Harmonious Living - Choose Sustainable Seafood

Choose Sustainable Seafood

Ceri Balston

Wednesday, 13 February 2008

Choose Sustainable Seafood The health benefits of eating fish are widely known (if this is news to you just Google Omega-3) and we are advised by the experts to consume at least two portions every week. There’s a huge variety of delicious types, flavours and textures to choose from but do you know where your fish comes from, how it’s caught, and that some species are severely over fished?

It may seem that the oceans are teeming with an ever abundant supply of our favourite seafood but the truth is that many fish species are dangerously over fished and stocks are under threat.

Would you be happy eating your favourite fillet knowing that it came from a species whose population has been overfished down to 5% of the original pre-exploitation levels? Or would you choose a fish that is caught by methods that kill thousands of endangered albatross as bycatch every year?

If we want to continue to enjoy the variety and diversity of seafood that is available today then we need to start making informed choices right now.

So what is safe to eat? Which species can we order with a clear conscience? And which should be avoided at all costs? The Southern African Sustainable Seafood Initiative (SASSI) has compiled a Consumer’s Seafood Species List to help the more conscious seafood lover make a more sustainable choice.

How does the list work?
Species, or in some cases groups of similar species have been placed into different colour categories, Green, Orange and Red.

GREEN

These are species that are from relatively healthy and well-managed populations that can sustain current fishing pressure. These species are recommended as the most sustainable choices available. Species include;

Anchovy	Mussels
Angelfish (Atlantic pomfret)	Octopus
Bluefish (bluenose)	Oysters
Blueskin (trawl soldier)	Panga
Blue hottentot	Queen mackerel (Natal snoek)
Butterfish	Sand soldier (red tjor-tjor)
Chub mackerel (makriel)	Santer (soldier)
Dorado (dolphinfish;mahimahi)	Sardine (Pilchard)
Gurnard	Snoek
Hake (stockfish)	South coast rock lobster
Harder (mullet) – not from estuaries	Squid (calamari; tjokka)
Horse mackerel (maasbanker)	Steentjie
Hottentot	Tuna – all except bluefin tuna
Jacopever	West coast rock lobster (west coast crayfish)
John Dory	White stumpnose
Monkfish	Yellowtail

ORANGE

These species may be legally sold by registered commercial fishers and retailers. However, an increased demand for these could compromise a sustainable supply, due to one or more of the following reasons:

The species may presently be rare because they are over fished. (see ‘rare/overfished’)
The fishery that catches them may damage the environment through the method used. (see ‘eco-unfriendly fishery’)
The biology of the species makes it vulnerable to over fishing, or it may not have been adequately studied, but it is suspected that it will be unable to sustain heavy fishing pressure based on information for related species. (see ‘limited information available’)

Consumers are encouraged to consider the implications of these choices.

Species include;

Abalone – local wild caught (rare/overfished)

Bluefin tuna (rare/overfished)

Carpenter (silverfish; silver) (rare/overfished)

Dageraad (rare/overfished)

Elf (shad) – no-sale in KZN (rare/overfished)

Englishman (rare/overfished)

Geelbek (Cape salmon) (rare/overfished)

King mackerel (couta; cuda) (rare/overfished)

King soldierbream (rare/overfished)

Kingklip (rare/overfished)

Kob (kabeljou; dusky, silver, and squaretail kobs) (rare/overfished)

Langoustines – local trawled (Eco-unfriendly fishery)

Marlins (Limited information available)

Poenskop (black musselcracker) (rare/overfished)

Prawns – local trawled (Eco-unfriendly fishery)

Red steenbras (copper steenbras) (rare/overfished)

Red stumpnose (Miss Lucy) (rare/overfished)

Rockcods – all except potato and brindle bass (rare/overfished)

Roman (red roman) (rare/overfished)

Scotsman (rare/overfished)

Sharks – all except those on Red list (Limited information available)

Skates and rays (Limited information available)

Slinger (rare/overfished)

Snappers – all except river snapper (Limited information available)

Sole (Eco-unfriendly fishery) (rare/overfished)

Swordfish (rare/overfished)

RED

These species are illegal to buy or sell in South Africa according to the Marine Living Resources Act.
Species include;

Baardman (belman; tasselfish)	Ragged tooth shark
Banded galjoen	River bream (perch)
Blacktail (dassie; kolstert)	River snapper (rock salmon)
Brindle bass	Sawfishes
Bronze bream	Seventy-four
Cape stumpnose	Southern pompano
East coast rock lobster	Spotted grunter (tiger)
Galjoen	Spotted gulley shark
Garrick (leervis)	Springer (ten pounder)
John Brown (Janbruin)	Stonebream
Kingfishes	Striped cat shark (Pyjama shark)
Knife jaws, Cape and Natal (cuckoo bass; kraaibek)	West coast steenbras
Large-spot pompano (moony; wave garrick)	White musselcracker (brusher; cracker)
Natal stumpnose (yellowfin bream)	White steenbras (pignose grunter)
Natal wrasse	Zebra (wildeperd)
Potato bass

FISHMS: SMS the name of a fish to 079 499 8795
and SASSI will SMS you back its status.

Become a conscious seafood lover
Get to know which fish species have healthy populations and make an effort to order those from your fish monger and at restaurants. Remember to exercise your rights as a consumer by insisting on more information about the seafood that is offered for sale.

1. Ask questions:

Where does your seafood come from?
How was it caught?
What species is it?

2. Look out for species on the Red list:

Say “no” to species from the red list.
Bring this under the attention of the restaurant manager or dealer.

3. If you have a choice, choose a species from the Green list:

Good choices are Hake, Yellowtail, Snoek, Dorado and Calamari.
Don’t buy Musselcracker or Steenbras.
Tell the retailer why you are choosing a particular species over another.

For more information on sustainable fishing, the environmental impacts of commercial fishing methods, and the Consumer’s Species List, download the SASSI Pocket Guide and SASSI Booklet. For more about SASSI also visit www.wwf.org.za/sassi

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