What Does ‘Sustainable Seafood’ Mean?
The word “sustainable” is often overused to indicate that a practice or product is “green,” “eco-friendly” or a host of other environmentally compatible notions. An article on food activism and dining in the Bay Area about “sustainable seafood” caught my eye recently, and made me wonder: what does “sustainable seafood” really mean? The definition of sustainable seems to vary greatly, depending on who is using it and how. Here’s our take on seafood safety and sustainability:
At Food & Water Watch, we help consumers navigate the often-complex world of choosing seafood that is both good for them and our planet. To do this, we provide a Smart Seafood Guide – updated annually – that makes recommendations on various seafood items to try. We follow a set of stringent criteria to help us make our selections.
As a consumer group, our first concern is contamination in seafood products. We pay attention to the risks of mercury or polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCB), accumulation in species that are higher on the food chain. We also consider parasites, diseases and bacteria that may affect human health, like vibrio vulnificus, which can be a risk in certain shellfish. Because less than 2% of imported seafood is inspected by the FDA – many other countries have lower environmental standards and may allow for the use of hormones or antibiotics in fish feed – we recommend U.S.-caught or farm-raised seafood rather than imported products.
It’s equally important to consider environmental criteria, such as the health of the wild stock for the type of seafood you’re considering. For example, some fish, like Alaska Pollock, may be relatively low in contaminants, but are experiencing over-exploitation as a result of too much fishing pressure. We also investigate all fish and shellfish to determine their place in the food web – their role in the marine ecosystem among other predators or prey.
Whether a fish is farmed or caught wild, we look at the most commonly used catch method or farming method as part of our checklist. When it comes to farmed fish, we take into account the production methods to determine whether operations may pollute nearby waters, or if they require large amounts of wild fish as feed. Some types of aquaculture, like shellfish farming, can actually be beneficial to the marine environment when practiced conscientiously.
Our criteria for seafood always include considerations for the socioeconomic and cultural significance of a fishery. Some fisheries may look good on paper, but are actually characterized by large, corporate, industrial fleets that are neither from the surrounding area where they fish, nor contribute to it economically. Other fisheries may be home to traditionally, historically, or economically significant activities of the community, and these are the positive examples we like to highlight with our Smart Seafood Guide. Some examples of such seafood are Maine lobster, Pacific salmon, and Gulf shrimp and catfish.
If you have questions about choosing smart seafood, post them here and we’ll do our best to provide answers!
-Marie Logan
Thanks to FWW for the Smart Seafood Guide. I try to use this or other similar guides whenever considering eating seafood.
I’m curious what the **truly best** approach to eating seafood is, purely from an ocean ecosystem perspective. I know from your guide, for example, that U.S. wild-caught Alaskan salmon is the best salmon source, from both a health and ecosystem perspective. But would the best approach to actually be to NOT eat the salmon? Or is the ecosystem actually improved by my supporting fisheries that use sustainable harvesting practices? Similarly for other types of fish and seafood… are the suggestions in your guide simply better alternatives if one insists on eating seafood? Or is the ideal choice from an ecological perspective simply to not consume any seafood at all?
I’m sure the answer isn’t a cut-and-dry “A” or “B,” but can you shed some light on this for me? It’s a nagging question as I try to decide which, if any, seafood to eat.
Thanks very much.
Hi Kartik,
Thanks for your interest and important question! FWW is a consumer advocacy organization, so we provide information that helps consumers make the best choices for them to find clean and safe water and foods, including seafood. We take into consideration ecological impacts of food and water systems as well. We recognize that deciding what to eat is a very personal choice, and so we don’t push particular types of food (like vegetables versus meat) over others.
With respect to fish – each type plays a unique role in the food web and environment. For example, some types of grouper make burrows in the sea floor and therefore make habitat for other marine wildlife. Some fish serve as food for other wildlife, as well as humans. Some fish are long-lived and slow to mature, making them more susceptible to depletion. It would be a very difficult analysis to determine which fish are ecologically better to eat or not, especially with the cumulative impacts from the decision to eat some and not others. One thing to look at is how the overall population of a particular fish is doing – our fisheries management entities in the U.S. review stock status of popular fish regularly to make laws on fishing. Arguably if a fish is overfished (based on a scientific definition of “overfished”) – that means too many have been taken from the water to support a healthy population long term. We have certain limits set by government to guide the sustainable harvest of fish resources (granted this is not always a perfect system as fish swim and they are difficult to really count) – so people can eat seafood, and leave enough to maintain a healthy environment and for use in the future.
I hope that provides some clarity for you. And one tip I’d like to offer to anyone interested in reducing their cumulative impact on the oceans: if you choose to eat seafood, it helps to diversify your seafood eating habits in order to prevent excessive pressure on any one particular fish.
Any follow-up questions? Post them here!
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