Fish Friday: “Our Fisheries, Our Future”

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), an ecolabel for wild-caught seafood that WWF enthusiastically endorses, recently released a short film explaining how the standard works and the role we all play in keeping the world’s oceans healthy.
In only twelve-and-a-half minutes, “Our Fisheries, Our Future,” pilots us to the Gambia, where a red and black sole fishery is working towards certification. Next up is a rock lobster fishery in Mexico that was recertified in 2011, and then skipjack tuna fishery in Maldives that gained MSC certification in 2012.
Each story presents a different set of challenges that go along with the MSC’s objectives of maintaining a healthy ocean environment as well as a prosperous society and economy.
Take a look at the video and you’ll see how MSC brings this complex equation into focus.

Reaching 100% sustainable fishing levels is a huge challenge that won’t be met in the near future. But one common thread appears throughout the film that stands out as a big part of the solution: the need for support and cooperation at all points along the chain, from hook to plate.
Gambian fisher Dawda Saine says it best when he states that sustainable fishing in our oceans is not “just a matter of not doing it single-handedly, but doing it collectively.”
Although we don’t always catch it on first glance, the seafood we eat in Canada comes from every corner of the world – the Gambia, Mexico, and Maldives included. While only a small portion of this is MSC-certified, there are grocers throughout Canada that have committed to offering fresh, frozen and canned sustainable seafood. The trick is, you have to know where to look and what to look for.
Having  that “Ahoy! Certified sustainable seafood!” moment amid ordered supermarket chaos is a little easier at Loblaw stores – No Frills, Sperstore and Provigo among them – because they’ve committed to offering huge range of sustainable seafood, a great deal of it MSC certified.
Your choices aren’t limited to the species mentioned in the video. My local No Frills in Toronto’s Bloor West Village is filled, for example, with MSC-certified products including canned tuna, frozen wild Pacific salmon, and even pet food! Better still, Loblaw has made a long-term commitment to offer even more sustainably and responsibly sourced seafood than it already does.
With over 120 different MSC-certified products now on their shelves, Loblaw is a great place to look for salmon, tuna and other seafood that’s responsibly sourced. Now that you know where to look, I leave you with this:

Look for it.