After rebranding, 'ugly' fish populations drop

What happens when you change the name of the slimehead fish to orange roughy? More people order the orange roughy special.

Fri, Jul 31 2009 at 10:21 AM

WHAT'S IN A NAME? Patagonian toothfish aka Chilean Sea Bass. (Photo: McCun934/Flickr)

It used to be good to be a "trash fish." These fish were the ugly ones that no one ordered at the market or restaurant. Without a market for their flesh, these fish were, more or less, left alone by fisherman.

In the '70s, the slimehead fish was rebranded as orange roughy by seafood dealers. Sales soared and the slimehead/orange roughy was nearly fished out of existence.

The same thing happened to the Patagonian toothfish (aka Chilean sea bass), whore's eggs (aka Maine sea urchin), and mud crabs (aka peekytoe crab).

The Washington Post has a story about ugly fish and the work being done to help conserve them and other fish stock — give a click over and read.

You should also read my post, "The end of fish could soon be upon us."

Are you on Twitter? Follow me (@sheagunther) there, I give good tweets.

And if you really like my writing, you can join my Facebook page.

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