In the heart of Dublin, right around the corner from the bosomy statue of Molly Malone (known by locals as “da tart wit da cart”) stands Tolteca – a complete rip-off of the American burrito franchise Chipotle. This Chipotle clone is remarkably identical in nearly every regard – the menu is the exact same, the décor is indistinguishable, and even the font and logo are spitting images. The one notable distinction is that Totleca’s food is, as the Irish would say “fecking shite,” or as I would deem it, an anathema to the burrito.
As I stared disappointedly at a half uneaten burrito in this familiar looking yet intrinsically different establishment, an ironic parallel occurred to me. A lover of both native fish and Chipotle, I had spent the previous six months exploring threats to the United States’ fisheries and eating more than my fair share of burritos as I drove from the Florida Keys to Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula.
While I did hook into a plethora of native fish on my journey, many of my casts were made to non-native fish like East Coast brook trout in Colorado and European browns in Montana. Despite the nearly identical qualities to their native counterparts, the alien nature of these fish made them as inauthentic as Tolteca’s attempt to replicate Chipotle. Both are a wolf in sheep’s clothing masquerading as something far more innocuous.
The irony of this realization is that in the sheep-filled nation of Ireland, the wolves were exterminated centuries ago but the wild fish remain and thrive. On the surface, there is nothing wild about Ireland, save for the pub scene. The country is nearly entirely developed with centuries-old cities and farms pervading the nation. The bucolic landscape is dotted with sheep and cows and entirely devoid of bears, wolves, snakes, or any other dangerous creature. However, lurking beneath the surface is a wild fishery that rivals any in the developed world.