removes billions of dollars of valuable resources from the world’s oceans each year and hurts us all in the long run. Efforts against these harmful actions will be implemented on June 5, though it will certainly take time before any significant progress is made. In the meantime, there are actions we as consumers and as voters can choose to put sustainable fishing initiatives into the fast lane.
As a student of conservation, it would be easy for me to end this article by telling you the ideal solution to our problem: cease and desist with any and all seafood consumption you had planned until all wild stocks have made a full recovery. However, back in the real world, I feel it is actually the responsibility of conservationists to equip people with the knowledge to make seafood choices that have less of an impact on fish populations and their ocean habitat because sushi restaurants, fitness diets that recommend fish consumption, and the seafood sections at the grocery store are, and will continue to be, part of the world we live in.
A great starting point for incorporating sustainable seafood into your diet is to ask your grocer or server where your seafood was fished, the methods used to catch it, and what type of fish you’re actually ordering. These simple questions start a conversation about some of the most important things that distinguish sustainable seafood from the rest. By simply asking if a sustainable seafood option is offered, you are showing businesses that sustainability is becoming important to the people who are buying seafood. Whoever is selling you your seafood should be open and honest about their product offerings and it never hurts to ask where any of your food comes from, so don’t be shy!
Another simple way to factor conservation into your everyday life is to download a free smartphone app such as Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch. This list, curated and updated every three months, is an easy way to identify good choices, okay alternatives, and seafood you should completely avoid purchasing. Offered for regions across the globe, this type of technology is great to use whether you’re enjoying a home-cooked meal or if you’re trying new foods in a far off land. It is easy to assume that farm-raised seafood is always the best choice, however this is a misconception- wild-caught seafood can be sustainable, too! Some of the best choices are farmed such as is the case with oysters and mussels while others are wild-caught species such as the Alaskan salmon; some of the worst choices include orange roughy, trawl-caught Atlantic cod, and sturgeon. Once you identify what is conservation-minded seafood that you enjoy eating, choosing more environmentally friendly seafood will be second nature just like picking up some cage-free eggs or knowing which cereal you prefer. In using a tool such as Seafood Watch you might even find some new foods that you love. How cool would that be?
102 - SEVENSEAS