cod

Thermal windows, or the tolerable temperature ranges of some marine organisms, have evolved to be very narrow, possibly as a means to reduce the amount of energy and time spent on certain biological activities, such as feeding, growth, or reproduction. Scientists studying the impacts of climate change on North Sea Atlantic cod, a large fish with a narrow thermal range, attribute its recent northerly expansion into colder waters to climate change.

I've been checking NY Times' food writer Mark Bittman's blog, Bitten, and watching his short, entertaining Minimalist cooking videos for a while now -- and I've never noticed anything from him about marine conservation. So I was pleasantly surprised to see his piece, A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish, in the Times this weekend.

The financial collapse of the past few weeks offers striking parallels to the collapse of ocean wildlife. How is what’s happening on Wall Street and in financial capitals around the world like what’s happening in our seas?

Lehman Brothers and Canadian cod aren’t coming back.

The word “collapse” appears in nearly every thoughtful report on the financial crisis, and it’s also a common metaphor in the scientific reports on fishery depletion. It’s accurate in both cases because thelly notion that you can borrow more than you can afford, or spend more than you earn, inevitably produces a sudden and abrupt change when the money runs out.

In the fishery context, the notion that you can catch and kill very high levels of wild fish each year naturally leads to an empty ocean. For example, bluefin tuna fishing companies in the USA have not been able to catch their quota in the Atlantic. There just aren’t enough tuna to be found out there. By contrast, in personal financial terms, if you live off the interest and dividends on your investments, you can sustain that forever. But if you spend down your principal, you are on a path to going broke. The cod fishery off the eastern coast of Canada has never come back. Lehman Brothers isn’t coming back either.

My latest column for Away.com features seafood choices along the U.S. east coast. While flash-freezing and overnight shipping has made it possible to enjoy seafood nearly anywhere, there's something to enjoying local specialties.

Next time you're headed to the shore, whether it's Maine's lighthouses or Florida's beaches, keep these sustainable seafood tips in mind.