Featured Image Credit: Wikipedia
By: Jessica Kittel
Pick-up your favorite fitness or food related magazine and chances are they’re going to recommend you eat as much seafood as you can get your hands on. Seafood is an excellent source of protein, with super healthy fats (hello omega-3s).
These magazines are also likely to recommend “wild-caught” options. This is where we run into a slight problem. Most wild-caught fisheries are struggling a bit, and by a bit, I mean a lot. According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), over 85% of fisheries worldwide are overfished or on the brink of collapse.
Once these populations reach the point of collapse, there’s a strong chance they won’t be bouncing back. Seafoodwatch.org explains how the North Atlantic Cod fishery collapsed in the early 1990s, and nearly 20 years later, is still showing no sign of real recovery.
Now that I’ve created a sufficiently dismal and depressing picture, here’s the good news: all is not lost! There is something you, as a consumer, can do to help these marine populations. Three words: buy sustainable seafood.
Photo Credit: oceana.org
I’m certainly not going to suggest people stop eating seafood. You can put your pitchforks and torches away. What I am suggesting is that not all fisheries are created equal. We need to do our best to choose seafood that is sustainable.
The sustainable seafood movement sprang up in the 1990s. Around this time, scientists and consumers started realizing the perilous state many fisheries were in and, even worse, the bleak future they were heading towards.
Sustainable seafood is obtained at levels that can be sustained (keeping the fish population at a healthy quota) and using practices that will not result in overharvest.
Don’t worry, there’s no guesswork involved in trying to decide which seafood is sustainable. There are plenty of handy-dandy resources at your disposal to assist you with your decision, all based on sound research and review.
Try safe seafood buying guides, which can be found on the websites of multiple organizations (Seafood Watch, WWF, and Oceana to name a few). Seafood Watch even has an app!
Photo Credit: seafoodwatch.org
You could also choose seafood that has the Marine Stewardship Council blue label. To determine if individual fisheries are sustainable, the MSC uses ongoing scientific research and data (in the form of catch records and stock surveys).
In order to obtain this label, seafood must meet three standards.
First: the population of the stock in question has to be large enough to ensure the population won’t be at risk of dropping bellow healthy levels. Second, the stocks must be caught using fishing practices that maintain the “structure, productivity, function, and diversity” of the ecosystem (no bottom trawling, use of explosives, extensive bycatch, etc.). Lastly, the fishery must have responsive management systems and adhere to applicable laws.
Photo Credit: msc.org
As our world population continues to expand, our wild stocks simply will not survive if we put the pressure for our seafood consumption exclusively on their backs. When responsible practices are used, it’s possible for aquaculture (cultivating fish populations under controlled conditions, instead of harvesting wild fish like commercial fishing) to produce seafood in a way that has very little impact on the environment or on natural populations.
If you’re eating wild-caught species, even those from sustainable fisheries, you are contributing to a reduction in already low wild-population numbers. Eating seafood that is produced using environmentally friendly aquaculture is like a free pass.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that “wild-caught” is the best way to go. And, you should probably get used to the idea of aquaculture. It’s estimated that by 2030, aquaculture will be supplying roughly half of the world’s seafood (Kobayashi et al, 2015).
Don’t fight it. Embrace that you, as a consumer, have more power than you think. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking there is nothing you can do. If enough people demand and support sustainability then industry will rise to meet that demand.
Read more from our sources here, here, and here.
Check out this study:
Kobayashi, M., Msangi, S., Batka, M., Vannuccini, S., Dey, M. M., & Anderson, J. L.(2015). Fish to 2030: the role and opportunity for aquaculture. AquacultureEconomics & Management, 19(3), 282-300.