Editorial: In Maine, worldwide, small fish could be the future for seafood

PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • May 13, 2021

The World Food Prize went to Shakuntala Thilsted, a researcher whose work has been focused in the poorest parts of Asia. Thilsted has made important discoveries about how a diet rich in fish is a healthy way to make the world more food secure. Because they have a short life span, small fish don’t concentrate as many heavy metals like mercury in their flesh as larger species, making a small-fish-based diet safer. How might Maine’s seafood industry adapt to a world demanding small fish? We are not far removed from an era when broiled smelts or pickled alewives were a common feature on Maine dinner tables. The climate is changing, so there is no reason that people’s tastes won’t change as well. And, in the face of so much uncertainty, it’s good for people who live on the coast to know that the sea will continue to feed the world.