Fish and chips!
AS a boy, in South West England, I could occasionally afford to buy cod and chips from a local ‘chip shop’. It was served in greaseproof paper and I helped myself to a sprinkling of salt and a dash of vinegar before it was wrapped up in newspaper.
Now, 50 years later, when in Malaysia, I feel like a change from Malay, Indian or Chinese cuisine, I take myself to one of two places in Malaysia where I can buy dory or red snapper battered or grilled with, of course, chips. Add to the fish black pepper or mushroom sauce and I am fully fed. In more recent years, cod has not been on offer in British fish and chip shops or in restaurants owing to a distinct scarcity of this species of fish but now, thank goodness, it has returned. Overfishing in the North Atlantic
I well remember, in the 1960s, the decline of the North Sea cod fisheries and the long hauls British fishing boats went on in search of cod in Icelandic waters. Thus the Icelandic Cod War erupted between British fishing boats and Icelandic fishery protection vessels. The British Navy even sent gunboats to keep both sides apart.
Overfishing occurs when fish are caught faster than they can reproduce and, as part of the marine ecosystem, this leads to a decline in both bird and sea mammal populations. Apart from the fish stocks in Icelandic and Norwegian waters, the depletion of cod stocks in the North Atlantic was due to too many European and American vessels competing to catch the same popular fish. In 2006, it was estimated that there were only 44,000 tonnes of cod of breeding age left. Subsequently, now in 2017, this figure has risen to an estimated 168,000 tonnes thanks to a concerted plan to take cod off the menu.
The Marine Conservation Society, backed by the WWF, now recommends people to buy cod from the supermarkets again after many years when that fish existed on their ‘red list’ as an endangered species. Bycatch
This term refers to the proportion of marine life not targeted for commercial sales. Trapped in fishermen’s nets, these usually die and are thrown overboard back into the sea. Such young, undersized netted fish therefore never get to the fish market. Worldwide annually, an astonishing 27 million tonnes of such unwanted fish are cast back into the sea. European fishing quotas on the specific size of commercial fish have dictated such a ploy and many fishermen are livid over such wastage and loss of income.
Trawling, as a fishing method, is a prime example of fish waste bycatch, for it is an indiscriminate method of sweeping up all on the seabed. What a waste of marine resources. South China Sea
Here we have one – if not the top – biologically diverse marine systems in the world. This sea is, alas, trapped in the middle of the fastest developing nations where geopolitics now come into play. As our population expands, so greater will be our fish consumption. Asia already holds the highest number of the world’s fishermen. In Malaysia, many of its diverse religions take fish as the main source of animal protein. On average, worldwide, fish supplies 16 per cent of animal protein consumed by humans.
Around most Southeast Asian coastlines large areas of mangrove swamps have been reclaimed for other developments. These swamps are home to very many fish species.
Today, industrial fishing is more and more common, as witnessed by the numerous reports in the media of invader fishing boats from other countries caught fishing in maritime protection zones or within a country’s territorial waters. Often these fishing vessels supply their catches to ‘factory ships’ offshore and are part of commercial fishing fleets.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency patrol boats have apprehended and detained such intruders to good effect. In short, the South China Sea is reaching its limits as to its fish stock sustainability, thus threatening the livelihood of local inshore fishermen.
Whilst gazetted as one the IUCN’s Large Marine Ecosystems, most sadly, China, one of the sixth other nations bordering this sea, all of whom totally agreed to their aims to tackle illegal blast and cyanide fishing at a United Nations Convention in 2000, has made inroads to its territorial claims to the South China Sea. The geopolitical problem of the actual ownership of the Spratly Islands comes readily to mind where, today, regular Chinese fishing patrol vessels ward off other nation’s rightful fishermen.
This ‘sea of islands’ hopefully will be resolved sooner than later as to their national and rightful ownership. China’s ambition to lord the South China Sea dates back to 1947 when it first produced a chart claiming ownership. Fish consumption
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (UNFAO) has declared that fish consumption by Malaysians has increased by 150 per cent since 1961. By 2020, the average Malaysian is expected to consume 56kg of seafood a year. Put in simpler terms, the total population will eat 1.7 billion kg of seafood. Clearly the demand for fish here is beginning to greatly exceed the rate of supply and hence the general rise in fish prices overtaking inflation rates.
Why is this so? Partly the answer lies in the fact that the number of fish caught has been hard hit by the unsustainable development of coastal areas. The bravery of inshore fishermen to gain a daily living is often overlooked. If we must pay higher fish prices, we, as landlubbers, should not complain, for how many restaurant consumers of fish would swap their jobs for the lot of a fisherman daily braving wild weather, high seas and tides? Fish stock recovery
In the 1960s, when I bought cod and chips, the North Sea cod fishing was at its maximum. In 1992, some 30 years later the Grand Banks cod fishery off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada, collapsed and that country suspended cod fishing leading to the loss of work for 30,000 people. This sent shock waves around the world. Wherever we live in the world we need fish to eat but this can only be possible by greater protection of our fishermen and enforcing legal sizes of their fish nets to avoid unsaleable fish bycatches.
Even tighter policing with fishery protection patrol vessels in our territorial waters will see more cod on British plates and more dory and red snapper on Malaysian plates, for family meals at affordable prices and without imported catches boosting fish prices.
As for me, I shall regularly visit the fishing port of Newlyn, near my birthplace in West Cornwall, UK to eat freshly caught fish and chips and to see the fish market in early morning operation and to view fishing boats.
Equally, in Malaysia, I enjoy my fish dishes seafood restaurants, having first visited the fishing boats at the jetties and then eat, there, their catches. I come from a distant background of fishermen stock and thus, I love fish, for their sustainability in our oceans and seas provides an income to those who most need it in life. I’m sorry that I don’t provide my readers with the names of my best fish and chip shops – that is my secret!