Feb 7 / bonnieyeung

Sustainable Seafood

OceanWise recently came across my mind when I ate at Hapa Umi, and noticed that many of the food items on their menu has a little ocean-wise sign next to it. As an avid seafood eater, I was determined to find out more about the effects of eating sustainable seafood as opposed to eating carelessly.

The 3 main sustainability issues in terms of marine life are overfishing, bycatching and producing habitat damage. The increasing rates of seafood consumption globally, endangered species being caught unintentionally and being throw back into the water but not surviving, and damaging natural habitats of marine life are the main concerns for OceanWise. OceanWise is a program dedicated to educating and empowering consumers regarding sustianble seafood, and was founded in none other than our local Vancouver Acquarium. Fortunately, there are ways to combat these issues such as certain fishing techniques like trolling, hook and line, pot and traps to diminish bycatching and trolling, hook and line and bottom longlining techniques for avoid habitat damage. Scallops, mussels, clams and oysters are seafood that can be sustainably farmed to help preserve the natural ecosystem or over-catching seafood; closed system farms and careful acqua-culture are other alternatives to overfishing.

OceanWise’s partners range from restaurants, markets, suppliers, culinary schools, universities and even entertainment arenas.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover some of the following partners:

Restaurants: Blue Water Cafe, The Boathouse Restaurant, Cactus Club, Chambar, Chop, CinCin, Coast, Earls (all locations in Canada), Ed

ible Canada, Fleuri, Joe Fortes, Joey, Miku, Mr. Pickwicks, Noodle Box, Oru, West, Stone Grill ….

Markets: Choices Market, IGA, Thrifty Foods …

Caterers: Grouse Mountain, University Gold Club, Rogers Arena …

Most importantly, UBC Food Services (ranging from on-campus dining to residence cafeterias), since 2008 has implemented the Ocean Wise program whereby they only serve sustainably caught wild Pacific salmon and is constantly searching for more sustainable seafood options. UBC Robson Square as well as SFU, BCIT, UT just to name a few universities are also advocates of OceanWise. I’m delighted to see so many places where I normally eat at are supporters of consuming sustainable seafood, which brings us back to the notion that knowledge among sustainable consumers is important. I had no idea that I was being (relatively more) sustainable just by choosing these alternatives as opposed to other restaurants who do not abide by OceanWise yet. Perhaps more marketing is needed to educate consumers about this program. I can see several news articles or some pages in magazines to encourage seafood-lovers to find out more about their impact on the environment every time they eat seafood. Hopefully, this will lead to consumers to choose seafood restaurants with OceanWise in mind, leading to more companies joining the program.

One fact that I noticed right away was the lack of non-Western partners on the OceanWise partner list. As frequent consumers of seafood I was surprised to see few Japanese, Korean, or other meditaranean restaurants on the list. I was also surprised to learn that large companies like Save-on-foods or The Real Canadian Superstore missing from the OceanWise list. I guess ideally, we would like to see most (if not all) places participating in this sustainable program, but I’m delighted with the progress OceanWise has made so far, and I now have a different view whenever I see the little oceanwise sign on menus.