June 10, 2013 — Fish is good, especially if it's wild, little and local, says Andy Sharpless, who with Suzannah Evans has written a new book, "The Perfect Protein: The Fish Lover's Guide to Saving the Oceans and Feeding the World."
Sharpless is the CEO of Oceana, the nonprofit that made headlines earlier this year when it reported that Americans are eating mislabeled or misrepresented fish about one-third of the time. Portland fared better than most cities in the survey: We struck out about one-fifth of the time.
In about 200 pages, Sharpless makes a case that healthy oceans are good for fish and fish is good for us — as long as it's wild, little and local. And he's prevailed on 20-some chefs to offer recipes to tempt readers into trying some different kinds of fish: Fried anchovies with lemon-dill aioli?
Sharpless' answers have been edited for space and clarity.
What do you mean when you say fish is the perfect protein?
Fish are full of omegas. Fish are good for your brain, your heart, your nerves. If you substitute fish for red meat, you get a reduction in obesity, heart disease, cancer. It's interesting how our own biology is so tuned up to benefit from fish.
They don't increase biodiversity loss the way terrestrial agriculture does. A well-managed ocean does two things at once: It potentially feeds hundreds of millions of people a healthy meal every day and it does so without requiring additional expansion in farmland, which is the biggest driver of biodiversity loss on the planet.
Read the full story at The Oregonian