SEAFOOD
Consuming seafood is both harmful for the environment and our health.
​
Environment:
Our ocean’s sea life is critical to keeping the planet in balance and healthy.
The ocean is the biggest carbon sink on the planet, storing 93% of all carbon.
​
When humans fish and raise fish in fisheries, it destroys the ocean and pollutes it.
​
​
​
How Does Fishing Affect Oceans:
Bycatch is when fishermen catch non-targeted fish and ocean wildlife that are killed. It is one of the most significant threats to our oceans and conserving healthy marine ecosystems.
“For every 1 pound of fish caught, up to 5 pounds of unintended marine species are caught and discarded as by-kill.”
Bycatch causes an extreme waste and unnecessarily kills sea life that is vital to maintaining a balanced and healthy ocean ecosystem. For example, sharks are critical predators that keep our oceans in balance yet 100 million of them are caught annually because of bycatch.
​
Trawling is when fishermen drag enormous fishing nets across the ocean floors or through the water. This method of fishing​
destroys the seafloor, a vulnerable habitat, and captures everything in its path.
​
Fishermen “drag nets over an average of six million square miles, impacting an area equivalent to twice the size of the entire U.S.”
​
In the U.S., 4-10 pounds of bycatch are killed and discarded for every one pound of marketable shrimp.
​
​
​
Farmed Fish or Fisheries:
Farmed fisheries pollute the marine environment drastically and affect ocean and human health.
​
They play a big role in catching wildlife because they feed the wild fish to those that live in the fishery since it is cost effective. If the farmed fish do not feed on crushed up wildfish, then they are given gmo crops with a ton of pesticides.
As the demand of fish continues to grow, they give the farmed fish more and more antibiotics and other toxins to help the fish grow in the least amount of time. When you eat seafood, you are also consuming all of the harmful chemicals that the fish had, hurting your health and body.
The toxins that are given to the fish also seep out into the ocean’s and kill wildlife.
​
Health:
There are over 5.25 trillion pieces of plastic currently in our oceans today.
​
As a result, all marine life ingests plastic regularly.
Thus, the seafood that you eat is filled with micro plastics.
Because all fish have high amounts of toxins inside of them, they cause many health problems for humans.
Individuals who consume seafood will have high mercury levels, which are poisonous.
Being plant-based means that you do not consume any seafood.
Hence, you are saving both our planet and your health by eating no marine life.
​
​
