Mark Powell at Blogfish points to an article in last week's Miami Herald where a reporter had to bow out of his search for sustainable seafood because it was too much work and too expensive. The messages are, indeed, too mixed and confusing (we established that after the episode last summer that involved Al Gore eating (un?)sustainable toothfish). Witness the confusion yourself firsthand at this website from the makers of Fishbase, which compiles the recommendations from different sustainable seafood advocates for different fish. For some fish (e.g., Atlantic salmon) there is unanimity, while for others (e.g., Ahi tuna) you'll find conflicting recommendations. In a great twist of irony, I heard recently that, in cases when retailers have been able to reduce consumer confusion about sustainable fish, seafood sales have increased. Greater demand. Perfect. Just what the oceans need...
Chilean sea bass: To eat or not to eat? That is the really confusing question...
Environment
Comments
What proportion of these species are being harvested in a way that is genuinely sustainable, and what proportion are simply being exploited less rapaciously than others?
Once climate change is taken into account, it seems plausible that there are no marine fish species that will be able to tolerate the present level of human activity indefinitely.
Posted by: Milan | June 25, 2008 8:36 AM
Factor in the rampant fraud and the problem becomes almost impossible to solve. Even if a particular item is sustainable what about everything else on the menu? Where I live there is basically one seafood market for the entire valley. Pretty much every restaurant and market in the area buys seafood from this one place. While the owners are more than happy to steer people toward sustainable products they are also more than happy to carry products that are not sustainable and some that possibly illegal.
Posted by: kevindwhite | June 25, 2008 8:45 AM
One of the main issues is defining sustainability, of course. The MSC has a rigorous sustainability standard when it comes to protecting population stability and ecocsystem health. But what about CO2 emissions? Trawling for fish may be doable in an 'environmentally-friendly' way but according to the BBC, global fisheries use over 1% of global oil consumption - as much as the entire national consumption of the Netherlands!
Check out the new BBC website on the impact of prawn's on climate change: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bloom/flash.shtml#/actions/prawns.shtml
Posted by: shanta | June 25, 2008 9:24 AM
Perhaps the problem is the vendor. Try a co-op or other outlet who isn't out to fool you. I get my wild caught salmon from a local co-op which even delivers! From fisherman to co-op to me, with nobody motivated to deceive in the chain.
Posted by: Marty Steitz | June 25, 2008 9:34 AM
Hi there,
Just wanted to make a comment regarding sustainable seafood issues. It is rather difficult to be sure, though I know that there are some institutions which have developed programs that help the public determine safer seafood choices with ease.
There is obviously the seafood watch card from Monterey Bay aquarium, and there is a similar seafood watch card here in Canada and seachoice.org
Additionally, there are programs such as OceanWise, started by the Vancouver Aquarium: http://www.vanaqua.org/oceanwise/ which helps restaurants and their customers make safer seafood choices. There are efforts out there to improve the health of our oceans, and sometimes it does in fact start at the vendor...
Posted by: keely | June 25, 2008 3:26 PM
Re: Al Gore and the toothfish episode-
If Al Gore left society and "teh big fat energy-gobbling mansion", and went to live in a rammed earth hobbit-burrow off the grid, eating nothing but sustainably-harvested wild-gathered roots, seeds, and berries, he'd still be criticized for something that wasn't green enough. Like all the children he had...because reproducing is not very Earth-friendly, really.
I'm not an Al Gore fan-girl by any means; I just think it's ridiculous for everyone, environmentalist or Hummer-driving styrofoam lover, to use the "tu quoque" argument against him, again and again. Especially when the environmentalists are jetting around themselves, to give talks, take vacations, schmooze with fellow intellectuals, etc. And probably consuming a few yellow and red light sea creatures in the process.
Because really, unless you live in some enlightened enclave on the West Coast, it's pretty confusing to figure out what you should and should not eat, if you want to avoid the green wrath of Neptune, or whatever. A lot of people here on the Gulf Coast depend on seafood and freshwater fish, whether they caught it themselves or bought it at the grocery store, to feed their families. If you expect them to make choices that are better for the environment, then provide clear guidelines at the grocery store, and make sure there are inexpensive choices. And provide the guidelines in Spanish and in Vietnamese, as well as in English.
Posted by: Barn Owl | June 28, 2008 9:37 AM
ShrimpSUCK.org
The #1 seafood in the US, consumption has doubled in the past decade.
Seems like a great place to begin. Let us know if you want stickers!
Posted by: J. | June 29, 2008 10:12 AM