Only consume sustainable seafood

By committing to only sourcing, selling and using seafood that is sustainably certified and uses fair labor, your business is helping to restore species abundance, restock the Ocean, and ensure food for the future.

Ideas for action

  • Develop sustainable seafood procurement policies that ensure all seafood used is sustainably certified and not listed on any seafood “red lists”, and takes account of labor standards, ensuring fair labor.
  • Support the establishment of a global fully traceable system for seafood and seek out companies who can supply fully traceable seafood.
  • Only source seafood from fisheries that have followed scientific advice when setting fishing quotas.
  • Use tools to train your staff and suppliers and become a Seafood Watch Partner, or equivalent, in your region.
  • Support local small-scale fishers that are using sustainable fishing practices by searching out and securing fish directly from them.
  • Contribute to improved seafood sustainability by working with other stakeholders such as governments, the fishing industry, environmental and conservation groups, and the scientific community.
  • Tell your government to get rid of perverse fishing subsidies and to support the decision to reform harmful fisheries subsidies at the World Trade Organization, together with those governments that have launched an initiative to get them eliminated once and for all.

Why? Over the course of a few decades, fishing activities have led to 90% of fish stocks being either fully fished, overfished or depleted. Overfishing and destructive and illicit fishing activities are costing the global economy trillions of dollars, compromising jobs and taking food from the future. About 20% of fish caught are the product of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing – a global problem that not only undermines a productive economy and healthy environment but also impoverishes coastal communities and has links to slavery, drugs, human trafficking and terrorism. To stem the demand for illegal fish, it is essential to consume seafood that is from reliable, sustainable sources. Perverse subsidies for fuel and helping build bigger and more powerful vessels have also tilted the playing field unfairly so that there are now too many boats (with bigger engines) catching too few fish.

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