Why are you doing this?

The global pandemic is gravely threatening small businesses around the world. It has highlighted and accelerated corporate consolidation—small businesses replaced by larger corporations. Food production was mostly consolidated over the past few decades, but the fishing industry has resisted.

Why is the pandemic especially threatening to seafood small business?

With restaurants closed or limited, many fishermen and women have fewer places to sell their catch.

What about grocery stores?

Quickly integrating into grocery store supply chains is difficult, especially with grocery stores overwhelmed right now.

Isn’t cooking seafood hard? Isn’t that why most people eat it while dining out and not at home?

No! Cooking seafood is fun and easy. There are tons of recipes and videos online; many of the seafood businesses above have suggested recipes as well.

I’m vegan or vegetarian

We have a tab for businesses that sell marine plants.

Specialized producer vs. regional market: A specialized producer provides a few specific seafood products (like an oyster farm). A regional seafood market provides several different seafood products. For example, many different species are caught off the coast of California so CSFs in California are categorized as markets.

Is all of the seafood on this map sustainable?

Probably, but we did not have time to vet every business. We are confident that all producers from North America, New Zealand, and Australia carry only sustainable products. Europe and Asia carry mostly sustainable products, but we did see some unsustainable products (particularly eel).

How did you put this together?

We went through lists provided by National Fisherman, Local Catch, Ocean Wise Seafood, Seafish, and Seafood New Zealand. We used Google Sheets to create a large data set, then uploaded parts of the data set to the map layers.

What is Local Catch?

The Local Catch Network is a community-of-practice made up of fishermen, community-based organizers, researchers, and technical assistance providers from across North America that are committed to providing local, healthful, low-impact seafood via community supported fisheries and direct marketing arrangements in order to support healthy fisheries and the communities that depend on them. Established in 2011, the network has + 500 people including more than 150 seafood businesses across the United States and Canada. The aim of our network is to bring visibility to the innovative and community-based work that individuals and organizations are doing and create a platform for knowledge exchange and idea sharing between businesses that are engaged in local and direct seafood marketing.

What is the Ocean Wise Seafood Program?
Ocean Wise Seafood is a non-profit program that provides recommendations about the sustainability of seafood products, with offices at the Vancouver Aquarium and also in Toronto, Quebec City and Halifax. Ocean Wise Seafood works with restaurants, retailers, suppliers and producers to provide the most recent scientific data on the ecological sustainability of fisheries and aquaculture operations so that businesses and consumers can more easily make sustainable sourcing and purchasing decisions. They have over 785 industry partners in more than 3,100 locations globally, all fully supported with resources and advice on sustainable seafood, and promoted both publicly and within the network of supply chain actors for their sustainability efforts. Consumers and businesses can feel confident that the Ocean Wise symbol next to a seafood item is a trusted assurance of an ocean-friendly seafood choice. You can find more information on how and why to choose sustainable seafood on their website, which includes an extensive sustainable seafood search engine, partner map, delicious recipes, Aquablogs on aquatic and seafood-related issues, and much more. Follow them @OceanWiseLife.

I want my store to be on this map, how do I contact you?

If you are a sustainable seafood provider who would like to be added to this map: Our minimum standard for inclusion on the map is that you have a website with listed prices and an easy way for retail customers to order sustainable seafood directly. If you meet this minimum standard, please click here to fill out a form.

I don’t meet the minimum standard, how do I set up a website and online shop?

There are two ways we recommend:

1. Set up a Shopify store. This option is quick and easy, but Shopify takes a small percentage of your sales and the monthly fees can add up. The simplicity and convenience is unrivaled, however.
2. Hire a web developer to set up a website and ecommerce platform for you. This will have much higher upfront costs, but can be more cost-effective depending on your long-term goals.

If you have further questions, contact us.