Sustainability and Sourcing
HOW WAS YOUR SEAFOOD CAUGHT?
In most cases, labeling and even company websites do not include information on the catch method or their sustainability practices, but they should. We’re proud of how we harvest Sustainable Seas seafood. We believe in treating the marine ecosystem with respect, taking only what it can give and wasting nothing taken.
All of our Sustainable Seas products meet or exceed the following sustainability criteria:
1. The biomass of fish is healthy and not over-fished
2. The habitat is not damaged by the fishing method
3. The catch method is virtually free from by-catch of early juvenile fish and other non-targeted species
4. Any incidental catch of non-target species is retained and utilized
Tuna
Sustainable Seas sources tuna caught only by pole and line. There is virtually no by-catch associated with this technique, which is regarded along with trolling as the best fishing methods for tuna, a fact worth remembering when you buy. This eco-consensus is supported by most Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) including:
THERE ARE TWO MAIN CATCH METHODS THAT SUSTAINABLE SEAS ENDORSES AS BEST-PRACTICE:
1. POLE AND LINE
Pole and line fishing has been practiced for centuries and it involves attracting a school of tuna to the side of a baitboat by throwing live sardines and anchovies overboard. This creates a tuna feeding frenzy and fish are hauled out of the water, one-by-one, using pole and line. Tuna caught this way are small (but, not juveniles) and mostly consist of albacore and skipjack, but also some yellowfin and bigeye.
2. TROLLING
Commercial fishing vessels that harvest younger surface-swimming albacore are called jig boats because they fish with jigs. They are also called trollers since they troll for albacore.
Trolling means to catch fish by towing a lure or baited hook behind a slow-moving boat. In the albacore fishery, trollers attach ten to twenty fishing lines to the vessel's outriggers. Attached to the end of each line is a jig, shaped to look like squid. The jigs are trailed in the water and some albacore will bite the squid-like jig and be caught.
SUSTAINABLE SEAS CONSIDERS THESE TWO TUNA HARVEST METHODS AS ENVIRONMENTALLY INFERIOR:
1. PURSE SEINES
Purse seines are large nets that are deployed in a circular form around a school of tuna, hanging vertically in the water column. Once the fish are completely encircled by the net, it is drawn tight at the bottom, like a purse, to prevent the fish from escaping. It is then brought alongside the fishing vessel, hoisted out of the water, and the fish are brought on board.
Most purse seine tuna fishing is done with the use of FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices). These are radio-beaconed floating devices that attract any and most fish swimming freely in the open ocean including tiny tuna, small fish of all kinds, sharks and turtles. This FAD purse seine fishing results in very high by-catch mortality and discard of non-target species and undersize early juvenile tunas caught prematurely.
2. Longlines
Longlining is the most common method used to catch albacore worldwide. Longlines attract a variety of open ocean swimmers, such as endangered sea turtles, sharks and other fish, resulting in wasteful bycatch. Also, as the line is deployed into the water, seabirds dive for the bait, are ensnared on the hooks and drown. International longline fleets are contributing heavily to the long-term decline of some of these threatened or endangered species.
SALMON
Wild caught salmon from the Pacific Northwest (Alaska and British Columbia) are considered a BEST CHOICE for sustainability as per the recommendations of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. The Alaskan salmon used in Sustainable Seas are among the most intensively managed species in the world, with excellent monitoring of both the fish populations and the fishery itself.
SARDINES
Sustainable Seas Sardines are sourced from Morocco and are an excellent choice for sustainability as their populations are abundant. These sardines are harvested in well-managed fisheries with negligible bycatch and no habitat damage. A true nutritional powerhouse, these fish provide an excellent way to eat lower in the food chain.