SeaWeb Reports

At a Crossroads: Will Aquaculture Fulfill the Promise of the Blue Revolution?

There is now little doubt that the world’s fisheries are in crisis. Mounting scientific evidence points to dramatic declines in global catches. Increasingly, many are making the case that farming fish offers a solution to meeting the growing demand for seafood that catching fish cannot provide. Aquaculture now accounts for roughly one-third of the world’s total supply of food fish and undoubtedly the contribution of aquaculture to seafood supplies will increase in the future. Aquaculture has the potential to become a sustainable practice that can supplement capture fisheries and significantly contribute to feeding the world’s growing population. However, instead of helping to ease the crisis in wild fisheries, unsustainable aquaculture development could exacerbate the problems and create new ones, damaging our important and already-stressed coastal areas...

NEW!! Constant Cravings: The European Consumer and Sustainable Seafood Choices

This report presents the key findings of the Seafood Choices Alliance’s first marketing research effort in Europe, which was undertaken in collaboration with the Alliance’s European NGO partners: the Marine Conservation Society (UK), The North Sea Foundation (The Netherlands), Greenpeace and WWF UK, Germany and Spain. These countries are of particular importance due to population size and the market for seafood consumption. The research findings support the hope that one day, the world’s currently overexploited fisheries will be carefully and sustainably managed.

The European Marketplace for Sustainable Seafood

This report examines European market demand for sustainable seafood, with the aim of providing an alternative to traditional seafood demand that has lead to shrinking fish populations. Supporting data includes information on wild caught landings for Europe, import/export trends, aquaculture trends, and European consumption patterns. Additionally included is polling, which proves there is a strong desire for information on sustainable seafood choices among various European groups.

The UK Marketplace for Sustainable Seafood

As seafood demand peaks and species diminish, a paradigm shift into food sustainability is increasingly pertinent to twenty-first century life. This report describes both wild and farmed UK seafood production, as well as the seafood trade. The UK market for sustainable seafood is explored, as are recent trends in food retail and food service.

^ top

Danger At Sea: Our Changing Ocean

For millions of years, our species could do little to influence the character of ancient ecosystems, but as our technological powers and sheer numbers have exploded – from one billion people in 1800 to two billion in 1935 to a projected six billion by the year 2000 – so has our impact. We, not an ice age or a wayward comet, are responsible for the swift decline of more than 100 popular marine fish and numerous other ocean creatures in the past two decades. The number of marine species that have been exterminated by unwitting human actions in the same time may be in the tens of thousands. What is lost cannot be recovered, but we can – and we must – change our ways to protect and restore what remains of the natural systems that sustain us, if we are to prosper as a species...

Farming Salmon: A Briefing Book

It is an old, enticing dream: To farm the seas as we farm the land. The decline of many fisheries around the world, together with growing demand for fish and shellfish, has combined in recent decades to give new life to the dream. Perhaps we can feed the world and reduce hunger by growing fish, the dream urges. Now, many people are asking about environmental and social costs of growing food as we do on land or in the sea. This booklet looks at the farming of one kind of food: salmon...

The Marketplace for Sustainable Seafood: Growing Appetites and Shrinking Seas

For many Americans, the most salient connection they have to the ocean is the seafood they eat. Unlike many other food products, consumers are often in the dark about where their seafood comes from, how it is caught, and its impact on the natural environment. Better information and more informed consumers are essential to achieving stronger protections of the ocean and ensuring a lasting and diverse supply of seafood. And the need for information has never been more urgent...

Roe to Ruin: The Decline of Sturgeon in the Caspian Sea and the Road to Recovery

Caviar. The very word evokes glamorous lifestyles, exotic travel and glittering festivities. Yet the world’s source of this luxury item, the sturgeon, is in grave danger. Sturgeon have survived since the days the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. The question now is whether these “living fossils” can survive the relentless fishing pressure, pollution and habitat destruction that have brought many species of sturgeon to the brink of extinction. Today, the 27 species of sturgeon and their close relatives, paddlefish, are in sharp decline, and those living in the Caspian Sea, the cradle of world caviar production, are in crisis. This report outlines the status of Caspian Sea sturgeon and recommends actions needed to protect these imperiled fish...

NEW!! Sustainable Tables: European Seafood Professionals and Environmentally Responsible Seafood

It is clear that while consumers wield substantial power in the marketplace, when it comes to food, retail purveyors and chefs have a great deal of influence. By sourcing and selling a variety of seafood, retailers can help consumers to bring the restaurant experience home. By acting as “tastemakers,” chefs present consumers with seafood options and preparations they may never have tried before. This research explores how retailers and chefs view their roles in bringing environmentally friendly seafood choices to the table.

Turning the Tide: Saving Fish and Fishers — Building Sustainable and Equitable Fisheries and Governance

With such vast capacity, it is no wonder that not so long ago, many scientists and fishers claimed we would never be able to over-harvest the ocean’s bounty. But scientific evidence clearly shows that this assumption was false. For example, the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, the first global assessment of the state of the world’s ecological health, published in March 2005, identified global fisheries as one of five global systems in critical condition. This is just one of many studies that show how on local, regional, and global scales, we are taking fish out of the sea far faster than many of our existing fishstocks can replenish themselves...

What Price Farmed Fish?

The explosive growth of salmon farming in the 1990s raised concerns about its impacts on the environment and wild salmon populations; it also brought into question the wisdom of farming carnivorous fish. As profits from salmon farming declined, though, industry leaders shifted their attention toward farming other species of carnivorous fish. Neither government agencies nor industry players effectively applied the lessons learned from the unsustainable expansion of salmon farming to the development of new types of fish farming. Therefore, the same problems that resulted from salmon farming are expected to continue with other species. This report provides a general overview of aquaculture and summarizes available literature on trends in aquaculture production, farming salmon and other carnivorous species, salient environmental and human health issues, and alternative methods and species for farming fish...