ginovandewalle.com

Why ask ourselves if there is fish for all? With my wife Béatrice and our two Labradors I live in the Spanish province of Alicante. I presume that many people would not like the old and small house we rent in the mountains. But for us it is a superb heaven on the margin of the forest. We overlook the valley and are being offered some of the most beautiful sunsets in the world. Most of our neighbours are sheep, goats, wild boar, rabbits and the occasional fox. They are definitely less noisy than trucks, motorcycles and cars.

Our Spanish friend Benjamin is an organic farmer in Benissa. In his tiny shop we buy bread, marmalade, fruit and vegetables. For things like Kefir and cheese we have to go to a supermarket. The other day I accompanied my wife Béatrice and had a look at the fish counter of the supermarket. It turned out to be a mind blowing experience.

What I saw made me take the notebook I always carry in my pocket and I started writing. Why? Because of the information I found on the price tags. That day there were 51 price tags for 51 different kinds of fish. The list of the countries of origin of that fish is similar to a trip around the world. It started in Holland, going over to Senegal, Italy, Turkey, Portugal, Canada, United States, South-Africa, Namibia, Vietnam, Greece, Morocco, Norway, India, France, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, China and stopping in Scotland. Do not think that all the fish had been caught in the oceans of our planet. The provenance of trout, dorada, salmon, and shrimps were fish farms in Spain, Turkey, Norway and Ecuador.

For several years I have known that the fishermen in the coastal towns of the Spanish Costas are out of work. In the past I knew the names of the fish we were eating. Today we are being offered fish with totally different names.

Why?

Because the sea, called ‘Mare Nostrum’ by the Romans, that sea that has been the cradle of our Western culture, well that sea is now empty. Over the last 50 to 60 years Europe has reached an incredible ‘high standard of living’ and maybe we consider it to be given to us as some sort of a divine right. We have developed a way of living and eating that has become insane. Today we are eating the last surviving stocks of fish in the world, joined by the United States and Japan.

The indigenous fishermen in Senegal, South-Africa, Namibia, Vietnam, Morocco, India, Ecuador, Argentina and Peru see how their stocks of fish are quickly disappearing. Many cannot feed their families anymore. Looking at the fish counter of a supermarket in a small Spanish town, I felt suddenly ashamed. Was I going to buy the fish that has been for many centuries the staple food of poor fishermen all over the world? Many decades ago I stopped eating meat. I did not want to be part of a vicious, cruel and unhealthy system whereby billions of animals are tortured and degraded before being turned into hamburgers and sausages. Was it bad for my health? Not at all. Today I am 66 years old and still cycling, walking and practicing karate and kobudo.

That day in the supermarket I decided to stop eating fish. And you know what? I am beginning to understand why a village elder in Somalia calls the pirates in his country ‘heroes’.

Enjoy your meal.

Brunothedoglistener

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