where is my fish from ?

The fishing industry in the U.S. is under attack not only by foreign fleets, but also by our own national marine fisheries service. Fish and other seafood brought into the United States is not only of inferior quality, it is also harvested without regulation in the most destructive ways possible. There is no doubt that the Unites States has managed our marine resources better than any country in the world up until about the 1980’s. The crusade against commercial fishing and its way of life has become an issue more of doing away with the American industry and outsourcing our seafood market to foreign fleets for profit than to actually watch out for the resource. The United States government would rather have American consumers purchase seafood from Southeast Asia and South America than support the floundering U.S. industry. There is something ethically wrong with this. Beyond the inferior product that many times in contaminated with antibiotics and growth hormones, the U.S. consumer is in many cases supporting the very thing they set out to protect against by eliminating the U.S. commercial sector. The heavily regulated U.S. fleet follows very strict guidelines that govern not only their season long catch quotas, but also account for every single pound of fish they harvest. Well the fleets of south east Asian countries out to feed the masses will literally encircle a whole school of 5000 blue fin tuna all between 500 and 1000 pounds in a net called a purse seine and pull them aboard to be turned into canned food and cat food. The days of the family owned boat with two or three employees and a small net are long gone thanks to the Department of National Marine Fisheries. They have been replaced with large factory ships that offload processed fish sticks that are already packaged rather than fresh healthy fish. The most damage that the north Atlantic fish stocks have ever seen was caused by the fishing rights in the U.S waters being sold out to foreign factory fishing vessels. With this type of track record is it in any way safe to assume that the people making these rules and regulations are actually looking out for the best interest of the U.S. people? Or could they possibly be watching out for the big business lobbyist who keeps them in their seat like we have seen in other sectors of the food industry? By always demanding responsibly harvested U.S. seafood we can help to protect our oceans for years to come as well as support the U.s economy.