Depleted salmon stocks have forced the salmon fishing to shut down in California. Like this there are other fisheries facing the same problem. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization about one-quarter of the world’s fisheries are over-exploited and facing depletion; an additional half are being fished at their maximum capacity. Only regulations are not enough to stop such destruction of the world’s fisheries. Therefore, the environmentalists have been trying to enlist consumer choice and the seafood marketplace in the fight for more sustainable fishing practices.
Nonprofits organizations like the Monterey Bay Aquarium and the Marine Stewardship Council have begun issuing seafood scorecards or seals of approval to fisheries that they consider sustainably managed. Inn the meantime some eco-minded companies have started businesses aimed at promoting sustainable seafood.
Among them two San Francisco companies, CleanFish and Sea Change Investment Fund, with different approaches to expanding the market for environmentally preferable fish. In general a fishery is considered sustainable if
• The population of that kind of fish is allowed to maintain a healthy level.
• Fishing methods don’t damage the ocean environment or other marine species.
• The fishery is regulated in a way that prevents overfishing and that allows collection of data on the fish population.
It is fact that sustainable seafood must have a seal of approval from the nonprofit Marine Stewardship Council. While the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program publishes wallet-size cards that give a green light, yellow light or red light to different kinds of seafood.
