New Campaign to Promote Healthy and Sustainable Seafood

By Kim Thompson, Director, Seafood for the Future, Aquarium of the Pacific

Seafood Nutrition Partnership has brought diverse groups together to provide a unified voice in support of our seafood communities with the #eatseafoodamerica social media campaign. The goal of the campaign is simply to encourage people to eat more seafood. Participants include representatives from fishing associations, seafood farms, and conservation organizations among others. The Aquarium of the Pacific's Seafood for the Future program is proud to participate in this campaign.

The Aquarium of the Pacific is engaged in this campaign for a couple of reasons. The first is to support responsible seafood farmers, fishermen, and others who have been working hard to help innovate and implement changes on the water and throughout the seafood supply chain that are contributing to conservation wins that benefit all of us. The second is as part of broader efforts to encourage the public to eat more responsible seafood if they can to support healthy ecosystems and people.

Conventional discussions about “sustainable seafood” are centered on the reduction of risk to local ecosystems. This is critical. Responsible seafood production (ocean to plate) should be done in a manner that reduces, and eliminates where possible, risks and impacts to local ecosystems and communities. But addressing risk at local levels is not the full picture in terms of looking at seafood through the conservation lens. It is also critical to recognize and leverage seafood as part of the bigger picture solution to provide more nutritious food using fewer resources and with less greenhouse gas emissions. Seafood can also support a more diversified food system that is more stable and resilient in the changing climate.

 The only way to significantly increase our seafood supply to maximize these benefits, while minimizing risks is to grow and expand responsible marine aquaculture. The U.S. has the regulatory, scientific, economic, and ecological resources necessary to support a sustainable marine aquaculture sector. We can leverage marine aquaculture to complement our well-managed wild-capture fisheries and robust agriculture sectors. Doing so will help provide jobs and support a more diverse food production portfolio that provides a more stable and resilient food supply with less environmental impact and greater assurances that it is produced responsibly.

 It is for these reasons that the Aquarium and Seafood for the Future are proud to engage in this campaign and will continue to support efforts to grow and expand U.S. marine aquaculture and encourage people to eat more healthy and responsible seafood if they have the means to do so.