Fishing for cures for bites and hair loss

When we think of food we usually think of man farming crops or raising animals for food. We rarely think of fish in a similar way. However, in recent decades man farming the seas instead of fishing in the open ocean has become the norm for much of our seafood.

Man has captured fish for food ever since he has been on Earth. His technical skill in harvesting the seas is ancient. Bone fishhooks, which are more than 5,000 years old, differ little from our modern designs.

Historically, the importance of fish in various cultures is evident in mythology, the arts, medicine and the rise and fall of empires. The Greek word for fish (icthus) was a connotation used as a divine symbol among the terrorized Christians of Roman times.

In the resurrection appearance at the Sea of Tiberius in Galilee, Jesus instructed his disciples where to net fish after none had been caught. The netted fish were then prepared on a charcoal fire. This meal had religious significance, and even a crude drawing of a fish was a sign among people who lived precariously in the pagan world of Caesar.

Mummified perch

From even an earlier time, the mummified bodies of Nile perch were found in the tombs of ancient Pharaohs. It is likely that divine status was accorded to fish from earliest times. They were a symbolic sacrifice between heaven and earth from an alien aquatic world.

Even today man knows less about the 328 million cubic miles of water he calls the “sea” than he does about the moon. However, fish never have been put into an exuberant culinary perspective. They were a must for Lenten days, but never gained a prestigious place at the dinner table.

In the medical annals of ancient times the organs of various fish were believed to hold great curative powers. For a toothache, the Romans advised that the brains of a shark boiled in oil provided relief when rubbed on the painful jaw. This mixture was also an antidote against the bite of a rabid dog.

Snakebites?

The Romans also found that salted tuna meat was useful against snakebites. The blood, spleen and liver of tuna would remove unwanted hair.

In Elizabethan England the heart of a pike was used to cure eye diseases. The innards of salmon were considered to be an aphrodisiac, a role later relegated to the oyster when civilized man learned to eat oysters.

The discovery of cod liver oil as a valuable source of vitamin A and D was simply part of the natural curiosity of early fishermen. They first used cod liver oil on hands made painfully raw by howling gales of winter fishing.

The vile-tasting cod liver oil was introduced orally by some brave soul who correctly assumed that if it cured one thing it would

cure another. It was the first specific remedy for rickets, a bone-destroying disease of the 19th century. Then the even larger livers of shark were found to be vitamin rich.

However, the medicines of fact and fancy bear little importance when compared to the food value of most aquatic organisms. The nutrient composition of fish itself is only one reason to enjoy fish, for it has been a prime source of food for much of the world’s population.

If we think that the sea has remained largely the same over centuries and that the supply of fish is never ending, we are living in a dream world. Fish that once seemed to be an inexhaustible source of food are now almost everywhere in decline. Ninety percent of large fish such as tuna, swordfish and shark are gone. Many of the smaller fish, along with other sea creatures, are also in decline.

All of this has happened in the past 150 years. The habitats of many of these fish and sea creatures have been affected by man’s activities. Fishermen today drag steel weights and rollers as well as nets behind their boats, devastating huge areas of the ocean floor as they go.

Over the centuries much of our food has been produced on land by various methods of farming. Now farming, fish farming in the sea also has become a way of life. More than 60 percent of the world’s fish harvest is produced by farming the waters. This includes a huge variety such as cod, halibut, mussels, salmon, sea bass and sturgeon.

Fish farming is still very new and some scientists tell us that it may do more harm than good. In Southeast Asia, Indonesia and Thailand in particular, huge areas of coastline have been cleared of trees to make way for ponds and pens. Many of these fish farms create pollution of the water with the build up of feces from the fish and uneaten food. Pesticides and antibiotics needed to keep the fish alive also add to polluting the waters. Farmed fish also do damage when they escape and breed with wild fish.

The best sea creatures for fish farming are mussels, clams and oysters. They need no feeding and thrive on plankton. The main damage of farming shellfish is caused by harvesting with dredges, which ruin the seabed. Fortunately, divers also can gather shellfish.

In recent years when stocks of familiar fish in known waters declined, fishermen have turned to distant waters. Huge factory ships with freezing capabilities have become the norm in the fishing world. Some little-known species of fish have been renamed to make them more attractive to the public.

There seems to be no one solution to worldwide fishing problems, but as long as the public enjoys seafood, it will be provided.