Turning the Tide for Seafood

Twenty-five years ago, the Monterey Bay Aquarium invited visitors to peek below the surface of the ocean and discover the marvels living there. Since then, we've opened the eyes -- and hearts -- of millions of people to the incredible marine life found in our oceans.

Sadly, ocean life is today threatened as never before. Human activities are taking their toll, and nothing exacts a greater price than the industrial scope and scale of fishing to feed our growing appetite for seafood.

The global catch of wild fish -- the last wild animals hunted for food in vast numbers -- has peaked. Sometime this year or next, farmed species will overtake wild-caught fish as the leading source of seafood in the human diet. Like industrial-scale fishing, aquaculture operations are taking a huge toll on ocean ecosystems.

In the face of these daunting challenges, I believe we've begun to turn the tide. Our team at the Aquarium has pulled together the science, and the signs of hope, in Turning the Tide: The State of Seafood, a report we're releasing on October 20 -- our 25th anniversary.

The trends are clear: There's a new scientific consensus on how best to manage and restore fisheries. There's growing demand for environmentally sustainable seafood from individuals, chefs and major seafood buyers. And governments around the world are taking steps to manage fishing and fish-farming with the health of ecosystems in mind.

As we release this benchmark report, we're also attracting new allies to the cause.

Some of the nation's most prominent chefs and culinary leaders -- Alton Brown, Rick Bayless, Susan Spicer and Suzanne Goin among them -- are leading a campaign to "Save Our Seafood" by keeping "red list" seafood identified by our respected Seafood Watch program off their menus. And they're calling on chefs across North America to join them.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has also identified a "Super Green" list of wild and farmed seafood items that are both heart-healthy and are caught or farmed in ways that contribute to a future with healthy, productive oceans. We developed the list in collaboration with scientists from the Environmental Defense Fund and the Harvard School of Public Health. Going "Super Green" means your choices -- including items like tuna, salmon and shrimp that rate as American favorites -- benefit you and the oceans.

We and other nonprofit organizations are partnering with major buyers to help them shift their seafood purchases in more sustainable directions. National food service companies like ARAMARK and Compass Group are working with the aquarium and our Seafood Watch program. As a result, both will buy fewer red-list items, and will increase by millions of pounds their purchase of sustainably caught and farmed seafood.

This is a dramatically different landscape than when we launched Seafood Watch a decade ago.

Yes, ocean life is still in decline; yes, we have reached a point when urgent action is needed to preserve what remains -- and restore what we've lost. Our ill-treatment of the oceans, coupled with the growing threat posed by global climate change, can no longer be ignored. If we delay, we jeopardize the survival of marine ecosystems and -- ultimately -- ourselves.

The good news is that fishermen and consumers, businesses and governments recognize the threats. They're charting a new course, and cooperating in new ways. The solutions are in front of us, and the key players are working more closely than ever to do what needs to be done. Toward this end, Turning the Tide: The State of Seafood offers a benchmark of where we are and a roadmap of where we're heading.

It also provides a clear call to action for each of us. Our seafood choices really do matter. When consumers demand sustainable seafood, businesses seek it out from their suppliers. And we start to turn the tide.

If you do nothing else, visit our website, download a Seafood Watch pocket guide, use it to choose seafood at restaurants and markets, and tell your friends. It's easy to do, and you'll be helping to drive change -- at the market and in the ocean.

The oceans give us so much, far beyond food and income, recreation and renewal. They make Earth a habitable planet. By working together, we can create a future in which the oceans thrive.

 

Follow Julie Packard on Twitter: www.twitter.com/MontereyAq

Comments

[Angera]

I have accepted the following to be true:

1.Wild seafood is not sustainable and never will be until we manage ocean resources in a holistic manner;
2. Eating seafood with high mercury and PCBs levels makes no sense from a public health point;
3.We need to manage the oceans with no fishing zones and other techniques that preserve our ocean resources;
4. Ocean resources must first be allocated to communities that have no other sources of protein;
5.We need to develop well managed aquaculture that reduces overall global pollutants when evaluated in the context of global agricultur­e/aquacult­ure.

The ocean is currently the last frontier of global abuse by pollution and environmental exploitation. We need to abandon the romantic view of the fisherman just as we abandoned the romantic view of the frontiersman that wiped out the buffalo. My company only supports artisanal producers and harvesters- and so should us all.

Andrea Angera, General Manager
Litchfield Farms Organic & Natural Seafood
www.LitchfieldFarms.net

[khanti]

Start by banning sushi.

[LyssaBarnes]

It is not just ocean life. Overfishing in lakes is also taking a toll. I come from a coastal area. We ate seafood at least 3 times a week when I was growing up. We also need to take into consideration the effects of pollution. We are now seeing the long term effects of some of the chemicals and raw sewage that was routinely dumped into water years ago.