Low cost labor and untaxed fuel cause migrations of frozen fish

[jpak]

http://www.eatlocalchallenge.com/2008/05/amazing-fish-mi.html

Some of the world's sea creatures make incredible migrations to feed or mate. Tuna, for example, swim back and forth across the Atlantic or Pacific. In the globalized economy, some fish go on long migrations even after they have been frozen.

The new book "Bottomfeeder," by Taras Grescoe provides a fascinating look at the state of the world's oceans (I reviewed the book over at The Ethicurean). The book is a compelling combination of nature, history, politics, and culinary arts. If you want to understand more about why certain fish are rated "best," "good," or "avoid" on lists like the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list, "Bottomfeeder" is a must read.

Near the end of the book, Grescoe visits a fish processing facility in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Some of the fish that go through the plant have been on long migrations before arriving and some fish continue their migration after processing.

About the plant's operations, Grescoe writes:

High Liner's fish sticks were made from pollock that was caught, filleted, chopped up and frozen in factory vessels on the Bering Sea. It arrived at High Liner, after being trucked across Canada in frozen pre-minced blocks, with the skin and fat removed. By the time they got to this factory, where they were sawn into oblong portions, covered in batter and bread, and deep-fried, they had already traveled 4,300 miles. In the worst case scenario, a salmon farmed on the Chilean coast would be sent by container ship to Dalian, China to be filleted, then shipped back across the Pacific to Vancouver. From there it would cross Canada by truck, be processed and packaged in Lunenburg, and go right back out the door. If it ended up in a supermarket in, say, San Diego, that salmon would have traveled 22,300 miles, a distance close to the circumference of the earth.

<more>