Last Call for Tuna–Middle Class Will Be Forced to Eat Seaweed Instead

In the future the “One Percent” will get all the tuna.

Love a nice salmon filet or a tuna tartare? Or even a simple tuna sandwich? You may not be able to afford it much longer. According to The Safina Center’s Paul Greenberg, our seafood diet in the future may have a very different profile than it does today–as overfishing causes us to change the way we harvest the seas. (Greenberg has authored two books–Four Fish: The Future of the Last Wild Food and American Catch–that consider the sustainability of the seas.) Traditional aquaculture (or fish farming) relies mainly on raising high-level predators like salmon and tuna. But that will soon cease to be sustainable as the world’s human population continues to increase. We can expect to see prices go up drastically as the supply becomes scarcer.

So what’s the solution? No more seafood? Greenberg says we need to reconceive our food pyramid to favor the consumption of lower-level and more adaptable organisms like tilapia, pangasius, clams and oysters. Seaweed and kelp will also become important sources of nutrition for the world, says Greenberg. So what does he project to be #1 on the seafood consumption charts for the year 2032? Don’t worry, shrimp still holds the title, come hell or high water. Both of which may be on the way.