Sustainable Seafood

If you have been reading my blog posts for a while, you know that I’m really concerned with many issues and have worked to focus attention on the ones that matter most to me. These are: what we and our children eat, our environment and consuming locally grown food.

Part of my own actions are making sure our packaging is completely recyclable, and using recycled paper for the labels on our Slatherin’ Sauce bottles.

A big part of being concerned about our environment is the issue of sustainability; making sure we tread lightly, renew and improve our earth, our communities and our relationships.

Slather Brand Foods supports initiatives to focus attention on sustainable seafood and when possible, wild caught seafood.

Do you stop to think about the fish you consume? Where did it come from? Who caught it and how far did it have to travel to reach you? Are you eating fish that is under environmental pressure or is over-fished?

Answers to these questions and resources to help you learn more about sustainable seafood can be found at the South Carolina Aquarium’s Sustainable Seafood Initiative. The SC Aquarium even has a chart showing which fish are available month by month. You can download the PDF of that here. In California, the Monterrey Bay Aquarium also has a Seafood Watch section with advisories and other details.

Shrimping was once a major industry for the Carolina Coast, now, there are fewer shrimpers for many reasons. You can learn more about the issues and locate providers who sell wild caught shrimp via the South Carolina Shrimp Marketing website.

Now I know it’s hard when you live in Iowa to get fresh wild-caught fish and shrimp, but you can choose to purchase wild-caught fish and shrimp from U.S. fisheries waters. It may cost you a bit more to purchase, but the taste is sweeter knowing that you are helping an entire industry survive, not to mention species.

photo credit: Flickr user Bruce Tuten