3 Attributes to Look for in Sustainable Seafood
People always ask me for my opinion regarding what to look for when buying seafood. I’m going to focus this conversation on “guilt-free” seafood. The industry is riddled with smoke and mirrors and miscommunication. This makes it incredibly difficult for even for the most educated consumer to know what to look for when buying seafood. The reality is, there’s only so much information you can find out by looking at labels at a grocery store or fish market. The tips below should help you on your path to buying “guilt-free” seafood:
In Short…
Buy wild, domestic (USA caught AND processed) seafood. Farm-raised is okay when dealing with domestic Oysters, Clams, and Mussels.
Wild vs Farm Raised
In most scenarios, wild fisheries are typically better for the environment than farm-raised products. However, there is a pretty big caveat with this statement. Wild products that are imported from overseas are difficult to evaluate from an environmental and social perspective. There’s just so much ambiguity and unknown with imported products. With less regulation on labor rights and stock assessments, it can be risky supporting some of these fisheries without fulling understanding where the product is coming from. Unless you know and trust the farm a product is coming from, avoid buying imported, farmed raised products.
Farm raised products are typically criticized due to the negative impacts they can have on the environment around them when improperly managed. Atlantic salmon farms for example have been known to destroy environments around them if they are in shallow water, with little water movement, and highly concentrated. This leads to silty water and unhealthy habitat for the salmon to live in. How can a consumer decide whether their salmon comes from one of the “good farms”? It’s super hard know, which is why most just make a blanket statement of, “don’t eat farmed salmon”.
Deep water finfish production and farm-raised bi-valves can be produced in ways that minimize negative environmental impact and actually provide value to their environment. Farm-raised bi-valves like oysters, mussels and clams are actually amazing for the ocean as they continuously filter the water.
Import vs Domestic
I’m a big advocate for domestic seafood. The USA has some of the most stringent fisheries management and regulations in the world. From an environmental sustainability perspective, we’re talking about consuming seafood from fisheries that you can trust are closely watched by scientists and continuously re-evaluated. It’s hard to say the same about imported products.
From a people perspective, consumers of domestic seafood can feel guilt-free in knowing that slave labor, child labor, and underpaying of workers are less likely to occur in domestic production. Overseas, similar to workers in clothing factories, their is a lot of room for foul play. Most just turn a blind eye to what’s happening, but if you want to be a conscience consumer of seafood, you shouldn’t feel comfortable buying imported products unless they are certified by a social governance certification like Fair Trade or coming from the developed markets (New Zealand, Scotland, etc.).
Fresh vs Frozen
My dad sells produce for a living, and he was talking to me about corn. “Have you ever bought fresh corn out of season? Do you notice how it’s not that sweet? The frozen stuff is always sweet because it’s frozen on farm when it’s in season!” When I asked him, “What about when corn is in season, do you go fresh or frozen?”. He responded, “Oh, you’d be an idiot to not buy fresh”. The same rule applies with seafood.
Buying fresh not just tastes better, but it also supporting fishermen who don’t catch products that are so heavily sought after that they need to freeze tonnes of product to ensure people can have the product year round. Fresh products are naturally going to be in season and are less likely to travel a great distance, reducing green house gas emissions. Again, from a quality perspective, there’s nothing inherently wrong with frozen seafood. For a lot of products, they’re frozen on boat to capture much of the nutritional benefits and the product quality can be quite good! However, seafood fresh off a boat that was out for the day, is going to taste far superior to frozen seafood, period.
One caveat to this rule is that some products should be frozen to preserve quality and extend shelf-life. Squid, whole shrimp, and lobsters are good examples of this.
Gotta Pay to Play
Wild, domestic, fresh seafood is not cheap. Just like buying apparel from a company that ensures fair wages for workers, environmental materials, and superior quality, these processes are not cheap. Just as you should question jeans made abroad that sell for only $5.99, you should question a fillet that’s travelled across to world to get to your market for $5.99/lb. Guilt-free seafood comes at a premium, so how much are you willing to pay to not need to turn a blind eye.
“How much are you willing to pay to not need to turn a blind eye?”
If you want to find guilt-free seafood delivered right to your doorstep, check out E-Fish.com. Reach out by email if you have any questions about the products sold on the website, we will be happy to tell you the story behind each and every product.
