In its long journey from the ocean to your plate, the delicious seafood we enjoy passes through many hands, literally and figuratively. There are over eight billion pounds of fish caught in the United States commercially and for recreation. Fishing communities from Kodiak, Alaska, to Key West, Florida, depend on the health and wealth of our ocean resources for their livelihood.

Fishing and conservation are not mutually exclusive. In fact some of the loudest voices for sustainable fishing come from the community of commercial and recreational fishermen. Taking fish out of the ocean faster than they can reproduce is bad for fish, fishermen, coastal economies and the marine ecosystems on which they all depend. This practice, called “overfishing,” is one of the major threats to the health and resilience of our oceans.

Complex Solutions

While the problem is easy to define using science, the solutions are often a complex and delicate mix of policy, law, economics, ecological interactions, and biological complications.

One proposed solution to unsustainable fishing of wild fish is to farm fish in the ocean. Done right, fish farming can produce high quality sustainable seafood. But if not done properly, large scale fish farming in the ocean can lead to a number of environmental problems, including the genetic impact of escaped fish on wild populations, the release of nutrients from fish waste into the marine environment, and potentially harmful side-effects of using chemicals and antibiotics to control disease.

Sustainability is possible with farmed fish. Like the innovative gear modifications in the wild fisheries, evolving farming techniques and new technologies hold the promise of producing high quality seafood that we can feel good about buying.

Sustainability

Sustainability, however, isn’t about complicated formulas and emerging technologies. Sustainability as applied to fishing is a commitment to practices that allow for thriving ecosystems that support healthy fish populations and a steady supply of fish to seafood businesses, retailers, and chefs as well as the consumers who cherish seafood. Sustainable development of the aquaculture industry can be viewed through the same lens. When done right, we can ensure sustainable production of high quality seafood alongside healthy ocean ecosystems.

Ultimately, the success of the sustainable seafood movement requires that people throughout the seafood industry—including you—take action to improve the sustainability of our seafood.

Our Approach

Ocean Conservancy has been working for decades to ensure that fishing and fish farming are done right and operate in harmony with ocean ecosystems. We take a comprehensive, collaborative, and industry-wide view of the problem.

We call our approach, “Fishery to Fork.” At each step of your seafood’s lengthy journey from the ocean to your plate, many players were involved, each with much at stake and each with an important role to play in the future of our seafood culture and healthy oceans. Ocean Conservancy actively targets each of the four critical stops on the journey from fishery to fork.

Explore our approach by choosing a section at the top.