Seafood is a healthy, affordable protein source packed with vitamins and minerals. But it’s also essential to consider the sustainability of your seafood choices.

Sustainable seafood is caught or farmed using methods that minimize environmental impacts and support thriving businesses. This approach ensures that fish stocks and ocean ecosystems remain healthy.

You’re Making a Difference

When you eat seafood from a sustainable restaurant such as the Pier Market, you’re making a significant impact as a consumer. By supporting a sustainable seafood restaurant, you contribute to the success of ethical seafood retailers, suppliers, and producers committed to keeping marine life healthy.

You’re also supporting your local economy. Seafood is one of the healthiest protein sources and has numerous micronutrients like selenium, zinc, Omega-3, Vitamin A, calcium, and iron essential to long-term wellness.

Choosing fish and shellfish from sustainable sources is critical, especially regarding wild-caught seafood. This is because how fish are caught can harm their ecosystem, habitat, and future population.

Fortunately, there are many different ways that you can make an impact and help support the success of ethical seafood retailers, suppliers, producers, and restaurants. The best way to start is by eating at a sustainable seafood restaurant. Luckily, finding a seafood restaurant that prioritizes sustainability is easy.

You’re Keeping the Ocean Healthy

The ocean is an essential part of our lives and provides us with at least one-fifth of the animal protein we eat. It also regulates climate and helps reduce carbon emissions, absorbing more than 90% of the heat on Earth.

Overfishing is a significant cause of the decline in fish populations worldwide, but sustainable fishing practices help keep fish populations healthy. These practices promote the long-term vitality of species, ensuring that they can thrive in the future, says the conservation group Oceana.

Choosing to eat at a sustainable seafood restaurant is a great way to make a positive impact on the health of our oceans. You can also help to preserve marine life by making small lifestyle changes such as using eco-friendly cleaning products and recycling.

You can also learn to protect the ocean by signing up for a tour in your port of call or onboard your cruise. This will give you a better understanding of the ocean and the creatures that live in it, which can be very helpful for getting involved in the fight for sustainable seafood.

You’re Saving Money

Seafood is a food commodity that is highly consumed and provides nutrition, income, and livelihood to millions of people around the world. But it can also harm the environment if it’s not harvested responsibly.

This is why it’s important to eat seafood that’s caught or farmed in sustainable ways. Sustainable fishing and aquaculture practices can reduce emissions from ocean waters, help protect habitats, and ensure that the species being fished will be able to continue providing nutritious meals for decades to come.

Restaurants that serve sustainable seafood can save money by avoiding costly shipments of imported seafood that can be more expensive than local fish and shellfish. They can also save money on their carbon footprint by not relying on fuel transportation methods.

In addition, sustainable seafood often tastes better than its less-sustainable counterparts. For example, anchovies, previously considered “trash fish,” have been reintroduced to the market because they taste good and provide much-needed protein for many hungry people. They’re also lower on the food chain, so they don’t contribute as much to overfishing.

You’re Supporting Local Businesses

Purchasing seafood from local fishers is essential in supporting your local economy. Not only does it help the angler keep their jobs, but it also helps to support local farmers, which is an essential part of creating a healthy local food system.

The fisheries and farms that produce sustainable seafood work hard to create new protocols that ensure their products meet strict certification requirements. These standards include monitoring quotas, reducing environmental impacts and re-evaluating their supply chain regularly.

While sourcing sustainable seafood can seem like an overwhelming task, there are resources available that can make it easier for consumers and businesses to choose sustainable seafood options. These include eco-labels and accountability guides like the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program.

In addition, many restaurants are promoting their use of sustainable seafood. By highlighting their commitment to sustainability, restaurants can increase their visibility and reach new diners interested in purchasing seafood caught responsibly.

You’re Keeping the Environment Clean

Seafood is not only a great source of protein, but it’s also an excellent filter feeder that helps clean the ocean. By eating at a sustainable seafood restaurant, you’re doing your part to keep the environment clean and help protect marine life and their habitats.

Eating at a sustainable seafood restaurant is also a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Fish is one of the most environmentally friendly types of meat because they produce fewer greenhouse gases than other animal proteins.

Environmentally sustainable seafood is wild or farmed in ways that minimize the environmental impact. This includes limiting habitat damage, disease, pollution and escapes of farmed animals.

It also means that wild seafood populations are not overfished or harvested in a way that harms the environment, such as using bottom trawling methods that damage coral reefs and other ecosystems.

Eating at a sustainable seafood restaurant is an easy way to help make a difference in the world and protect marine habitats. By avoiding overfishing, you’re helping save millions of species from extinction and supporting thriving ocean communities across the globe.