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Can we live in a world without fish?

Matilda Lee | 08.06.11

The world's fish stocks are nearing collapse. Over 80 per cent of the world's fisheries are fully or over exploited. This means that we may be the last generation not only to enjoy fish fingers and admire beautiful coral reefs but that we are pushing intricate ecosystems to the brink- with dangerous and as yet unknown consequences. The time to act is now. Here are five easy ways to support sustainable fishing on World Oceans Day.

1. Eat only fish that aren't endangered. While it is tricky to know which fish NOT to eat, an easier way is to learn which fish are OK to eat. Here is an article with the Marine Stewardship Council's recommendations for five fish you can eat guilt free .

2. Join Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Fish Fight campaign to end fish by-catch. A big issue on the table when Ministers begin to review the EU's Common Fisheries Policy for 2012. The statistics are shocking. For example, half of all fish caught in the North Sea are thrown back overboard dead. Governments need to know this isn't acceptable.

3. Teach your children about fish and the sea. Mark Kurlansky, best-selling author of Cod: A biography of the fish that changed the world, has recently published a wonderful children's book call World Without Fish. It explains the current crisis in the oceans and the threat to fish and our environment. Interwoven within the book is a comic-strip type fictional story of the daughter of a marine biologist who witnesses the extinction of the world's fish in her lifetime.

4. Shop for the ocean. It may sound counter-intuitive, but the campaign created by Selfridges on Oxford Street, called Project Ocean, has raised the bar in 'retail activism' and so far, from consumers and concerned members of the public, have raised over £80,000 to help create and maintain a Marine Protected Area in the Philippines. The shop delisted 70 endangered species of fish from its food halls and restaurants and got Katharine Hamnett's to design a range of Save the Sea t-shirts as a fashionable way to make your voice heard.

5. Get wet. Yes, you. Go to the sea, the ocean - somewhere, anywhere where you will be able to appreciate and enjoy the life that exists under water - and helps sustain humankind. Sylvia Earle, world famous oceanographer and explorer, also known as 'her royal deepness' recommends people see things as fish do by spending as much time as possible in the water. We need to understand and better appreciate what we are losing.

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