An Ode To: Neil Sims

While the general population is slowly getting acquainted with the notion of going "green" in one way or another (Al Gore or not, we should've seen the signs), Neil Sims has been acting on it for the past several years.  As co-founder of Kona Blue Water Farms he is a one-man army standing at the intersection of Overfishing and Disastrous Farming.  His life is now about one mission: saving the extremely rapidly depleting stock of tuna off the coasts of Hawaii.

While his methods are not super maverick or incredibly innovative, he is nearly single-handedly reshaping the wheel that was long accepted as the only method to farm fish.  Obviously the most desirable answer to the serious issue of fish stock depletion is to cut back on fishing, but human consumption will not allow that to be a choice.  The demand for nearly everything seafood related has become so strong over the past few years that no less than 104 species of fish are endangered, including the majestic Bluefin Tuna.  To answer the spiking demand the fishing industry has overstepped acceptable catching quotas and have begun the methodical practice of hunting deep into the middle of the ocean, chasing fish into all four corners.

Enter Neil Sims.  Fish farming was generally viewed with disdain because the final product was always a mere shadow of the real, wild thing.  Farmed fish lacked color, taste, nutrition, and the stocks were generally much more susceptible to disease.  Neil has proposed the best method to cultivate healthier more vibrant fish is to farm them out in the open versus closed in tanks.  One of the most interesting things he has done with his farmed tuna stock is to feed them pellets with chicken meal.  Fish that eat chicken.  Or Chicken-Eating Fish.  This was done to cut back on the waste of other fish resources used for traditional fish feed.

While Whole Foods stopped buying the Kona tuna because of the chicken component, the logical reason seems a bit misguided.   The issue: you won't carry fish that consumed meat because you have a consumer base of vegetarians that don't eat meat but will eat fish?  Vegetarian debate aside, Sims is carrying out a mission to help save the wild fish stock while supplementing the insane demand for all things swimming.  His farm is humane and a luxury resort by some fish standards (all the fish have to do is swim, eat, and make baby tunas), and he is constantly trying to find ways to improve the system.  Demand may eventually outstrip the supply and we will be looking at extinction for more than once species at a time.  We will wonder how we got here while eating calamari and spicy tuna rolls.

This man is about as passionate as one can get about our finned friends.  He also deserves a hug.  If you see Neil Sims strolling along the coast of Hawaii, give him a hug and a drumstick (for the tuna).

Today's Topic: The Sunfish (i.e. Fugly)

Contrary to its fun-sounding and happiness-invoking name, the Sunfish is one of the most bizarre creatures in the ocean. Not only does it win all the ugly contests in the sea, but the Sunfish's place in the evolutionary chain would leave any species cringing. This animal is a fine example of evolution's half-assed attempt at making something cool. If you're not familiar with the Sun Fish, think of it like this: six months worth of dirty white laundry wadded up swimming through the ocean.

It has no speed, no agility, no major defenses other than size, but most importantly it has no taste. Despite its Elephant Man appearances, the Sunfish is truly intriguing.

It is an incredibly dense animal, and one of the largest bony fishes in the sea (largest fish ever to exist was the Leedsichthys - that's another topic). The body strangely ends right after the dorsal and anal fins, which makes it look...stumpy. Like sharks, its body is primarily cartilage. That's right, it's like a giant nose swimming around. The Sunfish's "meat" (ick) contains toxins. It can grow up to thousands of pounds and has quite an arduous time swimming about. It actually has to steer with its mouth, by squirting out water in certain directions to move around. It remains one of the thousands of unique species in the ocean that has no real purpose or design. But, like 99.9% of the species that live in the ocean, it needs protecting, and probably a hug. So hug your local Sunfish today.