Friday 20 February

Smart Fish Friday : Educate yourself on which fish species are sustainable and the threats to life under the ocean’s curtain. Download an app with the best/worst choices 

Genesis 1:20-21 :Then God said, “Let the waters teem with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open expanse of the heavens.” God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarmed after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Why was it traditional to eat fish on a Friday?  Because Jesus died on Good Friday, Christians kept Friday as a day of fast. Meat was considered a luxury food. You either had to buy it in a market or you had to own enough land to keep cattle. On the other hand, anyone could grow vegetables or forage for them, and anyone could catch a fish in a lake or a stream.

You could buy better fish and vegetables, but the point is that you could eat without money if you were poor. So meat was rich people’s food and fish was poor people’s food. That is why the most common form of fasting was to omit meat and eat fish. Today fish is often not a cheaper option. It is however better for our bodies and often better for the planet! However it is important to eat only sustainable fish. Many types of fish are overfished and stocks are perilously low. Join a local awareness campaign, guides are typically constructed into three categories, some using a traffic light’s colours: red, yellow, and green.

Green: Always choose from the green list: These are the most sustainable choices from the healthiest and most well-managed populations. These species can handle current fishing pressure, or are farmed in a manner that does not harm the environment. Orange: Avoid where possible. This group includes species that are depleted as a result of overfishing and cannot sustain current fishing pressure, or because the fishing or farming method poses harm to the environment and/or the biology of the species makes it vulnerable to high fishing pressure.

Red list: NEVER BUY. This group includes unsustainable species as well as those that are illegal to sell.

Follow these links for the list of sustainable fish

South Africa

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