How confusing the name of cod is, the average consumer thinks about it, especially the French silver cod, this cod pedigree is not pure fish has a lot of names, cod market water depth with the fish living environment has a fight. Why is a French fish related to Antarctica? We have to start with Chile.
Scenes of Foreign Fishing for Atlantic Cod Image source network
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > legendary "renaming" marketing</h1>
At the end of the 20th century, an American aquatic merchant named Lee Landz found a very ugly fish in the Chilean fish market: big eyes, big mouth, big fangs, round body, whole gray head and dirty face, which was really useless in appearance. Although the meat is smooth and tender to eat, the taste is too bland, and it is naturally not welcomed by local fishermen, which is considered inferior fish in the local area. The aquatic merchant Landz, out of curiosity, bought it and tried it, and found that the fish meat of this fish was made into fried fish pieces, the taste was very good, he felt that it was very in line with the taste of americans, and there should be a certain market space.
French cod actually looks like this, it is really difficult to sell! Image source network
This fish is the French silver cod (scientific name: Dissostichus eleginoides other names: canine toothfish, small scaled canine tooth antarctic fish, Chilean sea bass, Antarctic cod, perch - Antarctic fish), but in Chile, its earliest name is: Patagonian toothfish. Toothfish, known as toothfish in English, is as fierce as it looks, and coupled with the "silly" prefix of Patagonia, it always feels underwhelming. Looks are already so helpless, the United States aquatic merchants on the name of the fish to use their brains, and finally a "Chilean sea bass" name, foreign do not know, anyway, canine tooth fish with a new name into the U.S. market, quickly jumped red, became a popular dish in major fashion restaurants.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the same thing as French cod</h1>
This successful name change has left a heavy mark in the history of world marketing, and it has also made this "rustic" fish begin to emerge on the high-end seafood table of human beings. Its other name, the French silver cod, although the name is more foreign, but it is precisely by relying on the legendary "Chilean sea bass" to lay the country and the country can become popular in the international market. This fish is not produced in the coastal areas of France, but France has a southern hemisphere territory called Reunion (near the South Pole), which produces canine toothfish and is an important source in the world.
Cut the fish into sections from head to tail, and the appearance is much better
Because of the French, and because of the cod, the French silver cod called so loudly, and also joined the legion of Chilean sea bass. The traditional U.S. market naturally needless to say, consumption accounts for more than 50%, today's Chinese market is gradually cultivated, especially the children's food supplement market, because it is rich in "brain gold" DHA and other high-quality nutritional elements, French cod is widely respected. Although as a long-lived deep-sea meat, there is a risk of high heavy metal content, but still can not stand the market pursuit, now the domestic French silver cod market price in 120 ~ 150 yuan per kilogram.
< h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the pressure at the South Pole</h1>
Although the French cod is also found in Chile and Argentina, its main habitat is in Antarctic waters. This ancient carnivorous fish that lives in Antarctic waters, its blood is rich in antifreeze proteins, and it is an important part of the most primitive and unspoiled ecosystem near the Antarctic continent. Because they live in cold waters, they grow very slowly, only 1 cm per year, so scientists naturally have reason to worry that man-made high-intensity fishing will have a fatal impact on them, which in turn will affect the entire Antarctic ecosystem.
The fragility of Antarctica cannot withstand the temptations of mankind
Because of the need to operate in Antarctic waters and the fishing threshold is relatively high, the number of countries and fishing vessels that fish for French silver cod in the Antarctic region is limited. As early as 2011-2012, during the marine fish flood, 15 fishing boats from six countries caught about 3,500 tons of French silver cod from the Ross Sea in Antarctica. More than half of these catches ended up on the U.S. market, where they sold at a hefty price of $56 per kilogram. Because the profits are considerable, there are naturally many profit seekers. In individual areas such as Chile and Argentina, there is naturally state regulation, but in Antarctic waters that belong to the high seas, no one can manage it.
This fish became the "original sin" of Antarctica.
With the main purpose of protecting the Antarctic ecosystem, the Antarctic Commission for the Conservation of Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), which is jointly formed by 24 countries and the European Union, has emerged and played a vital role in the protection and allocation of Antarctic resources, and all fishing operations in antarctica are regulated by CCAMLR, and various fishing quotas are also set by it. The commission has proposed three initiatives to establish the Ross Marine Protected Area since 2011, but all of them have not been adopted because of Russian opposition. Because of the delay in establishing protected areas, this has attracted many illegal fishermen to the Antarctic ocean, which is already difficult to regulate. The most famous of these is the six most notorious illegal fishing boats, known as the "Six Bandits" by the Marine Conservation Society (Sea Shepherd), which were eventually captured.
"Raiden", one of the six robbers, sank himself in order to eliminate the evidence of the crime, and the screenshot of the documentary was taken
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > illegal fishing in the Virgin Sea</h1>
These illegal fishing vessels naturally have a way of escaping the control of the Antarctic Marine Resources Conservation Commission. At the same time, they are fishing for marine marlin in Antarctic waters, because the trawls they use have caused great harm to other organisms and the ecological environment in the area. They typically use large, 2.5-kilometer-long banned trawls that fish indiscriminately in Antarctic waters. When they are caught, they only need to cut and discard the nets to escape guilt, and the discarded nets will continue to poison the local marine life for years to come.
With the cooperation of various non-profit organizations led by the radical "Sea Shepherd", most of the notorious "pirate ships" and their captains have been brought to justice, but the black hands behind a few powerful forces are still at large, and they still refuse to give up this "rich mine" and continue to poison the last ocean of mankind at the risk of the world. The most famous of these is the godfather of the world's illegal fishing industry: the Spaniard Antonio Vidal.
"The Godfather" Antonio Vidal Screenshot of the documentary
The "godfather" Antonio Vidal entered the archives of Interpol as early as 2006, but his sophisticated means and eyes have given Interpol and various non-profit organizations a big problem. In order to collect evidence, the non-profit organization chased one of his boats and had to drift at sea for months or more. Although the parties have done a lot of work and interpol has gathered enough evidence, the Spanish government acquitted him on the grounds that he could not be sentenced for high seas operations, and the ability of the "godfather" to reach the sky was really not blown, and for him, the loss of several ships was not a matter of breaking bones.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > a belated sanctuary</h1>
Fortunately, on October 28, 2016, after four years of negotiations, the proposal to establish a Marine Protected Area in the Ross Sea in Antarctica was finally adopted and implemented. The Ross Sea Marine Reserve is currently the largest marine protected area in the world, with an area of about 1.57 million square kilometers, 16% of China's soil area, of which 1.12 million square kilometers of sea areas are set up as no fishing areas, which are banned from fishing for 35 years, prohibiting any marine life or mineral fishing. Although the protected area is not a universal umbrella, it can certainly curb illegal fishing to a certain extent, and it is believed that with the joint efforts of the Antarctic Marine Living Resources Conservation Committee and various public welfare organizations, it will certainly be able to bring effective protection to the Antarctic sea area.
Of course, if you can, it is better to reduce the consumption of French cod!