How can I support a better seafood system?

To answer that question we spoke to scientists, chefs, businesspeople, and activists working towards a vision of a better, more sustainable, and equitable seafood industry.

We asked each expert to tell us about the current challenges they see as well as what seafood consumers can do to support a better way forward.

Look for local

First, we spoke with Isabel Jackson Nunez, Executive Chef at Canyon Ranch, to hear her primary strategies for shifting towards better seafood in her culinary work. She talks about how consumers have the power to impact the seafood system just by educating themselves and becoming more knowledgeable about what they’re eating and where it comes from.

She also underscores how large-scale commodity seafood is part of a larger trend of unsustainable ways of feeding ourselves. These systems fail to provide meaningful connections between consumers and their food sources, perpetuating a cycle of detachment from the origins of our meals which allow us to inadvertently damage our environment. To counteract this, she encourages consumers to buy locally. Not only do locally sourced foods benefit our individual wellness, she says, but the wellness of our world.

Niaz Dory, longtime Coordinating Director from the North American Marine Alliance and the National Family Farm Coalition, explains that consumers in the last twenty years have become quite familiar with what to look for in their land-based fruits, veggies, and proteins, but less so in terms of seafood. So her work encourages consumers to apply the same values to select their seafood as they would land-based foods.

This means opting for seafood that resembles its natural state without unnatural additives and alterations. "Eating what actually looks like what it used to be when it swam... is applying those same values and principles to what we eat from the ocean,” emphasizes Dory, while noting a lot can change from the time the fish was caught to the moment it touches your plate.

Similarly, expert and CEO of Real Good Fish Alan Lovewell highlights the importance of supporting domestic fishermen and processors noting that American seafood management, despite imperfections, sets the standard for sustainability globally.

Despite the high quality of American seafood, many American consumers don’t actually eat the seafood caught and processed in the United States. Instead, when we go out to a restaurant or go to the grocery store to buy seafood, we mostly wind up eating seafood caught internationally and imported to the United States that have less stringent sustainability and labor standards.

This is a puzzle that Lovewell describes as a “weird, perverse bait and switch” where the United States pays to uphold the highest standards of sustainability and resource management, but exports that seafood, “for other people to enjoy while we're importing the worst of the worst when it comes to environmental impacts, human rights impacts, you name it.”

What if there is no local seafood near me?

Lovewell asserts that if you're going to buy seafood based on just one factor, choose seafood that was caught and processed in the United States. He explains that getting fish that was caught in the U.S. to U.S. consumers requires some major changes to how the industrial seafood system does business, but there are great small-scale options for folks even in land-locked states.

Lovewell advocates for businesses that prioritize connection and transparency about where their fish comes from such as Real Good Fish and Sitka Seafood Market. These companies aim to provide access to responsibly sourced domestic seafood so that consumers across the country (even those who do not have local seafood options) can participate in supporting sustainable fishing practices without compromising on quality or sustainability.

Critiques of local foods

One of the prominent critiques of the local foods movement is that it primarily serves white and affluent communities. Activist and academic Dr. Talia Young saw this and realized that she was uniquely situated to disrupt the homogeneity of the local foods movement and create more inclusivity in seafood.

However, the larger seafood industry wasn’t aware of the cultural importance of their product in these communities.

“I was at the local seafood conference, and somebody got up and claimed that Americans only know how to eat cod and salmon filets. We need to teach them how to eat other kinds of fish. And I was like, I don't think you're talking to the right Americans,” recalls Young.

She jumped into action and decided that she needed to create a bridge between seafood producers and diverse seafood eaters. She founded Fishedelphia, a Community Supported Fishery that brings fresh seafood directly from the New Jersey shore into culturally and economically diverse communities in Philadelphia.

Today, Fishedelphia serves a diverse consumer base with all types of seafood that are well beyond your typical cod or salmon fillet. "I would argue that the communities we're working in eat more and different fish, than what we might call mainstream America,” says Young. For example, she says, “We sold 90 pounds of eel in, like, ten minutes.”

However, these different types of demands can sometimes present challenges for Young and her staff. One significant hurdle was overcoming entrenched perceptions within the seafood market amongst producers. At times she’s faced skepticism from traditional processors and suppliers who are hesitant to cater to the diverse preferences of her customer base.

For example, Young recalls the difficulty of sourcing a certain type of bivalve called a “whelk.” “We kept trying to get whole whelk and the processors were like ‘You don't want them, they're gonna smell really bad.’ And I was like, ‘No, no, we want them! Our customers want them and we're not afraid of how bad they're gonna smell,’” says Young, who remained undeterred by these challenges. She says interactions like this one illustrate why Fishedelphia’s work is so important.

How is a better seafood system better for me?

A better seafood future is a more sustainable seafood future — one where more people have access to the amazing health benefits of seafood in their daily lives. These experts have set themselves apart from the large-scale, industrial seafood system because they believe that a better seafood system is better for you. The path there, they say, is supporting small-scale domestic seafood producers that provide fresh, naturally flavorful options to diverse communities across the country.