The Orange Roughy can live to be 150 years old. It becomes sexually mature at age 20.
The Acadian redfish can live as long as 50 years and begins breeding at about age ten.
The Atlantic halibut can live to be 50 but doesn't have offspring until it's at least ten years old.
The Blue Fin tuna. Slow growing and late-maturing.
As a result of overfishing, disruption of the reproduction cycle, and the heinous offense of indiscriminate trawling by industrial fishing fleets these species and many others, like the Atlantic cod, could go extinct in our lifetimes. Along with rising acidification of ocean waters, due to man-made climate change, the oceans may someday be home only to species like the jellyfish. No joke.
As for farmed fish, salmon cannot grow on a vegetable-based diet. They have to be fed other fish, so while you may think you're eating responsibly by ordering it for lunch you're just kicking the problem one species down the ladder.
And don't get me started on tilapia.
There are simply too many people on this planet, especially those in the West and double-especially in America, who rely on animal-based products for their protein. How many species have to go extinct just because hunger makes us short-sighted? It's entirely possible, due to climate-change and overpopulation, that there will come a day when we've eaten the last fish and the last cow and the only animal left on the menu will be us.
Happy Earth Day, everybody!