This post comes to us from Guest Blogger Martin Reed , who runs ILoveBlueSea.com, a sustainable seafood company.
WHY BUYING SEAFOOD (THE RIGHT KIND) WILL HELP OUR OCEANS
Born and raised in San Francisco, my move to Arizona for college in 2000 came as a shock—the bountiful fresh seafood of the Bay Area can’t be found for love or money in the Tucson high desert. An entrepreneur at heart, I set out to tackle the problem and en route, learned about the catastrophic condition of our oceans.
In the past fifty years 90% of the large predatory fish – sharks, swordfish, types of tuna – have been fished out of the oceans. A recent scientific study warns that unless we shift course, wild seafood will only be a memory in less than forty years. Imagine telling your grandkids what fishing was! But don’t shy away from purchasing seafood because of these problems—as a consumer you’d do better supporting fisheries that make responsible decisions and are leading the recovery. ‘Sustainable seafood’ means only consuming those species that are abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. These species are usually lower on the food chain and therefore contain significantly less mercury than larger, unsustainable species.
Buying ‘sustainable seafood’ requires knowledge of where the seafood is from and how it was caught – a ‘big ask’ of your busy waiter or the fishmonger at your local market.
I’ve spent the last eight months pulling together this business that sells only sustainable seafood. It’s all sushi-quality fresh but even if you want to cook it, this is how fresh you want seafood to be. We overnight seafood from San Francisco to anywhere in the Continental US. By purchasing and enjoying sustainable seafood, we can ensure that our oceans remain wild and full of life for generations to come.