We’re a salty bunch here in Australia. We love being by the sea, on the sea and we love eating what’s in the sea. Over the Easter weekend alone, we’ll eat about $25 million worth of our fishy friends. With that in mind, here’s a few simple things we can do to help make sure there’s plenty of fish to eat for many more Easters to come.
WTF? = What’s That Fish?
The first question we need to ask before we purchase seafood is ‘What’s that fish?’
We can make sustainable seafood choices, but we need to know what species we’re eating, where it came from and how it was caught. If we know it’s barramundi farmed in Australia, versus wild barramundi from Indonesia, we can choose the local, more sustainable option.
They’re simple questions to ask but there’s just one problem. By law in Australia, retailers aren’t required to give us this information, or to accurately label their seafood. They can slap meaningless names like ‘flake’ or ‘white fish’ on to just about whatever fillet of fish they’re selling. Crazy, right?
The really scary thing is that the seafood we’re dished up could contain harmful levels of mercury, could be a threatened species or could be connected to human rights abuses without us even knowing it. Our latest investigation revealed rampant mislabelling of shark meat in Melbourne restaurants. The same laws that keep us in the dark about where our frozen berries come from, also hide the truth about our seafood. This is Australia, it’s 2015 and this simply isn’t good enough. Europeans are told what fish they’re eating, where it came from, and how it was caught whenever they buy seafood – so there’s no guess work for them.
A whopping 70% of Australia’s seafood is imported, and we’re among the biggest per capita consumers in the world too. Aussies want to eat local, ethical and sustainable fish but how can we if we don’t know what we’re eating?
Just like we now have the choice to buy eggs from chickens that are treated more humanely, we should have the clear choice to buy more ethical and sustainable fish.
The good news is that right now we have a real chance to secure better laws. Since the recent frozen berry health scare threw food safety standards into the spotlight, our politicians are debating food labelling laws. Now is our time to strike.
We’ve just launched a sharp new video to ramp up the pressure because we shouldn’t have to play meal of fortune with our seafood. Watch and share it here and help spread the word.
Top 3 things you can do this Easter to help keep our oceans healthy
- Sign the petition to demand accurate seafood labelling laws in Australia.
- Watch and share our new video Meal of Fortune to help spread the word.
- Visit the Australian Marine Conservation Society’s Sustainable Seafood Guide online or download the app to make better seafood choices.
