The demand for sustainable seafood is growing with each passing day but over-fishing at home and abroad jeopardises the survival and availability of healthy seafood we have long taken for granted. We should join this year’s Sustainable Seafood Day. By supporting Sustainable Seafood Day on Friday 19 March and through purchasing Marine Stewardship Council certified products all year round, we can be part of a global effort to keep it that way.
Patrick Caleo, MSC Manager Australia & New Zealand, opined that purchasing MSC certified products on Sustainable Seafood Day, is a ‘no ifs, no buts’ pledge for a more sustainable tomorrow. He added that Sustainable Seafood Day is a point of engagement for consumers and food service professionals to be part of a global effort to help protect the supply of wild caught seafood we’ve always enjoyed on our plates and in our waters.
It is true that MSC’s distinctive blue ecolabel offers consumers the assurance and means to easily identify sustainable seafood and encourages people to recognise and reward well managed fisheries. Australia has been a long supporter of the MSC. Western Australia rock lobster was the first fishery certified to the MSC standard and important support from ALDI supermarkets, Birds Eye, John West and others have seen the number of MSC certified products available to Australian consumers grow increasingly rapidly.
In Australia MSC has certified favourites such as yellow eyed mullet from the Lakes and Coorong fishery in South Australia, New Zealand hoki and Western rock lobster from Western Australia.
