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| seaf:seafood [2026/03/16 21:50] – [What are the benefits of low-impact seafood?] Simon Grant | seaf:seafood [2026/03/26 18:33] (current) – external edit 127.0.0.1 |
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| # Low-impact seafood | This topic is part of [[gt:food|Food & drink]]. |
| | ====== Low-impact seafood ====== |
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| | ===== What is low-impact seafood? ===== |
| ## What is low-impact seafood? | |
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| First, what we mean by seafood is fish, cephalopods (squid, octopus), decapods (crabs, lobsters, prawns), plus shellfish like oysters and mussels. In this intro we're talking more about buying seafood, but we cover [fishing](/fish/fishing) and [coastal foraging](/coas/coastal_foraging) elsewhere. Currently, around half the seafood the world eats is caught, and about half is from aquaculture (farming). | First, what we mean by seafood is fish, cephalopods (squid, octopus), decapods (crabs, lobsters, prawns), plus shellfish like oysters and mussels. In this intro we're talking more about buying seafood, but we cover [fishing](/fish/fishing) and [coastal foraging](/coas/coastal_foraging) elsewhere. Currently, around half the seafood the world eats is caught, and about half is from aquaculture (farming). |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| _Check the [**Good Fish Guide**](https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/) for the sustainability of fish species. They've collated all the variables to provide an easy-to-understand traffic light system._ | _Check the **[Good Fish Guide](https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/)** for the sustainability of fish species. They've collated all the variables to provide an easy-to-understand traffic light system._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| _[**Sole of Discretion**](https://soleofdiscretion.co.uk/), a co-op of fishers in Plymouth; you can order fresh fish direct from the small boats, with the name of the person who caught your fish, and the method used._ | _**[Sole of Discretion](https://soleofdiscretion.co.uk/)**, a co-op of fishers in Plymouth; you can order fresh fish direct from the small boats, with the name of the person who caught your fish, and the method used._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| ## What are the benefits of low-impact seafood? | ===== What are the benefits of low-impact seafood? ===== |
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| We've seen that low-impact fishing and aquaculture can provide food without damaging marine ecosystems, but it can also benefit coastal communities - socially and economically. This depends a lot on scale. Small, family fishing boats provide autonomous jobs, preserve heritage and help build interesting, vibrant communities, from which profits aren't extracted by giant businesses to pay shareholders elsewhere. The small boats also catch lots of different species that are non-quota, meaning no rules on how many can be caught, so there's less waste. On the whole, they tend to use low-impact methods - hand lines and set nets with buoys and weights (rather than dragging trawl nets across the sea be), and pots to catch crabs and lobsters etc. | We've seen that low-impact fishing and aquaculture can provide food without damaging marine ecosystems, but it can also benefit coastal communities - socially and economically. This depends a lot on scale. Small, family fishing boats provide autonomous jobs, preserve heritage and help build interesting, vibrant communities, from which profits aren't extracted by giant businesses to pay shareholders elsewhere. The small boats also catch lots of different species that are non-quota, meaning no rules on how many can be caught, so there's less waste. On the whole, they tend to use low-impact methods - hand lines and set nets with buoys and weights (rather than dragging trawl nets across the sea be), and pots to catch crabs and lobsters etc. |
| </figure> | </figure> |
| </WRAP> | </WRAP> |
| | ===== What can I do? ===== |
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| ## What can I do? | |
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| The Marine Conservation Society's [Good Fish Guide](https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/) is a great first port of call. It takes into consideration all aspects of fishing and farming, including health of fish stock, fishing methods, potential by-catch etc. It takes complicated scientific information and boils it down to an easy-to-use traffic light system. If you're buying a particular fish in a fishmongers or a restaurant, it will tell you whether it's a good choice in terms of sustainability. | The Marine Conservation Society's [Good Fish Guide](https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/) is a great first port of call. It takes into consideration all aspects of fishing and farming, including health of fish stock, fishing methods, potential by-catch etc. It takes complicated scientific information and boils it down to an easy-to-use traffic light system. If you're buying a particular fish in a fishmongers or a restaurant, it will tell you whether it's a good choice in terms of sustainability. |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| _Langoustines look like shrimps that are trying hard to be lobsters, and can be caught sustainably in pots or 'creels' (Melissa Highton, [**CC by SA 4.0**](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)); however, they can also be called 'scampi', that are caught by large-scale trawlers that scour the sea bed - best avoided._ | _Langoustines look like shrimps that are trying hard to be lobsters, and can be caught sustainably in pots or 'creels' (Melissa Highton, [CC by SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)); however, they can also be called 'scampi', that are caught by large-scale trawlers that scour the sea bed - best avoided._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| <caption> | <caption> |
| _Explanation of the [**MSC / ASC Chain of Custody certification**](https://www.msc.org/standards-and-certification/chain-of-custody-standard), ensuring sustainability every step of the way from ocean to shop / chip shop / restaurant._ | _Explanation of the **[MSC / ASC Chain of Custody certification](https://www.msc.org/standards-and-certification/chain-of-custody-standard)**, ensuring sustainability every step of the way from ocean to shop / chip shop / restaurant._ |
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| </caption> | </caption> |
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| ## Further resources | ===== Forum ===== |
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| | This topic belongs to the section [[gt:food|Food & drink]]. You can ask questions or add information on the corresponding [Forum section](https://forum.growingthecommons.org/t/food). |
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| | ===== Further resources ===== |
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| - [Good Fish Guide](https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/) - ratings to discover whether your seafood choices are affecting the environment | - [Good Fish Guide](https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/) - ratings to discover whether your seafood choices are affecting the environment |
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| ## Related topics | ===== Related topics ===== |
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| - [Coastal foraging](coas:coastal_foraging) | - [Coastal foraging](coas:coastal_foraging) |
| - [Crayfish](cray:crayfish) | - [Crayfish](cray:crayfish) |
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| ## Specialist curators of this topic | ===== Specialist curators of this topic ===== |
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