Sustainable Fishing

      Sourcing fish from sustainable companies has recently become a big concern to many consumers given the recent attention paid to decreasing numbers of wild fish. Overfishing is becoming such a huge issue to conservationists and the food industry that numerous organisations have been set up offering guidelines to sustainability and papers published attempting to establish a solution.

     The Marine Stewardship Council is one of the most well-known organisations promoting sustainable fishing of our oceans. The group assesses the practices of different fisheries, and awards the seafood ecolabel, which can feature on the packaging of the fish, if the methods are found to reach sustainable standards. They also attempt to raise awareness in consumers by providing information about suitable suppliers, restaurants and stores, and giving a list of certified 'fish to eat' as well as recipes. Similarly, the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the USA has a Seafood Watch Programme. This is one of many organisations directly attempting to educate and influence consumers about overfishing, giving information about what consumers and businesses can do to help. The website provides a 2012 Culinary Chart of Alternatives for various fish and seafood, for example that below for Cod.

       Papers such as Cummins, 2004, entitled The Marine Stewardship Council: A Multi-Stakeholder Approach to Sustainable Fishing elaborate on the guidelines fisheries should follow to gain the label of sustainability as above. A paper by Potts, O'Higgins and Hastings this year also believes a policy reform is needed on managing marine resources - they state that there is a call for integrated and ecosystem-based approaches towards marine management in government, and that we need to "build a sense of oceans citizenship".

     Many companies and organisations striving for sustainable fishing believe fish farming can be used in part to reduce the need for wild overfishing. This often features as a key solution in establishing sustainable practices; but while farming may be promoted as good for marine conservation in the face of fishing, numerous scientific papers have been published demonstrating this can have severe loading effects on ecosystems if not managed properly. Wu as far back as 1995 published this paper on the environmental impact of fish cultures, and their management for sustainability in the industry. Additionally Lee, Choi and Arega, 2003, also wrote on this topic. Both papers note serious problems with this other side of the drive to marine sustainability:

• Fish farming causes high nutrient loading, which may alter ecosystems: around 85% of phosphorus, 80-88% of carbon and 52-95% of nitrogen inputs into fish culture systems as feed may be lost through feed wastage, excretion and respiration.
• The use of chemicals can negatively affect the surrounding environment (vitamins, antifoulants etc.). 
• Introduction and spread of pathogens and new genetic strains can damage the wild fish populations may farms are attempting to protect.
• The development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria has been reported near fish farms; this could severely damage wild populations.

They demonstrate that while we clearly need methods to increase our marine sustainability, and to prevent extinction of wild species, fish farming requires strict controls to have a positive impact. Fish farming can greatly aid fishing sustainability, however this requires careful site selection, control of stock density, improved feed methods and prevention of pollution reaching ecosystem carrying capacities.