Archive for the ‘Sustainable Seafood’ Category

Sustainable Seafood

A few days ago McDonald’s announced that, under an agreement with the Marine Stewardship Council, they would be serving sustainable seafood in their fish sandwiches in Europe soon. While I have never been a fan of processed food and corporations who value profits over people, this is certainly a step in the right direction. Europeans are, by nature, much more concerned than Americans about food sustainability and other environmental issues, hence the pilot program for sustainable seafood beginning there. It would be nice if the idea caught on and spread globally to all restaurants, including sushi restaurants, as with some pelagic species being fished to near extinction, following a program of sustainable seafood may be the only way to keep sushi and other seafood dishes on our plates.

Interestingly, Wal-Mart also has a plan to require all if it’s seafood suppliers to their stores, as well as their Sam’s Club stores, to obtain certification from the MSC for their products, and Costco, Korger, and Supervalu are also jumping on the bandwagon. While this is a pleasant step in the right direction for sustainable seafood, many organizations take issue with the MSC and their certification practices, as they still allow certain types of seafood harvesting including trawling of the seafloor, which is very destructive, and there are some venues that refuse to work with them due to their allowing certain practices to remain in place, which can destroy the seabeds, even if catches are limited and monitored.

Ultimately, while this seems like a good idea for corporate interests, and possibly for the longevity of the many pelagic species, this is just a blip in the radar in the drive for sustainable seafood. It’s great marketing for the aforementioned corporations, though. If we want to save our most revered seafood species, the onus is truly on the consumer as our seafood choices are more important than we realize. If we continue to eat threatened species, they will be with us no longer, so the only way change will ever happen is is we vote with our wallets and refuse to eat the fish that are considered endangered.

Sustainable seafood is not an impossible dream, and organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium are working to educate consumers as to which seafood choices are the best to make when fish is on the menu. Wild caught, fish farming, and conservation are among the many topics that must be continually reviewed to determine the sustainability of the seafood market, and if future generations want to enjoy sushi, a sea change is needed in the way we view our ocean herds. Make a difference yourself when you go out for sushi and educate yourself to ensure that you are part of the sustainable seafood solution, rather than part of the problem.