Fish food

DoAction 27

Eat sustainable fishDoers doing this DoAction have pledged to save: 574 kg CO₂

Food

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Tasty, healthy and hugely versatile, it’s no wonder fish have become one of our most popular foods. But, inhabiting a vast, watery world that’s largely invisible to humans, food from the sea is often wrongly viewed as an unlimited resource. The result? Many species have been fished to near extinction in ways that lead to catastrophic damage to our marine ecosystem.

Get friendly with your fish. Find out where it’s come from and only buy it if it’s been sustainably sourced. For an extra challenge, why not try a new sustainable species? Take a look at the Marine Conservation Society’s ‘Fish to Eat’ for inspiration.

Why?

Climate Change

The global increase in fuel-intensive fishing techniques like dredging, bottom trawling and beam trawling have led to a significant increase in carbon emissions from the industry.

130 mil

tonnes of carbon a year are caused by fishing boats.

Changing to more sustainable and passive methods of fishing is kinder to the marine environment and can cut fuel consumption by up to 15 times – and that’s not including transportation. The growing demand for exotic fish and seafood means many species travel huge distances before they reach a plate. Try and stick to fish that are caught a little closer to home.

Society

Many local economies and communities are built up around the fishing industry. As fish stocks are decimated by industrial-scale trawling, their economies and communities are put at threat.

[1] DECC 2011.

Environment

The fuel-intensive techniques mentioned above are also the ones that cause the most direct damage to the marine environment. Over 300,000 small whales, dolphins, and porpoises die from entanglement in fishing nets each year and over 250,000 endangered loggerhead turtles and critically endangered leatherback turtles are caught annually on longlines set for tuna, swordfish, and other fish.

Thousands more are killed in shrimp trawls^{^{^[1]}}.

The beams and nets also leave a wake of destruction on the seabed, razing entire habitats including rare deep sea coral and sponge ecosystems that take decades to millennia to develop.

Finally, overfishing is a huge problem that is only going to increase as populations increase in size and wealth.

86%

reduction seen in cod stocks over the last century, and Bluefin tuna is now at risk of extinction.

How?

The Marine Stewardship Council and Marine Conservation Society have a wealth of information on eating the tastiest and most sustainable fish around, but to save you trawling (pun intended) too much for information, we’ve created our own list of top tips:

Always ask how your fish was caught. If the answer is dredging or bottom trawling or beam trawling, don’t buy it.
Buy local, seasonal fish. It will have a smaller carbon footprint and is usually cheaper. Mackerel is a good option as it has all the health benefits and there’s plenty of it all year round.
Find a friendly fishmonger who sources their fish from sustainable fisheries. They’ll be able to tell you what’s in season and what’s good to try for the first time. They might even be able to give you some recipes tips too!
If shopping in a supermarket, go to one that invests in sustainable fishing. Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s are leading the way on this.
For advice when you’re on the move, the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide iPhone app is great.