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The sustainability issue is often confusing and certainly ever changing.  There are heated debates about which sustainability practices are best and which species can be raised in a sustainable environment.  There is copious and often conflicting information available from various organizations.  We would like to take this opportunity to clarify some of the concerns.

With wild caught seafood, we refrain from doing business with those who engage in illegal, unreported and unregulated methods which may include:

• Bi-catch (the discarding of certain fish at sea due to unmarketability or sizing).
• Overfishing.
• Overharvesting fish species with slow reproduction cycles.
• Misuse of carbon footprint (excess travel to get to the end consumer).
• Bottom trawling (the practice of dragging huge nets along the ocean floor which can deplete fish stocks and destroy habitats).

Other than Alaska, the United States has not adopted such strict regulatory practices as yet.   Alaska, Canada and New Zealand have implemented rigid quota and management systems to ensure sustainability in wild caught fishing.  In anticipation of such regulations, and in an effort to act ethically and responsibly, we aim to be progressive in our support of responsible wild caught fishing practices.

Another popular method of commercial fishing is aquaculture or farmed species fishing.  Aquaculture can also produce high quality sustainable seafood when carried out correctly.  When addressing the issue of aquaculture seafood, some of the considerations are:

• Evolutionary consequences, such as genetic impact of escaped fish on wild populations.
• Release of fish waste into the environment.
• Usage of wild fish as stock food for farmed fish.
• Overcrowded pens.
• Potential side effects of using chemical and antibiotics to control disease.

Given the advancements in technology, the future of seafood aquaculture will continue to have a bright outlook.  Many farms have shifted to a variation of aquaculture called IMTA (Integrated Multi Tropic Aquaculture), which incorporates other sellable products such as shellfish and seaweed to filter the waste from the pens.  Other farms promote "fallowing", which is the practice of leaving and area idle for a period of time so that the marine environment may return to its natural state.  Scientists are working on new, organic ways to improve the feed for aquaculture by introducing higher ratios of soy-based product, which helps supplement or replace wild fish as feed.

Anderson Seafoods would like to help educate chefs and consumers by providing websites that provide up-to-date information on specific species and practices and organizations. We encourage you to review the leading authorities on the subject, which will enable you to make knowledgeable and thoughtful decisions regarding sustainability.

• www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/
• www.alaskaseafood.org
• www.blueocean.org
• www.cleanfish.com
• www.edf.org
• www.fishwatch.noaa.gov
• www.greenpeace.ca
• www.iqmi.ca
• www.iss-foundation.org
• www.montereybayaquarium.org
• www.msc.org
• www.oceanconservancy.org
• www.seafoodchoices.org
• www.seafoodindustry.co.nz
• www.seaweb.org
• www.sustainable-seafood.ca

In addition to these websites, we have highlighted the items on our general product list that we consider to be fully sustainable in origin and practice.

Anderson Seafoods currently distributes approximately 25-30% sustainable seafood. Our goal is to increase this percentage to 40-50% over the next five years.