Recently my brother was discussing the dwindling oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay. He rattled off some statistics that may or may not be true, but got me thinking nonetheless. If, as he said, there once were enough oysters in the Bay to cleanse the waters 4 times per day and now that number has dwindled to once a week, what the heck are we doing eating them? And the same is true of shrimp, crabs and all other bottom feeders. God forbade the Israelites from eating bottom feeders, carrion eaters and dung eaters. I began to think it wasn't just what they ate, it was the service they provided, cleaning.
The more I thought about it the more convinced I was. The fish we eat would be much cleaner, our waters much purer and thus our environment much better. So, I made a decision to stop eating all shellfish and bottom feeders. I never ate mushrooms anyway, so the dung/carrion eaters is hopefully not something I'll have to adjust. I really love Lobster, but they were supposed to perform a necessary but grotesque task, I mean for them to do it without interference from me.
Now I just have to convince everyone else and find a new way for the watermen who make their living on the oyster beds, the crabbers and shrimpers to make a good living. I have no idea. But I really think we would be better for it.
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