Seafood See Life is a vibrant new network bringing together influential people, organisations and businesses that want to be part of a positive wave of change for our oceans.
What do we want chefs to do?
Why focus on chefs?
What is 'sustainable' seafood? What seafood/fish can I eat?
What seafood should I avoid?
Do you have any examples of a sustainable fishery?
What questions should I ask my fishmonger?
Fish are really healthy to eat. Are you saying we should stop eating fish?
Is it OK to buy farmed fish?
Should I buy certified seafood products?
If we stop eating fish surely small fishing communities will be devastated by unemployment?
Is 'Dolphin Friendly' tuna ok to eat?
Is Greenpeace still working with supermarkets?
Q: What do we want chefs to do?
A: Our seas are being emptied of fish and other marine life. We want chefs to help protect our oceans by committing to:
- use their influence to promote sustainable seafood
- work to make sure that the seafood they sell or serve is sustainable
- support large scale marine reserves – national parks at sea closed to fishing – which allow space for fish stocks to recover
Q: Why focus on chefs?
A: Celebrity chefs have a powerful influence on consumer behaviour and are well-known, respected and loved by the public. Supermarkets tell us that sales of certain fish increase when top chefs cook them on TV, so they are in a perfect position to lead the sustainable seafood charge. For example, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall has done much to move people away from buying intensively farmed meat and has already started to do similar work with seafood. As one of the supporters of our campaign we hope that he and other chefs will help in moving the public and the whole industry towards sustainable seafood.
Q: What is 'sustainable' seafood? What seafood/fish can I eat?
A: In simple terms, sustainable seafood is seafood which is not:
- from overfished or vulnerable stocks
- caught illegally, or taken from unmanaged fisheries
- caught or farmed in ways which are harmful to the marine environment or other marine species
- a threat to traditional fishing grounds or livelihoods, especially in developing countries
Sustainable seafood is part of the answer to having healthy oceans, but we also need to see large areas of our oceans placed off limits to fishing and other industrial activities in marine reserves.
Q: What seafood should I avoid?
A: Greenpeace have identified a 'red list' of fish species that are at high risk of being sourced from fisheries that use destructive practices. Read the full red fish list here »
Q: Do you have any examples of a sustainable fishery?
A: Yes, there are a growing number of well-managed fisheries. The following are just some examples:
- Scottish pot caught langoustine/scampi
- Line caught pollack
- Line-caught Cornish mackerel
- Cornish sardines
- Thames, North Sea and Eastern English Channel herring
- Line caught seabass
- Pot caught brown crab from Devon
- Hand-gathered:
Scallops, winkles, clams, oysters or mussels rather than dredged ones
As a general rule and as a first step, you should choose line-caught fish wherever possible and make use of our red-list to avoid species that are in danger or which come from particularly destructive fisheries.
The Marine Conservation Society produces a well researched guide to fish which can be used to obtain information on the stocks and status of other species.
Q: What questions should I ask my fishmonger/supermarket ?
A: Where is it from?
At a minimum, suppliers should be able to tell you where their fish is coming from. If they don’t know, then don’t buy it. Ask your supplier to give preference to seafood that is from local and sustainable UK fisheries.
What species is it?
Greenpeace has identified a red list of fish at high risk of being from unsustainable sources. Do not buy these unless they can be supplied from lower risk stocks and caught in ways that minimise damage to marine ecosystems.
How is it caught?
Choose line-caught fish wherever possible. Most other fishing gear is not selective and can involve killing huge numbers of unwanted fish, together with mammals and birds caught in the nets. For example, more than 300,000 cetaceans a year are killed in this way. Among trawling methods, beam trawling, which is sometimes used to catch cod, plaice, skates and rays and sole, is particularly destructive. On average 70% of the haul from this trawling method is thrown away as waste.
Can I try something else?
All North East Atlantic cod is over fished with North Sea and Eastern Baltic being the most heavily depleted. Haddock is caught in a mixed fishery with cod and therefore catching it from trawling means depleting cod stocks further. Better choices include line caught Icelandic cod and haddock, or other white fish such as coley, black bream or line caught sea bass.
Q: Fish are really healthy to eat. Are you saying we should stop eating fish?
A: Actually, it is not a question of choice. If we continue to consume fish at current levels there will soon be no fish left. Some scientists now predict that all current commercial fisheries will have collapsed before 2050.
90% of large predatory fish like tuna, swordfish and cod are already fished out. 65% of all fisheries exploited since the 1950s have collapsed. Clearly we need to make changes to the way that we manage our oceans. Consumers can have an influence by making sure that they only eat fish that is caught in a sustainable way.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) advises that people should eat at least two portions of fish a week, one of which should be from an oily fish. In UK, the average adult fish consumption rate is about 1.55 portions per week, one-third of which is oily fish – but this varies markedly. If we were to meet the FSA's suggested intake levels, the latest report by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution estimates the present total level of fish consumption in the UK would need to increase by over 40%, with oily fish consumption increasing by over 200%. We’ve asked the FSA and the Government to show us the fisheries that they think could support such an increase in consumption.
All of the nutrients, vitamins and oils contained in fish can be found in other food stuffs. For example, high levels of omega oils can also be found in walnuts and walnut, linseed and flax oil, all of which are available from supermarkets and health food stores.
So no, we’re not saying don't eat fish, but we are saying we need to change the way that we eat and think about fish today, if we are going to have fish to eat tomorrow.
Q: Is it OK to buy farmed fish?
A: Fish farming has been promoted by the fishing industry and governments as the solution to ever-decreasing stocks in our oceans. However, in most cases fish farming only makes the problem worse! This is because:
i) Wild-caught fish are used for fish meal and oil to feed farmed stocks which increases the pressure on the marine environment rather than reducing it. The fish meal and oils used in fish farming come from fish such as sand eels. Their removal in massive quantities by industrial fishing vessels has a devastating effect on the marine ecosystem.
ii) Some breeding stocks are taken from wild populations.
iii) Diseases spreads from farmed fish to wild populations making wild populations further depleting their numbers.
iv) Water and environments surrounding fish farms are polluted by fish waste, uneaten food and the chemicals, antibiotics and vaccines used to control disease.
If buying farmed fish, your first choice should be those certified as organic. Herbivorous farmed fish such as tilapia, carp and barramundi are better choices than commonly farmed non organic fish as they don't eat fishmeal made from wild fish.
More information can be found in our Aquaculture report.
Q: Should I buy certified seafood products?
A: Whilst certification can help identify where your fish is coming from, there is no one scheme that can consistently be relied upon at this time. UK based Marine Stewardship Council certified fisheries such as herring and dover sole are good choices. Elsewhere, and with other certification schemes, you will still need to check that the fish is not on our red list, and ask how it is caught.
Q: If we stop eating fish surely small fishing communities will be devastated by unemployment?
A: Greenpeace isn't against fishing. On the contrary, we want to see fisheries managed as a viable economic resource that delivers real financial dividends over the longer term. Only by renewing fish-stocks can we ensure the value of the resource.
If we take too many fish from our oceans in the shorter term, fish stocks will collapse and take the fishing industry with them. Already 65% of fisheries around the globe that have been exploited since the 1950s have collapsed. To actually increase the value of fishing to the economy in the long-term, the fishing industry needs to become fully sustainable.
Q: Is 'Dolphin Friendly' tuna ok to eat?
A: No. 'Dolphin Friendly' labels are virtually meaningless since they adhere to no legal standard or minimum criteria. The term usually refers to the type of fishing gear used but gives no consideration to the broader impacts associated with tuna fishing. This means that while the tuna may have been fished using methods less likely to catch dolphins, it may come from overexploited tuna stocks or have been caught using methods that impact on the marine environment in other ways such as the killing of turtles, sharks and seabirds.
If buying tuna, only choose skipjack as all other species range from vulnerable to critically endangered, and make sure that is caught from pole and line or troll fisheries as they have less chance of killing other fish, mammals and birds.
Q: Is Greenpeace still working with supermarkets?
A: Yes. 90 % of all retail sales of fish come from supermarkets giving them a massive amount of power and influence on how the products they sell are caught or produced. Over the past two years, Greenpeace has run a very successful campaign targeting supermarkets. Now all of the major supermarkets have sustainable seafood policies in place. We will continue to monitor their progress and respond accordingly. Meanwhile, we are now broadening out our work through the Seafood, See Life project, working with chefs and restaurants.
