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I'm astonished at how much fishing is going on around Europe. I expected that around China/Japan/SE Asia, but Europe? I've lived all over the US and in my experience hardly anyone eats seafood (we certainly never ate it growing up in California, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Puerto Rico and I've never met anyone who mentioned that they have recently eaten seafood). So I assumed Europe would be the same (since a lot of our culture comes from Europe). Maybe people are secretly eating more seafood in the USA than my experience would assume, or Europeans just eat way more seafood that I would have guessed.

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>I've lived all over the US and in my experience hardly anyone eats seafood (we certainly never ate it growing up in California, Florida, Texas, Oregon and Puerto Rico and I've never met anyone who mentioned that they have recently eaten seafood)

We eat seafood (from seas, to oysters, to lobsters and co) all the time in Europe.

And I don't know about whether in the US where "hardly anyone eats seafood". Try New England states and you'll be surprised.

While consumption of seafood per capita is lower in the US than the EU, it's not that much so -- 21.7 kg/person/year in the US, vs 24.9 kg/person/year in EU average (though Mediterranean and nordic countries are well beyond the average). That said, a lot of the US consumption of fish might be in the form of catfish and fish nuggets as opposed to actual sea fare.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/264327/per-capita-consum...

A lot of people don’t eat fresh water fish and cat fish. Shrimp is king followed by Tuna (likely canned) historically. Salmon is gaining popularity but catfish and fish nuggets are down.[1] I like this source because it is from Mississippi where they like catfish.

What you said was probably true in the 90s. I’d expect farmed Salmon and raw tuna to fall in the next decade as people are more aware of sustainable fishing practices.

[1]http://www.agecon.msstate.edu/whatwedo/budgets/docs/catfish2...

> I'm astonished at how much fishing is going on around Europe.

Why would that surprise you? Europe has a long tradition of fishing. And europe's population is 800 million strong. They even had a brief "war" in the north atlantic over fish.

http://britishseafishing.co.uk/the-cod-wars/

Japan and China are targeted in many fearmongering articles about fishing/whaling/etc because stories about them get traction/reaction. Maybe because of ethnic/racial tension. Who knows.

Try "Japan is killing whales" vs "Norway/Iceland is killing whales".

"China is overfishing" vs "Europe is overfishing".

The former gets the most reaction/clicks even though the latter outwhales and outfishes the former.

The biggest culprit is europe, then us, and then the japanese and then the chinese. It's primarily the europeans and us that are destroying fisheries. Not only that, europe's fishing reach is global due to their colonial heritage.

There is a very strong fishing tradition in europe. Nearly wiped out the whales in the 1800s. Wiped out the fish/tuna/etc in the mediterranean and the north atlantic. Then moved over to the US and wiped out our fisheries along our atlantic and alaska. And the regions destroying fisheries along africa are not the chinese, as you see on the news, but it's the europeans by a long shot.

As a French, I think I've as much "China/SE Asia is overfishing" as "Europe is overfishing". But usually it turns political very quick, since the region supported by the fishing industry don't have many other economical prospects.

The numbers do not support your claims. It seems that China by far catches the most seafood.

http://www.fao.org/3/a-i5555e.pdf

As a Bostonian, I am absolutely mystified by this “never met anyone who mentioned that they have recently eaten seafood” thing. Sure fish is hard to find in middle America, but California and Florida? Fish on restaurant menus, at least, can’t just be a New England thing.

I grew up in Cali. Lots of people eat it. I’m amazed how anyone could live on the west coast and not see this. I think they’re just making stuff up.

Raw seafood will be available at pretty much any midsized grocery store and most steak houses will have a couple dishes on the menu.

I've carefully said that the stores sell the stuff "raw" rather than "fresh" because I sure don't enjoy the smell in that section of the store (but then I'm probably allergic to shellfish).

Ever since flash freezing has been a thing, you can find sushi and sashimi at almost any grocery store in the US.

This doesn’t make any sense to me. I live in Florida, and it’s hard to find a restaurant that doesn’t serve seafood.

Do you ask people if they’ve recently eaten seafood? How many people have you met that mentioned recently eating a potato?

> Maybe people are secretly eating more seafood in the USA than my experience would assume, or Europeans just eat way more seafood that I would have guessed.

One of the main reasons why I choose to spend almost all my summer vacations in Greece (I live in Romania, relatively closed by) is its excellent and pretty affordable sea-food. There’s also good sea-food available in most of Italy (I could even find sea-food dishes served by restaurants in Turin, which is a land-locked city).

The parent poster is severely biased based his personal experiences. Where I am located the northern coast or “panhandle” of Flordia is a popular vacation spot. Almost everyone eats seafood and most restaurants on the coast have it.

Personally, I can find seafood that is less than a few days hold and local to my state or neighboring states. Even really great Shellfish that is less than a day old if you time it right. We are 4-5 hours from the ocean but it can be more expensive.

I'm a Wisconsinite that dislikes seafood and I run into people eating fish daily! I'd even wager that you'd be hard-pressed to find a (non-niche) restaurant that didn't serve a Friday Fish Fry anywhere in the state.

I'm truly shocked that your experience has been otherwise (especially due to the coastal nature of each state you mentioned)

A lot more freshwater than ocean fish at Midwestern fish fries though.

You may not be paying attention, even in just the fast food seafood there are tons of Captain Ds / Long John Silvers all over the US, not to mention the lower tier sit down restaurants like Red Lobster.

Sushi is very common in coastal California and Floridians love their shrimp. Were you especially inland in TX/CA/OR?

Spain is mainly the responsible for that: ~30kg per capita/year (vs. <10kg in other European countries).

Having lived in Portugal for 25 years this comment didn't ring true:

https://imgur.com/a/R5PRt

If we ignore Portugal (and Iceland which consumes a lot more per capita but is not in the EU), Spain is indeed the top consumer per capita in the European Union, but nowhere near 3x most European countries.

Only 50% more than France/Italy and about twice of UK/Belgium/Finland/Denmark/Netherlands.

Unless by "other European countries" you meant to refer to Germany, the ratio is way off.

http://www.eumofa.eu/documents/20178/108446/The+EU+fish+mark...

A lot of industrially-caught fish is used to make fish meal which is a component of animal feeds.

To some extent the map is showing your population density.

But yes, fishing is a big part of the cultures of many European countries.

Having said that, my favourite bit of US cuisine is Jambalaya, which seems to feature shellfish at least.

I can personally assure you that many people in California eat seafood, having met many people who not only have eaten fish, but have eaten raw fish.

New England (lobster + others), New Orleans and much of the gulf coast (shrimp), Seattle and Alaska (salmon, king crab).

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