Day 103: How sustainable is the fish you eat?

Unfortunately, too little has been done in recent years to protect many of our fish species in New Zealand from unsustainable fishing methods, especially set nets and trawling which often capture other marine life (known as bycatch, and includes our critically endangered Maui dolphins, as well as seabirds and fish species that are thrown back into the sea to die). Overfishing has also had a huge impact upon stock numbers, so that many species are at threat of extinction.

Check out Forest and Bird's NZ Best Fish Guide here. You'll be astonished at how many species are at threat. The Guide is also available as an app for download on iTunes app store and on Google Play.

New Zealand's Forest and Bird recommends asking retailers, restaurants and takeaway outlets, the type of fish, location caught and the method of fishing used for all of their fish, and making your choice based upon this information. For more information about how you can help, check out Forest and Bird here.

Do you know what species of fish you are buying? Photo credit: Andrew Dunn, http://www.andrewdunnphoto.com/ Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license Tomorrow - do you want plastic with your fish? Thanks for checking out my blog. I'd love to hear your comments. Thanks, Joy

For more information about Hector's and Maui dolphins, click here.