Pirates of the Patagonian

The Chilean sea bass is among the most popular fish on the seafood market right now.  It is a trendy asset to modern fine cuisine, and a bestselling item in your local grocery store’s seafood section.  But don’t buy it.

…Because meanwhile, a lumpy gray creature of the deep known as the Patagonian toothfish is endangered.  This fish lives out in the open ocean and is extremely slow-breeding.

As it happens, Chilean sea bass and Patagonian toothfish are different names for the same exact species.  

To some extent, piracy in South America is to blame; but whether or not your fish comes from pirates depends on where you shop and where you live.  Still, Chilean sea bass/Patagonian toothfish is extremely endangered regardless of the legality under which it is or is not caught, as either way it is taken at such a rate that makes the species a nonrenewable resource, and one whose absense would make major negative impact on its ecosystem.

Online there are several resources you can use to check the sustainability of popular seafood and sometimes even the earth-consciousness of where you buy it.  You can read more about sea bass, as well as other types of edible endangered species, at:

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/oceans/seafood/red-fish

http://www.neaq.org/documents/CelebrateSeafoodGuide.pdf

http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=1521&source=ggad&gclid=CI…