When you hear about eating superfoods and foods high in omega-3 fatty acids, you also usually hear about what good sources fish are of these nutrients. The sad fact is that we are eating too many fish as it is, and we need to cut down immediately.

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 2010 saw the world’s highest record of fish consumption in history—mostly due to the fact that we have had a dramatic increase in fish farming and human consumption. Humans are eating more fish than ever, with the animal making up about 15% of the protein we eat. And if we don’t start working on rebuilding the populations of these fish, we’re—well, actually, they’re—in trouble.

While the United Nations maintains that we need to keep track of all fishing and stop illegal fishing when it happens—both good ideas—we also need to just stop eating so many fish. I never understood how so many people equate fish as beings without feelings—and I don’t mean “You hurt my feelings!” I mean sentient beings who can feel pain. I know so many people who claim to be vegetarians when they actually eat fish. “Fish aren’t meat,” people tell me. Well, if you’re a vegetarian because you want to stop causing suffering in beings that feel pain, it is. Fish have nerves. They feel pain.

It’s the flesh of a living being—it had better be meat! We’re made of meat too, you know.

It’s easy for me to talk; I don’t eat fish at all. But my daughter does. In fact, fried shrimp with broccoli is her favorite food on some days. Other days, she feels that eating fish and animals is wrong and won’t eat any. She’s only five; I’m not going to pressure her one way or another, but I certainly respect her trying to make her own decisions and learn what she feels is right and wrong in the world. In fact, I’m pretty awed by the process.

So what can we do? For starters, let’s all vow to reduce the amount of fish that we eat. We can get our omega-3s in other ways, such as through flaxseed or flax oil (the latter is pretty gross, but the former is delicious in oatmeal). We can write our legislators to ask them for more sustainable fish farming. And above all, we can teach our children to be good stewards of the earth.