The fish in your fillet

I am a cheeseburger person. When I eat at McDonald's, I order the double cheeseburger, like, 90% of the time. The last time I had a Filet-O-Fish was when they came up with the double version with wasabi and seaweed shaker fries.








McDonald's Filet-O-Fish


Did you click on the link above? If you did, you might have noticed it is stated by McDonald's that they use 'prime white fish such as Hoki and Pollock' for their fish burgers.

Apparently, McDonald's nomination for Seafood Champion of the Year Award earlier this year was due to them purchasing their fish from sustainable sources. However, this New York Times article reveals that New Zealand had slashed the amount of Hoki that could be harvested by almost two-thirds: from 275,000 tons in 2001, to 100,000 tons in the last 2 years. Reasons? Hoki fish stocks and spawns are falling, the ecosystem is being damaged, and of course, the many other innocent species that are caught in the trawler nets.

If the trawlers can do this much damage to what is supossedly a sustainble resource, can you imagine what is happening in other parts of the world?