Seafood Watch:

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Seafood Watch Choices for Healthy Oceans
Sheila Bowman, Outreach Manager Seafood Watch
Program Monterey Bay Aquarium
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Seafood Supply Demand

• Global seafood consumption doubled since 1973
• An additional demand of 32 million tons by 2020
• The US
• imports 82 of our seafood
• is the worlds second largest importer (17 of
  the global total 93 million tonnes)
• Approximately 2/3 of seafood is wild-caught
• Approximately 1/3 is farmed

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(in tons/km2)
Biomass of table fish in 1900
(V. Christensen, SAUP)
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Biomass of table fish in 1999
(V. Christensen, SAUP)
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If current trends continue, edible seafood supply
will be depleted by 2048
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Issues of Concern for Wild Fisheries

• OVERFISHING
• 76 of global fish stocks are at capacity or
  already depleted.
• In the US 1 in 5 populations are experiencing
  over fishing.
• BYCATCH
• 7.3 million tons of fish are thrown overboard
  annually.
• HABITAT DAMAGE
• The area of seafloor trawled or dredged each year
  is 150 times that of all forests clear-cut
  worldwide.
• ILLEGAL and UNREGULATED FISHING
• At least ¼ of the worlds catch.

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Issues of Concern for Aquaculture

• USE OF MARINE RESOURCES
• Large amounts of smaller fish are caught and
  converted to fish pellets to feed carnivorous
  species
• POLLUTION IMPACTS ON WILD FISH POPULATIONS
• Open net pens release parasites, disease and
  chemicals like hormones and antibiotics into the
  environment.
• ESCAPED NON NATIVE FISH IMPACTS ON WILD FISH
• Open net pens allow non-native farmed species to
  escape
• HABITAT DAMAGE
• Coastal habitats are destroyed to create farms
• Pollution from farms impacts the seafloor and
  surrounding environment.

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Health Risks

• FDA EPA mercury advisories ask women of
  child-bearing age and children to
  avoid swordfish, shark, king mackerel,
  tilefish
• PCBs/PBDEs in farmed salmon may outweigh health
  benefits (Science 2004, 303, No
  5655 226-229)
• Antibiotics use in Thai shrimp farming
  contributes to the development antibiotic-resistan
  t pathogens
• (International Journal of Food Science and
  Technology 2003, 38, 255-266)

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Chilean Seabass
Vanishing Flavors
Bluefin Tuna
Pacific Rockfish
Marcus Samuelsson, Aquavit
Mario Batali, Babbo
Hiro Sone, Terra
Scientists estimate this fishery could collapse
in 5 years.
Since the 1970s, Atlantic Bluefin populations
have declined by 80.
Nearly vanished. Fishery is down 97 since the
late 1960s.
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What is Seafood Watch?
A program of Monterey Bay Aquarium empowering
consumers and businesses to make choices for
healthy oceans.

• Build awareness (What are the issues?)
• Provide the knowledge (What are some
  environmentally responsible choices?)
• Encourage action (What can I do?)

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Regional Seafood Pocket GuidesHelp Spread the
Word

• Central U.S.
• Northeast
• National
• Hawaii
• West Coast

Southeast Southwest Spanish language for
National, Southwest and West Coast Sushi (coming
in Fall of 2008)
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Sustainable Seafood is Available!
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(No Transcript)
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www.seafoodwatch.org
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Consumers and Advocates Resource Page
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Leave Behind Tent Cards
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Fish Fact Cards Cheat sheets for seafood on the
Avoid list
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Fishing Gear and Aquaculture Fact Cards
available only on the website
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Reference Resources
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Retail and Food Service Leaders Become Part of
the Solution

• November 2005 Walmart to buy only eco-certified
  shrimp. Red Lobster follows
• The initiative is partly from demand by
  consumers to buy sustainably grown products
• Peter Redmond, Walmart Vice President for deli
  and seafood
• January 2006 Worldwide ban of wild sturgeon
  caviar
• January 2006 Walmart to purchase all wild-caught
  fish for North American market from MSC-certified
  fisheries within 3 to 5 years
• February 2006 Compass Group North America
  announces sustainable seafood policy
• April 2008 ARAMARK announces sustainable seafood
  policy

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Shifting attitudes in the industry
2007
2006
it seems increasingly unlikely the movement
will prove to be a passing fad.
2004
Sustainability. This word was on a lot lips in
2005 expect it to be the buzzword in
2006. Continued pressure on retailers will cause
a trickle-down effect across the seafood
industry.
1997
Market demand for environmentally responsible
fish is crossing over from a niche to the
mainstream.
If youre a seafood company, you dont crawl
under the covers with greenies.
The sustainable seafood movement is here to
stay. Make no mistake about that.
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• Thank you!

Juvenile male white shark at the Monterey Bay
Aquarium. Arrived August 28, 2007 measuring 4
feet 9 inches and weighing in at 68 pounds.
Male white shark at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
Arrived August 31, 2006, measuring 5 feet 8
inches and weighing in at 104 pounds.