What is Sustainable Seafood?
Spoiler: if you actually want to save the oceans, you should be eating more seafood, not less.
Most people, when they hear the word “sustainability” attached to seafood, assume the responsible thing to do is eat less of it.
It is one of the most well-meaning, well-intentioned, and ultimately incorrect ideas in modern food culture.
You can eat fish and save the oceans. In fact, eating sustainable seafood may be one of the more powerful things you can do for them.
Let me explain why, but first, let’s actually define what “sustainable seafood” means in the first place.
Sustainable seafood is seafood that supports the long-term health of three things at once: the ocean, the people who work in it, and the communities that depend on it.
That is the working definition I come back to as a fisheries scientist, and the one I think more consumers deserve to hear. Sustainability is a nuanced story. And I believe for something to truly be “sustainable”, it needs to account for more than environmental sustainability. Sustainability is environmental, economic, and social — and any definition that flattens it down to one pillar is missing the point.
Here is how those three pillars actually break down.
1. Environmental sustainability
Environmental sustainability looks at:
Whether a wild population (or “stock”) is being fished at a rate it can recover from
Whether the gear used to catch or farm seafood damages habitat or kills non-target species
How seafood farming impacts surrounding waters, wild stocks, and ecosystems
How climate change is shifting where species can live and thrive — and how the industry adapts
The good news: we have actual science to assess all of this. Stock assessments, certification standards, and country-by-country fisheries management are real, ongoing systems. They are not perfect, and they are not equal everywhere, but they exist.
2. Economic sustainability
This is the pillar most consumers never hear about, and it is genuinely one of the most important.
Economic sustainability asks: can the people who fish, farm, and process seafood actually make a living doing it? Can a small fishing community survive on the prices they are paid? Can a farm afford to invest in better practices? Can the next generation see a future in this work?
Without economic viability, environmental practices collapse. Fishermen cannot afford better gear. Farms cannot afford better feed. Boats are sold, knowledge is lost, and the supply chain gets more centralized and more opaque — usually in a direction that is worse for everyone, including the ocean.
This is a part of sustainability more brands need to take seriously, and more consumers deserve to be aware of.
3. Social sustainability
This is the human pillar, and it is the one I will always argue belongs in the definition.
Social sustainability covers:
Fair labor and human rights across the seafood supply chain
The cultural and food security role seafood plays in coastal and Indigenous communities
Equitable access to seafood as a food, not just as a commodity
The wellbeing of workers in farms, on boats, in processing facilities, and at sea
Seafood is one of the most globalized food categories on the planet. It is also the primary source of animal protein for billions of people. That means social sustainability is not optional — it is foundational. There is no version of “sustainable seafood” that ignores the people behind it.
Why eating less seafood is not the answer
One common myth about seafood consumption is that it supports destructive fishing practices and overfishing, which is untrue. The Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) most recent report on the State of the World’s Fisheries and Aquaculture shows that 77.2% of all landings of marine fisheries come from biologically sustainable stocks.
Another myth about seafood consumption is that overfishing on behalf of fishermen is a driving force of fish depletion in our oceans. Fishermen have no incentive to overfish. Their livelihoods and job security depend on sustainable fishing practices. Moreover, being a fisherman is not just a job – it is a way of life deeply rooted in one’s identity. Fishermen are proud of what they do and the role they play in protecting marine ecosystems.
Frankly, it’s also really difficult to overfish in North America, even if you wanted to. Canada and the United States have some of the best fisheries management worldwide. Their fisheries management plans have led to the successful rebuilding of fish stocks and the safeguarding of our marine resources.
The greatest threat to our oceans is not overfishing; rather, it's ocean warming and acidification caused by climate change. While land-based proteins contribute significantly to GHG emissions, seafood has the lowest carbon footprint of any animal protein. It is the most climate-friendly protein on the planet. Some products, like farmed shellfish, are even better for the planet than any kind of plant-based protein.
So, if you really want to save the oceans. You ought to be eating more seafood, not less.
The importance of seafood
Seafood consumption has been and continues to be, a significant source of nutrition, employment, and cultural value for communities around the world. Even OCEANA, the world’s largest marine conservation organization, encourages the consumption of sustainable seafood to support marine conservation.
Sustainable fishing practices are not only critical to managing fish stocks for consumption but are necessary to support the health of the entire marine ecosystem and support coastal communities. In Canada, seafood contributes over $6 billion to the country’s economy.
Numerous studies have also linked a variety of human health attributes directly to the consumption of seafood. Omega-3 fatty acids derived from seafood are important for reducing inflammation and preventing the onset of diabetes. Shellfish like mussels are one of the best natural sources of iodine, required for normal thyroid gland function in humans, and fatty fish help to control inflammation in the body, supporting immunity in the fight against viruses such as COVID-19.
So what does this mean when you’re buying seafood?
It means a few things.
First: be a little skeptical of any brand or label that talks about sustainability as if it is a single, simple, solved problem. It is not.
Second: ask more questions. Where is this from? Was it wild-caught or farmed? Who caught it or grew it? When was it harvested? You do not need a degree in fisheries science to ask any of those.
Third: trust nuance. Sustainable seafood is not “wild good, farmed bad” or “this label good, that label bad” or “fresh good, frozen bad.” All of these things can be done really, really well. And they can also be done poorly. Context matters.
Fourth, and most important: do not let “sustainability” become a reason to opt out. Opting out is not the same as helping. Eating well — thoughtfully, curiously, and with some humility about how complex this category actually is — does more for the ocean than skipping the menu’s fish section ever will.
The seafood industry has spent a lot of energy telling consumers they need to be more educated. What it has spent less time on is making that education actually accessible, modern, and respectful of your intelligence. That is the work I am here to do.
Sustainable seafood is a category-wide commitment to feeding people in a way that does not destroy the ocean, exploit the people in it, or hollow out the communities that have built their lives around it.
Yes, you can eat fish and save the oceans.
