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Obligatory Holiday Oyster Post!
Dec. 23rd, 2008 11:49 amMonkfish, however delightful and distressing and delicious, most likely ought to be avoided. I'm displeased that we sell it. Besides being overfished, they're bottom feeders and thus caught by trawlers, those weighted and dragged nets that devastate the ocean floor, destroying life and habitat indiscriminately.
Instead, I recommend oysters. They increase the surface area in the bodies of water where they live, which creates more homes and hiding places for other aquatic creatures, and act as natural filters, removing pollutants and harmful algae. A healthy oyster bed can filter a bay several times over in a day. Unfortunately, pollution and aggressive overfishing have resulted in dwindling wild stocks, leaving the ecosystems of which they are a vital part ever more vulnerable. The wild caught ones can be harvested using methods as destructive as the catching of monkfish, but unlike most commercial fish farms, the side effects of oyster farming are overwhelmingly positive. Supporting this sort of aquaculture supports the health of the bodies of water from which they are drawn. And, as it happens, we're at the height of the oyster season now. Try some. Few luxuries lend themselves quite so well to environmental activism.
Instead, I recommend oysters. They increase the surface area in the bodies of water where they live, which creates more homes and hiding places for other aquatic creatures, and act as natural filters, removing pollutants and harmful algae. A healthy oyster bed can filter a bay several times over in a day. Unfortunately, pollution and aggressive overfishing have resulted in dwindling wild stocks, leaving the ecosystems of which they are a vital part ever more vulnerable. The wild caught ones can be harvested using methods as destructive as the catching of monkfish, but unlike most commercial fish farms, the side effects of oyster farming are overwhelmingly positive. Supporting this sort of aquaculture supports the health of the bodies of water from which they are drawn. And, as it happens, we're at the height of the oyster season now. Try some. Few luxuries lend themselves quite so well to environmental activism.
