THE PANGASIUS SPREAD - A NASTY BUSINESS ?

BEN-TRE PROVINCE, VIET NAM - Reporting from Nevis – West Indies

I returned to Nevis after a 21 years gap.

Being a citizen, I was able to land on island late 2021, while the world was still under COVID scrutiny methods, without being vaccinated as long as I agree to stay in a small resort by the beach without any contact for a mere 9 days.

Listening to the distant New Year’s Eve chorus, I decided to treat myself with local agape, a grill Wahoo. The fish arrived, dry and tasteless to learn later on that, for some obscure reasons and unexpected increase of tourists on the island, very little fish were available on Island during the Holiday Seasons and I was served a Pangasius, frozen, sealed and packed in Vietnam and sold by the local RAM supermarket…

We’re harvesting (or harvesting badly) too many fishes from the ocean, not just for us, human but to feed farmed fish and livestock. Aquaculture production has more than doubled since 2000.

In Laos and Vietnam, most of the cultured fish flours comes from Peru, home to the world’s largest fishery of a small fish called anchoveta. So, my 2021 New Year’s Eve fish was fed with Peruvian fish, raised in Vietnam and served to me as a Caribbean fresh catch of the day…

I believe the world is now fed by this paradox.

In Vietnam, Pangasius fish farm have taken up arable land all over Ben Tre, polluting soil and water table while fishermen here are going further and further offshore to catch their daily bread…

If we were not wrongly influenced by the good of local fresh fish and better informed about what was really in our plates, will we choose to order “Pangasius” in the Caribbean?

Would Vietnamese Pangasius less in demand and local workers better fed from Ben Tre bounty of its soil?

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all and this year its’s with a cold smoked Wahoo, from Charles Gaskell, a true Nevisian fisherman, we are celebrating / https://youtu.be/QVhdlaXz65Q