New Cairo’s Oscar Are Selling an Endangered Species of Fish
In 2012, a study was conducted for The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species found that 86% of the population of parrotfish faced a low risk of extinction globally, on the other hand, Oscar Grand Store, New Cairo, among other stores and retailers, sell them.
This week, a post went viral on Facebook of a picture at Oscar Grand Store, showing parrotfish being sold in their seafood department. Needless to say, the picture garnered a lot of hate towards the store — due to the fact that they’re selling a type of fish that is potentially facing extinction.
The viral post has been deleted off of social media since then, but we’ve put on our Nancy Drew outfit on to find out for ourselves whether Oscar Grand Store actually sells parrotfish. The store’s seafood department informed us that the parrotfish is, indeed, being sold there “for 90 LE per kilo.”
According to a recent report by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the United Nations Environment Program, coral reefs face a lot of threats from things such as climate change and pollution.
To protect the coral reefs, we must protect parrtofish. Why, you say? Well, the report makes the case “that restoring parrotfish, large herbivores that keep seaweed in check on the reefs, could pay big dividends in restoring reefs. You might consider them underwater bison.”
One question that springs to mind is — where is Egypt’s Ministry of Environment? How are these beautiful creatures speeding towards extinction (and people’s dining tables) with no one doing anything about it?
