thanks for hearing me out, and for considering alternatives to fish fertilizer!
Any questions, I’m happy to help.
Web resources, current at time of writing:
BC trawlers dump thousands of salmon
https://www.timescolonist.com/national-news/bc-trawlers-dump-thousands-of-salmon-depleting-orcas-food-source-wildlife-group-8136635
End bottom trawling: Pacific Wild
https://pacificwild.org/campaign/end-bottom-trawling-in-b-c/
B.C. salmon farms linked to explosive spike in wild fish deaths
An estimated 817,265 herring were killed by B.C. salmon farms in 2022, many found with their 'eyes blown out' after getting sucked into a machine that removes sea lice.
https://www.timescolonist.com/human-resources-education/bc-salmon-farms-linked-to-explosive-spike-in-wild-fish-deaths-7915118
Fish farming comes with a catch
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/379564/fish-farming-sustainable-wild-caught?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
Southern resident killer whales face extinction in 75-100 years, study predicts
https://www.timescolonist.com/animal-stories/southern-resident-killer-whales-face-extinction-study-8549124
Southern resident orca calf presumed dead
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/southern-resident-orca-calf-presumed-dead-8183577
Grieving orca mother
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/she-has-lost-someone-dear-professor-hopes-orcas-grief-swim-spurs-ethics-rethink-10096655
First Nations group criticizes federal fish management
https://www.timescolonist.com/local-news/first-nations-group-criticizes-federal-fish-policies-conflict-of-interest-in-bc-8296092
The unexpected consequences of harvesting old, wise fish
https://nautil.us/how-these-fish-lost-their-memory-1214294/?utm_source=firefox-newtab-en-us
Alexandra Morton
https://www.alexandramorton.ca/scientific-publications/