What is Sustainable Fishing and Sustainable Seafood?

Mankind consumes a huge amount of fish every day, and because the number of people on the planet continues to rise, the natural resources of the planet such as fresh water, arable lands, marine life, wildlife, etc., will be seriously affected, if we don’t learn how to use them in a sustainable way.

Sustainable Fishing Definition

Sustainable fishing aims to leave enough fish in the ocean to ensure the future population of fish, and also wants to protect the people who depend on fishing.

Types of Fish Available Today

We have two types of fish on the planet today: wild fish (fishermen can catch them out of the ocean) and farmed fish (they are raised in an enclosed aquaculture system, which is actually an aquatic farm).

Wild Fish

Wild fish has become a limited resource today, due to the huge demand of seafood on the market that lead to overfishing (wild fish are caught at a faster rate than they can reproduce).

Some fishing methods used today to catch sea life on a large scale, also catch unwanted sea life that end up being killed in the process (bycatch).

Purse seining and longlining are two fishing methods used by commercial fishing for large scale (industrial) fishing.

When trawls are dragged along the ocean floor, they disrupt the ecosystem in the area because they also catch sea turtles and unwanted fish species.

Longlining is a fishing technique that involves a very long line (up to 62 miles long) that is set and dragged behind the boat.

Because the line has thousands of baited hooks which are attached to smaller lines that are stretched downward, they can catch a huge amount of fish (they are very efficient at cathing fish), but they leave behind only a small population of fish, which can’t replenish itself through reproduction like before.

This way, the population of wild fish in the ocean decreases year after year because overfishing threatens the long-term survival of many fish species.

Farmed Fish

After World War II, mankind’s capacity to catch wild fish has been dramatically increased, and this is the reason why today, the technology used to catch wild fish, has become very efficient.

Along with the improved fishing capacity, the number of fish farms and aquacultures on the planet suffered an incredible boom.

In recent years, the production of farmed fish started to exceed the amount of wild fish (wild catch) produced from commercial fishing.

Sadly, not all fish farms can be considered sustainable today, because some of them are poorly run and they pollute the ocean with their waste.

These poorly run fish farms also risk to release some of their fish into the wild and because their fish can be genetically different from wild fish, this can change the wild populations of fish and affect the ecosystem in the area of the farm.

Sustainable farming refers to keeping the fish in a separate area (away from the wild populations of fish), feeding them properly, and they don’t pollute the ocean.

How To Eat Fish Sustainably?

According to Wikipedia, the most consumed species of wild fish on the planet today (over 1 million tonnes per year) are: Peruvian anchoveta, Alaska pollock, Skipjack tuna, Atlantic herring, Chub mackerel, Yellowfin tuna, Japanese anchovy, Largehead hairtail, Atlantic cod, European pilchard and Capelin.

The most cultivated species of wild fish on the planet today (over 1 million tonnes per year) are: Grass carp, Silver carp, Common carp, Venerupis philippinarum, Nile tilapia, Whiteleg shrimp, Bighead carp, Catla, Crucian carp, Atlantic salmon and Rohu.

However, there are many other fish species that are popular in certain countries or areas of the planet.

To be sure that you consume fish in a sustainable way, try to follow at least one of these rules.

1. Catch Your Own Fish

If you like fishing, you can catch fish locally, but never catch more fish than you, your family, or your community can eat.

Remember a wild fish is sustainable, only if it’s caught in a way that doesn’t threaten the long-term survival of its species or the ecosystem of which is part of.

Hook and line fishing, harpooning and some uses of traps are all allowed only if you catch fish without affecting the wild fish populations in the area.

Using these fishing methods, bycatch is minimal and unwanted fish can be released.

For commercial fishing, rod-and reel-fishing is way more sustainable than long lining (prevents and reduces overfishing and bycatch).

Fishstainable.com can teach you how to fish in a sustainable way, and what modern tools to use to catch fish without harming the environment.

2. Check the Label

If you want to buy farmed fish, look for the Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) logo.

The Aquaculture Stewardship Council logo, source: asc-aqua.org

When buying wild fish look for the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) logo.

The Marine Stewardship Council logo, source: msc.org

Don’t buy fish that is not labeled because if you buy them you will only help the spread of illegal fish farms.

3. Shop Responsibly

Try to buy your fish only at supermarkets that stock fish from responsible fish farms and fisheries.
This way you will support the organic fish farms that produce much healthier fish.

4. Eat Less Seafood

To be sure that commercial fishing is no longer affecting some fish species and their ecosystem, try to eat less seafood.

If the demand for seafood decreases, be sure that commercial fishing will be reduced because they’ll no longer be interested to catch a fish with low market demand.

I know that there are many people used to eat fish almost daily.

I’m not saying that this is not a healthy practice, but you can’t eat fish all the time, you have to change your diet with a complex one that includes fish among other types of meat and a lot of fruits and veggies.

Conclusion

The ocean is Earth’s life support, and all the creatures that live there have to be protected because they are part of the same ecosystem of which we are also part of.

Don’t forget that the ocean is not only for us, it is also for the future generations who must inherit a healthy ocean teeming with life, and not one that is polluted and empty of life due to overfishing.