I recently came across the 2005 Greenpeace report A Recipe for Disaster, which aims to improve seafood buying behavior by supermarkets in the UK. The report makes a few points worth noting here. First off, in regards to shifting baselines: nearly 90% of seafood sold in the UK is done so through supermarkets (such as Marks & Spencer or Sainsbury's). Compare this to 50 or 100 years ago when most people bought their Friday supper from a fishmonger (which means supermarkets now have extraordinary seafood buying power and influence).
I also like the three options the report gives for consumers wanting to reduce their impact on marine ecosystems:
1) Buy from a supermarket you trust and assume all the seafood there is sustainable (easy; I like this option but worry about the problem of mislabeling and renaming, which will soon be discussed in detail on this blog).
2) Rely on your own knowledge of sustainable seafood and buy only choices you know are sustainable (less easy; see caveat from above and add in some consumer confusion).
3) Stop eating seafood (easy, though this option may require too much restraint from certain stomachs; as Oscar Wilde noted, "Your soul [or, in this case, stomach] grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden itself."
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Now there you go again, Jennifer...
I won't hold it against you that you're still wet behind the ears, and prone to wanting things to be too easy.
There's more to limiting impact than "just say no" to unsustainable seafood. It didn't work for drugs either.
Anyone who has eaten unsustainable seafood in the past has (fish)blood on their hands and needs to do more than just walk away. Get involved and get our fisheries fixed. Bring all fisheries up to sustainable standards. Otherwise, you're walking away from a problem rather than helping to fix it.
It's Greenpeace, London that presented the option of 'Just Say No' (I merely confirmed it's a viable one).
I do like the idea of working with big distributors (e.g. UK supermarkets) and think this has a lot of potential in terms of sustainable seafood. But I stand by my issues with renaming, mislabeling, consumer confusion, and the Asian market, insofar as these programs can make a difference on the water. There are market impacts regionally, but these have not been reflected in improvements in fish populations.
Getting involved and getting our fisheries fixed is absolutely imperative but bringing all fisheries up to sustainable standards is just as idealistic of a concept as "just saying no". The majority of fish is caught by artisanal fishermen, so while we can in theory go about setting standards for big commercial fisheries, it can only go so far. In many developing countries fishing means survival, and in that situation sustainable fishing practices aren't a priotity to those people.
Saying no is important- it falls under the concept of voting with your dollar. True, it won't single-handedly fix endangered stocks and ecosystems, but it seemed to work fairly well for dolpin-safe(r) tuna. Even if only a fraction of people practice saying no, it's as effective the MSC certifying one more fishery- which it does at a glacial pace.
Let's start working on doing away with unsustainable fisheries, but let's also say no so that we don't inadvertantly support precisely what we don't support.
"Buy from a supermarket you trust" works well in the UK, as the supermarkets there, in large part thanks to Greenpeace UK, are taking the issue of seafood sustainability seriously. Companies like Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and many others have buyers with Graduate degrees in fisheries management. They have removed red listed species from their stores and are working with suppliers to find the most sustainable options for the others; where possible choosing fisheries certified to the standards of the Marine Stewardship Council. The U.S. is slowly catching up, with many big buyers seeking more sustainable alternatives, and are working with Seafood Watch, and others in the sustainable seafood movement to better understand the issues and how to be a part of the solution.