Toward Sustainable Fisheries

You've probably heard the recent news that the world's fish and seafood species could collapse by mid-century. That study, in Science, points to rapidly increasing consumption and high-impact fish harvesting technologies as the main causes of serious declines in many fish populations.

Pretty gloomy stuff. And yet, not necessarily a foregone conclusion. Another study, issued recently by the Worldwatch Institute, suggests ways consumers and other seafood purchasers can save some of our ocean populations. That study offers interesting information about the growing movement for sustainable seafood around the world. Some universities in China are now refusing to serve shark fin soup. Universities and hospitals in the U.S. are increasingly making buying decisions with sustainability issues in mind, often based on the purchasing recommendations put forth by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Supermarkets around the world are offering more fish harvested with minimal impact on other species.

The Sustainable Food Lab is engaged in this issue in several ways. Our Food for Health team is working to bring sustainability issues, including wise fish buying, into the mainstream practices of institutional (school and hospital) food service operations. And our Fisheries team is working with partners in Europe, the U.S., and Africa to promote and reward responsible fish harvesting in a number of ways. One of the newest is a European project that will assess the impact of eco-labels on the fish industry (do they provide incentives for wise resource management?) and on consumer behavior.

In his Worldwatch Report Brian Halweil writes, "Huge—and increasingly multinational—food companies determine what seafood appears on consumers’ tables."

These multinationals are a high leverage place from which to affect the way the world's fisheries are fished but they cannot do it alone. What can be gained by working together? With a dire picture of "business as usual" on the one hand and wise decisions that can have a real impact on the other what are the nuts and bolts of bringing these two together? What is the gap and what will it take to close it?