{"id":543553,"date":"2026-04-21T21:49:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:49:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543553\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T21:49:13","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:49:13","slug":"many-factors-go-into-what-makes-seafood-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/543553\/","title":{"rendered":"Many factors go into what makes seafood ‘sustainable’"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Don\u2019t overfish<\/a>. Don\u2019t trawl the seabed. Keep aquaculture healthy for the fish as well as the ocean. <\/p>\n

Some aspects of sustainable seafood are obvious and well-trod, even if the how-to intricacies likely are lost on most consumers.<\/p>\n

But sustainability today<\/a> is complicated terrain, as much about business as bycatch, and why, for your next clam chowder, human rights matter as much as healthy habitats. <\/p>\n

Advocates now want you considering issues of labor abuses, the rights of indigenous populations to use traditional fishing practices, the carbon footprint of a salmon fillet relative to a filet mignon, even whether the fishing boats offer free, high-speed Wi-Fi.<\/p>\n

All of this is certified, rated and labeled by a tapestry of competing and overlapping groups. <\/p>\n

For the already seafood-averse consumer — Americans have a notoriously limited appetite<\/a> for seafood — it all can be a bit overwhelming.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m an expert and I still sometimes struggle to look through some of the systems to figure out which product in the store actually matches which rating, and which label is different,\u201d said Robert Jones, global director of aquatic foods for The Nature Conservancy.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A \u201cSeafood Watch\u201d sign with a color-coded rating program hangs over the seafood counter in Whole Foods in Hillsboro, Ore., on Sept. 10, 2010. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/p>\n

A \u201cSeafood Watch\u201d sign with a color-coded rating program hangs over the seafood counter in Whole Foods in Hillsboro, Ore., on Sept. 10, 2010. (AP Photo\/Rick Bowmer, File)<\/p>\n

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The old \u2018traffic light\u2019 ratings<\/p>\n

For several decades, the most recognizable expression of seafood sustainability was Monterey Bay Aquarium\u2019s Seafood Watch program, which encouraged or admonished consumption of specific species with cards labeled green, yellow and red<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Driven largely to preserve seafood populations — eat the abundant Arctic char, but take a pass on the tenuous tuna — the simplicity resonated.<\/p>\n

Twenty-five years ago, that was the right focus, said Jennifer Kemmerly, vice president of global ocean conservation for Monterey Bay. Overseas fisheries, the source of much of the seafood consumed in the U.S., might be immune to American regulations, but would respond if enough consumers demanded sustainable choices.<\/p>\n

But the simple, traffic-light ratings also created a guilty-until-proven-innocent aura that lingers, said Barton Seaver, a seafood sustainability expert with National Geographic. Rather than tease out whether farmed or wild salmon is better (the answer has changed over the years), many people just opt for chicken. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe entire category had to be exonerated,\u201d he said. \u201cYes, (the information) was more easily digestible, but the end result was fear, trepidation and a general lack of participation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The many meanings of sustainability<\/p>\n

Seafood Watch eventually fell silent, partly a victim of pandemic pressures. By then, the definition of sustainable had broadened dramatically. Safeguarding endangered stocks still matters, of course. But a host of other issues — treatment of workers, regenerative practices, local vs. corporate ownership of the fleet — can mitigate that.<\/p>\n

And plenty of people in and outside the industry argue that any test of sustainability also must weigh the impact of seafood against the alternatives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we do so across five very important metrics — greenhouse gas, land-use alteration, feed conversion, freshwater and antibiotics — seafood just comes out on top in the animal-protein conversation,\u201d said Seaver. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want the sustainable option for dinner, the yellow-list or even red-list seafood might be the better environmental option than chicken or beef,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The result is an equation too complex for most consumers. It doesn\u2019t help that many of the newer sustainability issues simply aren\u2019t intuitive to the consumer. That on-ship Wi-Fi, for example? A lifeline for workers to report labor abuses while at sea for months at a time.<\/p>\n

The monoculture-like beef, pork and poultry industries easily align on methods and messaging (after all, everyone knows what\u2019s for dinner and which is the other white meat.) But seafood is inherently complex, comprised of thousands of species, regions and regulations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest loser here is the American consumer,\u201d said celebrity chef Andrew Zimmern, whose documentary \u201cHope in the Water\u201d highlighted efforts to make seafood more sustainable. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Andrew<\/p>\n

Andrew Zimmern appears on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage at the 2025 BottleRock Napa Valley at Napa Valley Expo in Napa, Calif., on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Amy Harris\/Invision\/AP, File)<\/p>\n

Andrew Zimmern appears on the Williams Sonoma Culinary Stage at the 2025 BottleRock Napa Valley at Napa Valley Expo in Napa, Calif., on May 24, 2025. (Photo by Amy Harris\/Invision\/AP, File)<\/p>\n

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Aiming higher<\/p>\n

Despite the information overload, Kemmerly sees the complexity as a sign of success. <\/p>\n

\u201cThese big companies who 25 years ago made a sustainability commitment thinking it was just the environmental piece are now also on the hook — no pun intended — for reporting on environmental, social and governance issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The way forward, many say, is to sell confidence in American seafood. Zimmern wants to see all the players — from fishermen and wholesalers to watchdog groups — agree on regularly updated standards. It puts the onus for good choices on the industry and frees the consumer to feel good about whatever they purchase.<\/p>\n

That may not be as wishful as it sounds. The Alaskan seafood industry benefits from a sustainability halo because regulations mandating good practices are written into the state constitution. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve always said, if you choose Alaska, it\u2019s the easy choice from a sustainability standpoint. There\u2019s not a single one of our fisheries that isn\u2019t sustainably managed,\u201d said Jeremy Woodrow, executive director of the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute. \u201cWe\u2019ve tried to simplify that for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best way to support the industry, Seaver said, is to let chefs and consumers focus on what tastes good. And Seafood Watch seems to agree. The program is in the midst of a relaunch that will focus on educating chefs about making sustainable choices.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s a befuddled seafood shopper to do? The consensus seems to be: Buy American, local when possible. Though hardly perfect, the U.S. seafood industry is highly regulated and works with retailers who insist on sustainability standards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you go to Whole Foods, you trust that they\u2019ve done the job for you. And that\u2019s the case for a lot of large grocery chains these days,\u201d Woodrow said. \u201cConsumers should feel confident when they go to the freezer case or the fresh case that that fish is going to be coming from a responsible fishery.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

J.M. Hirsch is a longtime food writer who was food editor of The Associated Press for nearly a decade until 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BOSTON (AP) \u2014 Don\u2019t overfish. Don\u2019t trawl the seabed. Keep aquaculture healthy for the fish as well as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543554,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[107499,84,7080,11531,1397,74589,612,112036,187244,187245,2924,655,7106,14680,58725,90,5699,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-543553","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-andrew-zimmern","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-climate","11":"tag-climate-and-environment","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-environmental-conservation","14":"tag-food-and-drink","15":"tag-food-recipes","16":"tag-jennifer-kemmerly","17":"tag-jeremy-woodrow","18":"tag-labor","19":"tag-lifestyle","20":"tag-national","21":"tag-oceans","22":"tag-robert-jones","23":"tag-science","24":"tag-sustainability","25":"tag-uk","26":"tag-united-kingdom","27":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}