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October 29, 2005

Fishtory: Overfishing Through the Ages

Lobster hasn't always been a rare or special treat, offered by the best restaurants in the world. At one time, it was considered "poverty food" - Native Americans fertilized crops with them, fishermen baited hooks with them, and servants boiled them for their supper. During the revolution, Americans insulted the red-coats by calling them the icky bottom-dweller "lobsterback".

Long ago, lobsters...were harvested from tidal pools and served to children, to prisoners, and to indentured servants, who exchanged their passage to America for seven years of service to their sponsors. In Massachusetts, some of the servants finally rebelled. They had it put into their contracts that they would not be forced to eat lobster more than three times a week.

More At: Lobstering History

Cruel & Unusual?
It was so commonly used as a food for servants and prisoners that Massachusetts passed a lobster law forbidding its use more than twice a week!

It didn't take long for the populations of lobster and other fish to suffer from overfishing. Over time, different fish have been found to meet the food demands, and the price or worth of a lobster/oyster/etc has changed. Now scientists are looking back through time to determine which species have thrived over the years and which ones have been driven to the brink of extinction by overfishing. As part of the survey, the researchers are examining old restaurant menus, which they believe will reflect how abundant or scarce certain fish populations were at the time.

Fisheries experts are using old restaurant menus to piece together how the world's seafood stocks have declined over the past century and a half. Prices dating back to the 1850s highlight the growing scarcity of foods such as lobster, swordfish and oysters.

More At: Old Menus Reveal Collapse Of Fish Stocks

Posted by sorsha at October 29, 2005 5:13 PM