WWF handbook helps Japan select sustainable seafood

Aiming to empower consumers to buy fish based on their sustainability, the World Wildlife Fund has released a Japanese version of its Seafood Handbook. The new booklet grades 23 types of seafood commonly eaten in Japan according to various factors that affect their natural ability to replenish.

Each variety of fish is graded not only according to whether its numbers are rising or falling. It also looks at how and where they are caught, and the effects that the fishing has on the ecosystem and on the local community. The criteria are applied to both farmed fish and wild marine life.

The handbook grades these species under five categories. A dark green circle represents sustainably fished seafood. The grading then shifts from light green, through to yellow, orange and red, reflecting how unsustainable the fish are caught or farmed.

Sustainability in where our fish comes from

Since the same type of fish is caught via various methods in various places, many of them receive multiple color gradings. For example, salmon caught in Alaska by fishing rod is approved as sustainable, but the same practice in Canada gets a light green grading to show some issues with sustainability. Salmon-fishing methods in Japan and Russia that use nets get yellow or orange warning grades. That’s partly because net fishing often catches marine life other than the intended catch. This can kill turtles and dolphins, for example. A chart and short written sections in the handbook explain such issues to readers.

Evaluations for farmed fish include the sustainability of their feed and whether the young fish or eggs are obtained from nature or are artificial. Other considerations also include the farm’s effect on water pollution, impact on the health of the local ecosystem, and any related community and labor issues. Proper implementation of industry oversight is a criterion for both categories of fishing.

Nudging supermarkets in the right direction

The handbook also encourages readers to ask supermarkets to sell seafood approved by the MSC or ASC sustainability labels, specify the fishing method used, introduce a traceability system for marine products, and consider the marine ecosystem in their product-purchasing decisions.

According to the 2020 edition of The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture from the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, 34% of fish species are being over-fished in global waters. That’s a three-fold increase from the 1970s. Other FAO data show that the volume, by weight, of marine products produced in 2013 was about five times that of 1961.

The handbook is available for download online in Japanese. Country-specific versions are also available on the WWF’s website.

When one stands in front of a supermarket showcase full of various types of fish, it is easy to forget that their sustained supply is threatened. The WWF’s Seafood Handbook reminds us of that reality and empowers readers to take action and change the situation. Enlisting supermarkets to carry out the steps encouraged in the book can take that action to a higher level. That leverage is enabled by the power of trusted, thoroughly researched information.