An Introduction to Buying and Eating Sustainable Fish and Seafood

Sustainable.

That word gets bandied about a lot nowadays in reference to everything from clothing to cars to construction. But nowhere is it more important than regarding our world’s oceans and the seafood life they support.

But what does it really mean?
How do we define sustainable seafood? Like anything else when talking about the environment, it’s complicated, but the most succinct definition is that sustainable seafood is either fished or farmed in ways which consider the long term viability of the affected ecosystem. Ideally the impact should be neutral to beneficial to the species and the environment.

There are plenty of fish in the sea is an expression best suited to finding another date for the prom rather than referring to an unlimited and inexhaustible supply of seafood for consumption. Just like certain species of land animals have been hunted to extinction, the same is happening in our …