Customer Reviews

Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood

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Bottomfeeder is an excellent read on a critically important topic. The book documents the massive overfishing that combined with environmental pressures is driving many fish species to the point of extinction, and that much of the cheap seafood on our plates is not safe or sustainable for humans or the planet. Unfortunately, this issue has gotten limited coverage outside the environmental media and for many readers Grescoe's book will be an eye opener that explores new territory.

Marine biologists estimate by 2040 a large number of species will be decimated. If whole sections of the aquatic food chain go the way of once plentiful Chesapeake Bay oysters and blue fin tuna, what will happen? Grescoe jokes about fish and chips being replaced with jellyfish and chips as a lighthearted way to highlight the issue. As he points out, fishing is the only large scale hunting activity still carried out in the wild. Decades of massive, industrial scale fishing are an uncontrolled experiment, upturning species in every ocean, turning predator into prey and destroying environments and human health through questionable fishing techniques, unsafe farming practices and black markets.

Nobody escapes responsibility for this mess, but Grescoe turns what could have been an angry polemical rant into a globe trotting adventure and keeps Bottomfeeder enjoyable to read. His love of food shines through on every page as he talks to fishermen, scientists, bureaucrats and chefs. By the end of the book, the root cause of overfishing is shown to be the familiar toxic brew of greed and ignorance familiar to the environmental genre, aided by ineffective government oversight and often compounded by chefs whose promotion of a tasty fish can spell disaster for a species.

The tragedy is that Bottomfeeder may be too late to have a large impact. Chesapeake Bay oysters will likely never return and the race to the bottom is well under way around the world. The book does however give some excellent suggestions on fish to enjoy and species to avoid, leaving the reader a small part to play in turning back this "tragedy of the commons".

Even if you don't read this book, check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium website for "Seafood Watch", a handy guide on sustainable seafood.

If you are a junkie for food politics and ethical and healthy food choices this book stands with Pollan, Nestle, Schlosser and Shiva.

The book takes the reader up and down the food chain as both a diner and a social/environmental critic.

even for the well informed amongst us there is lots to learn and appreciate. Grescoe connects lots of dots and makes eating seafood a fully engaging activity.

BOTTOMFEEDER
By Taras Grescoe
I was really looking forward to reading this book and I was not disappointed. When it comes to eating seafood responsibly I have always felt at a loss for information. First of all I grew up in North Eastern Ohio and the only "local" fish there came from Lake Erie and there was a time that no one would eat fish from Lake Erie. I also am allergic to just about every kind of shell fish. So beyond the Gortons Fisherman my palate is unrefined to say the least. After reading this book I have a much better understanding of how the oceans of our world are being affected by the lack of understanding on the part of most of its people. This book, over the course of 10 chapters takes the reader through the problems facing our most endangered species of fish as well as the many reasons why these fish are endangered. It is not one simple problem but the answer is actually not that difficult to implement even though it is not popular every where. The answer is being informed and not accepting practices that are destroying our oceans. If we don't buy products that are not ethically produced there will be no market for them. I liked the fact that every chapter had a focus on a specific fish and its ecosystem. What the challenges were for that ecosystem and what could be done about it. Because of this chapter by chapter approach when I want to reference the book again in the future I will have a much easier time finding the information I need. It seems to me after reading this book that the two main culprits in the problems facing our oceans is ignorant indiffference on the part of the consumer and the greed of those that see the ocean as a source of income and not a way of life. I will never look at seafood the same way again. While I am not a big seafood consumer myself I now want to explore eating the fishes that are sustainable and incorporate them into my family's diet. After all fish is brain food. I liked this book a lot even though it was not a fast read. I had to work my way through each chapter because it was filled with so much information. The author does include a good index in the back as well as an appendix to resources. There also is a section on which fish to eat and which to avoid. My only real complaint is that I wish it had a good recipe for sardines.

This valuable book is full of important information about what is involved to get seafood in the grocery case or on the restaurant table and allows you to make environmentally sound and healthy choices. Although you will probably ban many popular seafoods off your table after you read this, many other tasty and nutritious kinds of seafood can take their place and you will be able to continue enjoying these kinds of seafood without guilt, knowing you will no longer be contributing to fish stock depletion or environmental destruction.

While I was reading Bottomfeeder, I was sometimes craving fish (sardines, especially!) and sometimes thinking I never wanted to eat another fish (farmed salmon) or shrimp again.

Bottomfeeder is a real eye-opener about where our seafood comes from and how its future is in jeopardy. Ever wonder how Red Lobster gets sooooo many shrimp to feed soooo many people all over the country? And ever wonder why those shriimp all exactly (pretty much) the same size?

Surely you've heard that salmon is plentiful because there are salmon farms. Want to learn how gross those farms are? Read this book.

Luckily, as a seafood lover, Grescoe writes about sustainable fish populations and does give very good, clear direction about what sorts of fish -- what species, and how and where they are fished or produced -- one can eat without feeling like one is contributing to the eventual demise of species, and isn't harming one's health with too much mercury, antibiotics or other nasty chemicals.

I loved reading about Grescoe's adventures in eating seafood around the world. Descriptions of sardines made my mouth water, descriptions of pufferfish made me recoil. This is an adventure in eating good food, and an education in how (as the subtitle says) to eat ethically in a world of vanishing seafood. I hope everyone who eats a lot of seafood will read it.

In this era of incredible food journalism from the likes of Michael Pollan and Marion Nestle, there's been a lack of authors journeying beyond the corn fields and feedlots to explore the state of seafood. Grescoe braves that topic, taking us to the four corners of the earth to investigate first hand the people, places, and practices involved in the fishing and farming of seafood. Along the way, he reveals little by little the variety of reasons to avoid certain species when trying to eat ethically and sustainably.

At times, the book seemed self indulgent - as the author eats his way around the globe, dining on every species he goes on to warn against, waxing nostalgiac about his travels - but every first hand account lends necessary credibility to his warnings. Unlike other food writers I've enjoyed, I didn't feel that I was being taken along on his journey of enlightenment, discovering the truth together along the way. Instead, Grescoe seems to reveal too early that he already knows the truth about each species, and that he's graciously sharing that knowledge with us. To me, this made the book feel less satisfying, and the author less appealing - less the guy you want to invite to dinner to try out a new dish, and more the guy who would try too hard to impress you with his obscure food knowledge.

Even if the author comes across more guide than fellow traveller, his message and it's value are clear. To eat seafood ethically, one must educate yourself, ask questions, and make choices - choices that Bottomfeeder makes easier, with both Grescoe's accounts of his travels and with summarized guidance and resources in the final chapters.

Science hurts my head. In college I couldn't make it through a semester of biology. The textbook was incomprehensible and the teacher's carefully prepared PowerPoint slides wasted. It was all just gibberish. Science, especially life sciences, was definitely not for me.
(Science was somewhat redeemed the following year in my astronomy and geology classes. Still tedious and boring, but at least I `got' it. Whereas I'm still unable to remember basic parts of cells or DNA. Ribosomegolgibodynebulei what?)

But I try to be a good little environmentally-friendly girl and recycle, bring fabric bags to the grocery store, buy vegetables at farmer markets and patronize local businesses rather than big box corporations. (Amazon remains my huge weakness and exception to that rule.) Bottomfeeder was impulsively requested because of the catch phrases "eat ethically" and "vanishing seafood." I love to eat fish, but I never really cared about where it came from. There's plenty of fish in the sea, right? This book has completely revolutionized my thoughts.

A combination o travel writing and scientific research, Taras Grescoe hunts down local seafood delicacies from around the world (Bouillabaisse in Marseilles, bluefin tuna sashimi in Japan) and traces the fish's journey from the ocean to the dinner table. In addition to mouth-watering descriptions of exotic dishes, he has written a condemning exposé of the world's destructive over-fishing. By decimating the ocean floor with massive bottom-trawlers and wastefully throwing hundreds of tons of bycatch (fish caught in giant nets with fishermen's intended prey but are too small or the wrong species to sell) the fishing industry is on a collision course with disaster.

But Grescoe isn't all bad news. In each chapter he focuses on a certain species and shares the best way to get it with minimal negative impact. If there is no good solution to be found he suggests tasty alternatives. He also highlights possible suggestions and experimental attempts to bring fish populations back to sustainable levels. His message is dire; if the industry doesn't change we're looking at a future of not sushi and salmon steaks but "peanut-butter-and-jellyfish" sandwiches. (When a natural ecosystem is upset due to key species removal or pollution, algae and jellyfish are often the only creatures left.) But it is not without hope. Take the time to read this book; with seafood consumption on the rise and TV shows like "Deadliest Catch" gaining popularity Bottomfeeder contains information that all consumers must know.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch guide has been tucked into my wallet for a couple of years now, but even with its straightforward green, yellow, red categories, I've found myself staring at restaurant menus in bafflement. How can salmon fall into all three categories and how do I know which one I'm ordering???

Grescoe's book has thinned the fog surrounding the world of seafood. In interesting and easy to read chapters, the book explores the oceans from the bottom of the food chain all the way to the top, and provides a well-rounded explanation of the issues facing the seafood industry and the environment.

Though I had anticipated a doomsday narrative that would shatter my love of seafood, instead it has left me feeling empowered to ask the right questions and make better choices.

This was the second book I read this summer that made me just want to develop a course on the topic. Now, I'm already a Seafood Watch advocate. I distribute more than a thousand Seafood Watch cards every year. Bottomfeeder is a well organized, very readable treatise on the topic of sustainable seafood.

It's organized by fish or issue: monkfish, oysters, British fish and chips, the real bouillabaisse, sardines, toxic shrimp farming, the tragedy of shark fin soup, bluefin tuna, farmed Atlantic (ha) salmon, and the origin of "fish sticks." An appendix discusses how to choose sustainable seafood, and notes some troubling trends with the Marine Stewardship Council with its certification program.

But author Taras Grescoe says it best in his own words, and I can't summarize this book any better:

"Entire cultures have built elaborate identities around the cooking and consumption of seafood" (p. 5).

"As I set out, the list of seafoods that I enjoyed eating was long. I knew it was going to get shorter, but I figured the process would be worth it. I was going to acquire a simple but crucial skill: how to eat nutritious food ethically" (p. 13).

"We are. in effect, clear-cutting the oceans: sea bottom scars two and a half miles wide have been found off Norway, where 40 percent of cold-water reefs have already been damaged by trawls. Off the coats of Florida bottom-trawling has ground 90 percent of the state's fragile Oculina coral reef into rubble" (p. 27).

"It is impossible to overstate what a bad idea fishing for such a deepwater species [orange roughy] is. The fact that we are dragging nets one and a half miles below the surface should suggest how difficult it has become for humanity to find wild-caught protein. It is as if, after shooting most of the birds in Europe and North America, we have resorted to burning down the Amazon so we can catch the fleeing parrots and macaws in butterfly nets. And then eat them" (p. 29).

"We are reaching the 'day of reckoning' predicted by Garrett Hardin in his seminal paper: the carrying capacity of too many ecosystems has been surpassed. We have gotten too good at catching fish, and tragedy is striking our global commons" (p. 53).

"For most of human history, our relationship with the sea has been predicated on the erroneous belief that, even if we wanted to, we could never make a dent in fish populations" (p. 74). "We now know that worldwide, total catches peaked at 78 million tonnes in 1988, and have been declining by about half a million tonnes a year ever since" (p. 75).

"The term [shifting baselines syndrome] refers to the very human tendency to take the ecosystem as one first encounters it as the baseline for a pristine environment... Incrementally, over the course of many lifetimes, the baseline shifts without anybody noticing, and natural abundance is gradually whittled away to zero" (p. 76).

"It took five hundred years, but the world's greatest fishery has disappeared, probably forever" (p. 77).

"The discarding of fish is one of the fishing industry's most shameful practices. Fishing vessels the world over are trailed by miles of floating fish, 'bycatch' tossed overboard, dead, because they happen to be too small or the wrong species. Some scientists believe one third of the world's catch is discarded this way" (p. 78).

"... in restaurants and fishmongers, I had started to ask a crucial question: where exactly did you catch of the day come from? (p. 123).

"Economists have calculated that fishing for sardines and other abundant coastal species produces far fewer greenhouse gases than the cultivation and transport of spinach" (p. 130).

"The simple fact is, if you are eating cheap shrimp today, it almost certainly comes from a turbid, pesticide-and-antibiotic-filled, virus-ridden pond in the tropical climes of one of the world's poorest countries" (p. 151). "One study has found that up to 38 percent of mangrove loss worldwide can be attributed to shrimp farming" (p. 160).

"Of all the varieties [of canned tuna] on sale, only non-longline-caught skipjack (marketed as 'light') tuna, which is low in mercury and relatively abundant in the oceans, can conceivably be considered a healthy, sustainable choice" (p. 117).

"Forty-three percent of the fish eaten in the world are now farmed, according to the United Nations, and the industry has been growing by an astonishing nine percent a year for the last three decades. By 2010 world aquaculture output is expected to surpass beef production" (p. 221).

"Personally, I cannot face another piece of farmed salmon. The herringbone pattern of flesh, barely held together by creamy, saliva-gooey fat - the vehicle for some of the worst toxins known to humanity - has lately been making me choke" (p. 147). "If you must buy farmed salmon, according to food safety writer Marion Nestle, you should grill or broil the fish until the juices run off, then remove the skin. That way, she writes in her book What To Eat, you can get rid of much of the toxin-conveying fat and with it half of the PCBs" (p. 147).

"According to United Nations figures, population growth means the world will need an additional 25 million tonnes of farmed seafood by 2015. If at least some of that seafood is going to be sustainably and ethically harvested, consumers are going to have to start asking a fundamental question. It is the one I got used to asking in my travels: Where, exactly, did this fish come from? And refusing to take 'I'm not sure' for an answer" (p. 261).

"Wallet cards and eco-lapels, though great tools, are only a beginning. One of the most effective measures for empowering consumers would also be the simplest to enact: policy makers need to demand more transparency from the dangerously opaque seafood industry. As long as consumers are kept in the dark about where their fish come from, they will never be able to make sound purchasing decisions" (p. 277).

"Government, not industry, has to oversee both food safety and fisheries, and they should be favoring the advice of fisheries scientists, ecologists, and resident, small-scale fisherman rather than industrial 'stakeholders' whose ultimate concern will always be the bottom line" (p. 300).

"More than ever, we need a system of vigorously protected marine parks off our shores and on the high seas" (p. 302).


In the Appendix, author Grescoe lists "principles to follow when buying seafood," and "Questions to ask your waiter or fishmonger." He also has a section on "Fishing methods: the good, the not-so-good, and the really ugly" as well as his personal list of fish never to eat, sometimes to eat ("it depends"), and always to eat.

Scary. Important. Purchase a copy of this book for yourself, plus a copy to share. Carry a Seafood Watch card in your wallet or purse. Look for the Marine Stewardship Council lapel.

Vote with your dollars. Vote with your appetite. Vote for sustainability in our oceans.

Good overview of the difficulties of eating seafood sustainably. Unlike some other books in this genre, this one actually offered good tips and alternatives to overfished or unsustainable choices.