Ocean Conservancy has launched unique fishery to fork, an online roadmap detailing the journey towards sustainable seafood. In these several steps the seafood industry offers opportunities for economic and environmental responsibility. This new online platform would help tracking the major steps in the progression of wild-caught seafood from the ocean to the consumer – from fishery to fork. It is said that this platform is designed to highlight the roles and opportunities for fishery managers and policy makers, fishermen, retailers and consumers and others to improve the sustainability of our seafood throughout the industry.
Mark Powell vice president of sustainability projects/fisheries with Ocean Conservancy explained that Fishery to Fork is the first comprehensive campaign bringing together all sectors involved in producing and consuming seafood, from fishermen to consumers, as an organized community in support of sustainability. He added that one of the success stories highlighted on Fishery to Fork is Gulf of Mexico red snapper. Decades of overfishing pushed spawning population levels down to less than 3 percent of natural abundance.
In 2007 at the urging of fishermen, wholesalers, environmental groups and seafood fans, fishery managers changed course voting to implement the first science-based management plan to help rebuild red snapper. Chris Dorsett vice president of fishery conservation and management with Ocean Conservancy is of view that overfishing is one of the biggest threats to the ocean harming the ecosystem and economies dependant on the fish resources. He further said that a healthy fishery is like a healthy savings account; if managed well, you can live off the interest, but if you overspend and dip into the principal, you are robbing yourself of future earnings.
