With the tagline “sustainable seafood”, what is there to dislike?

Surely not being clean, or even sustainable – we all want that – but when I see they have partners all across the country, how can they be living up to staying sustainable at all of them?

More power to them – especially after making Newsweek’s “America’s Most Promising Social Entrepreneurs” article – but how does “four full-time “cleanfish evangelists” among his 30-strong staff” make them stay sustainable at every location?

I just don’t get it…

If they do land business here, all it’s going to do is take away from the S.C. fishing industry here on Shem Creek and beyond, and that’s not good for any of us. No, what we need is a return to the little guy, and not more cookie-cutter corporations that take away the heart and soul of this country!   Read more...

An excerpt from the FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS (FAO):

THE STATE OF WORLD FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

There is little doubt that worldwide aquaculture growth will slow, albeit with growth spurts for particular species and regions. The success of the industry is bringing out constraints that were only potential when it started to grow. These obstacles will not simply disappear. Persistent efforts will remove or reduce them, but then others will arise. However, it is equally true that aquaculture will continue to grow in response to demand for fish and seafood generally. It will not come to a standstill.   Read more...

Anglers here in South Carolina may think otherwise, but when compared to other coastal states, we’re pretty much run-of-the-mill.

The number of fish caught and kept obviously changes from year to year, but over the past decade, fishing totals have remained pretty level.

Looking at NOAA’s data below, it’s amazing New York has more fishermen on Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, or wherever they’re fishing from, than we do here in South Carolina, but thanks to the Magnuson-Stevens Act, efforts have been put in place to ensure there will always be plenty of fish for us to while our time away with – something South Carolina anglers have no problem doing!   Read more...

NOAA has been hard at work making sure fisheries are in compliance with the Fishery Conservation and Management Act requiring we end overfishing by 2010.

As a result, 7 fish stocks were removed from the overfishing list in 2007. Approximately 40 stocks are still experiencing overfishing according to NOAA, but the NOAA Fisheries Service and the fishery management councils are in the process of ending overfishing for all of these as well.

NOAA’s action provides guidance on how to comply with new annual catch limit (ACL) and accountability measure (AM) requirements for ending overfishing of those fisheries managed by Federal fishery management plans. Changes to the Act are effective February 17, 2009.

Meanwhile, here’s a one-minute video on overfishing:   Read more...