Seafood Watch: Stepping Stone To Sustainable Seafood

I’ve got a little card in my wallet. It’s dwarfed by the sheer number of other little cards in my wallet, and it looks rather thin, small, and insignificant. But open it up, and you’ll find that it has information there that can change the way the world eats. It’s a Seafood Watch card, and it’s something that I wish everyone could have. It’s a simple way to cross-check that the seafood that you’re buying is good for you and for ocean life as well.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the plight of the tuna. This fish is not only used in tuna fish sandwiches, a different variety is also used in sushi. It’s this voracious market for sushi that is determining the fate of the tuna – that, and the way that this fish is caught. In fact, the fishing practices used to catch different fish are critically important, since they determine how selective the fishers can be and how many other fish species are caught by accident.

Seafood Watch is a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, but there are regional cards for seafood-lovers around North America. These cards are generally supported and promoted by aquariums and conservation organizations. Interestingly enough, seafood restaurants have also come on board, eager to rebrand their business as a green and ethical business and capture the consumer market that is interested in eating seafood, but only when it has been caught in an ethical manner.

What does it mean to catch fish in an ethical way? Well, seafood that is caught in a sustainable way is caught with methods that involve limited bycatch. This means that the fishery is selective and catches the type and number of fish that they can sell. For example, trolling for fish with a line is often preferable to trawling with a large net, because dragging a large net behind a boat is not particularly selective. Fish caught in traps, by troll and pole or by hook-and-line fishing are often on the “best seafood” list, while fish caught by trawling are often on the “avoid” list. However, the specifics vary by fish species and by area.

What’s on the Seafood Watch green list – the seafood it’s all right to eat? It’s best to download a seafood watch for your particular region, since species at risk and fishing practices vary. Seafood Watch takes many factors into account when creating its lists. These include the vigor of the wild stock, the sustainability of aquaculture practices, the toxins present in different fish, and the way the fish is caught. The sustainability of seafood can be a tricky business. Carry your Seafood Watch card, refer to it often, and update it annually to ensure that you’re eating seafood that’s been grown and caught in an ethical manner.

The Sad Song of the Tuna: Sustainable Seafood, Sustainable Sushi

I adore sushi. It’s a favorite treat for my family, and we live in one of the sushi havens of North America – Vancouver, on the west coast of Canada. However, more and more I find myself reaching into my wallet for my sustainable seafood cheat sheet. On the radio, I hear tales of the demise of the bluefin tuna, and I reach for the menu to look for the vegetarian options. Tofu and yam rolls, anyone?

The tuna is the darling of school sandwiches everywhere. Slapped together with a bit of mayonnaise, it’s the basic, quick and easy mainstay of moms and kids. Who would think that the survival of this fish could be threatened? While the Marine Stewardship Council has said that the North and South Pacific albacore pole and troll fisheries are the only sustainable tuna fisheries in the world, the same cannot be said for the bluefin tuna.

The northern bluefin tuna is actually one of the most expensive fish in the world. It is used and loved as a sushi mainstay, and ninety percent of the trade in this fish goes to Japan. Unfortunately, it’s been loved nearly to extinction. In the Western Atlantic, the Northern Bluefin is critically endangered. In the Eastern Atlantic, things don’t look much better. Like many fish on the endangered list, the Northern Bluefin grows slowly and reaches maturity fairly late, which means that it’s hard for the tuna populations to rebound once they’ve been overfished.

The European Union recently announced that it would back a proposal to support the protection of bluefin tuna under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. If the majority of nations approve the tuna’s protection, this would ban the international trade in bluefin. Consumer awareness in the EU is growing, and in Britain, celebrities Greta Scacchi, Emilia Fox and Terry Gilliam posed naked kissing a fish to raise awareness about the plight of the tuna.

What does this mean for the options for the consumer in the world of sustainable seafood? For those who are determined carnivores, there are alternatives. However, sustainable seafood choices depend very much on where you live. The Marine Conservation Society, the UK’s Good Fish Guide and the Australian Marine Conservation Society all have sustainable seafood cheat sheets. Print them out and take them with you to restaurants and grocery stores alike so that you can make seafood choices that support healthy and sustainable fisheries.