Volume 199 - Issue 7
Australia’s dietary guidelines and the environmental impact of food “from paddock to plate”
Author: Caleb Gardner
Med J Aust 2013; 199 (7): 456-457. || doi: 10.5694/mja13.10034
Published online: 7 October 2013
Published online: 7 October 2013
To the Editor: We agree that nutritious food choices should also be sustainable, but Selvey and Carey’s portrayal of seafood production1 is incorrect. The 2012 assessment of Australia’s fisheries found that only two of the 111 fish stocks classified (1.8%) were overfished, rather than the 40% claimed by Selvey and Carey, and one of these (bluefin tuna) is rebuilding rapidly.2 Assuming 15 million Australians eat two 100 g portions ...
To the Editor: Selvey and Carey infer that the consumption of imported seafood by Australian consumers is evidence that Australian seafood production is unsustainable.1 However, trade in canned and frozen seafood is extensive because these products are stable and because of the comparative advantage of production between countries. The same process results in Australia’s reliance on imported electronics, clothes and cars — it does not mean there is an unsustainable supply of the ingredients necessary to produce these goods in Australia. The inference that seafood trade arises from unsustainable production is inconsistent with trends in both global and domestic seafood price indices, which have declined relative to terrestrial protein sources since 1990.2,3
Much of Australia’s imported seafood is canned fish. Declining prices, not lack of fish, led to the closure of all Australian canneries for economic reasons. Canning of Australian salmon ceased after almost a century of production, despite an exceptional abundance of salmon stocks.4
We have many other fish stocks that are only lightly fished and could contribute to our diets if there were demand for them. One of these is the 30 000 tonne Australian sardine fishery, which has a negligible ecosystem impact but is only used for animal feed due to low demand for human consumption.5
Economics also influence the interpretation of “overfishing”, which was misrepresented and not defined by Selvey and Carey. For example, management of Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery targets economic yield, so it is termed “overfished” if profitability becomes suboptimal.6 It is incorrect and misleading to equate this with collapse of the stock or ecologically unsustainable fishing.
Competing interests
I am a director of Southern Rocklobster Ltd and receive financial support from research levies collected by government from Australian seafood industries.
References
- Selvey LA, Carey MG. Australia’s dietary guidelines and the environmental impact of food “from paddock to plate”. Med J Aust 2013; 198: 18-19. 0_CHDJBEDD
- Tveteras S, Asche F, Bellemare MF, et al. Fish is food — the FAO’s fish price index. PLOS One 2012; 7: e36731. 0_i1142869
- Australian Bureau of Statistics. Consumer Price Index, Australia, Dec 2012. CPI: Group, sub-group and expenditure class contribution to change in all groups indexes. (ABS Cat. No. 6401.0.) http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/exnote/6401.0 (accessed Jan 2013).
- Stewart J, Hughes J, McAllister J, et al. Australian salmon (Arripis trutta): population structure, reproduction, diet and composition of commercial and recreational catches. Final report to the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation for Project No. 2006/018 and 2008/056. Fisheries Final Report Series No. 129. Sydney: Industry & Investment NSW, 2011. 0_CBBBJHJG
- Goldsworthy SD, Page B, Rogers PJ, et al. Trophodynamics of the eastern Great Australian Bight ecosystem: ecological change associated with the growth of Australia’s largest fishery. Ecol Modell 2013; 255: 38-57. 0_CBBJFAJF
- Wang Y, Wang N. A retrospective evaluation of sustainable yields for Australia’s Northern Prawn Fishery. Fisheries 2012; 37: 410-416. 0_CBBHEEEJ