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Locally sourced foods are a more sustainable option because the food does not have to travel a long way for it to get to your plate, reducing the product's carbon footprint. Many are familiar with this in regard to land foods, but the same goes for seafood. Fish caught in the USA already have an advantage because they do not need to travel overseas to be available to American consumers.
"Today, NOAA Fisheries estimates that the United States imports more than 80 percent of the seafood we eat. We further estimate that about half of this imported seafood is from aquaculture. This results in a large and growing annual seafood trade deficit of more than $10.4 billion" (NOAA).
Additionally, a "significant portion of imported seafood is caught by American fishermen, exported overseas for processing, and then reimported to the United States" (NOAA).
Transporting seafood to the United States means the product is not as fresh as a locally caught option. But what many consumers do not think about is that these international products also carry a larger carbon footprint than a locally caught product.
Click here to learn more about what NOAA Fisheries has to say.
Click here to learn more about geographic origin transparency in a product's packaging
A map of the major ports of entry; how most internationally caught seafood enters the United States.
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations or FAO has divided global waters into major fishing areas. Sometimes a product will state which FAO it is from. Click the button below to learn more.
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