Fish & Seafood

Among the most commercialized types of fish and seafood are catfish, cod, dolphin, hake, halibut, flatfish, flounder, pollock, salmon, tilapia, and tuna, along with shellfish including clam, crab, lobster, oyster, scallop, and shrimp. Fish and seafood products are marketed in refrigerated, frozen, and shelf-stable formats.

There are a variety of factors that could increase the consumption of fish and seafood, long-term.

These have been impacting the industry for some time, and will continue to boost consumption when the economy picks up.

There is a growing public awareness that most seafood is a healthy alternative to meat, and is loaded with “good” fats. Fish is a high-protein food that provides a range of health benefits. White-fleshed fish, in particular, is lower in fat than any other source of animal protein, and oily fish are high in omega-3 fatty acids. Since the human body can’t make significant amounts of these essential nutrients, fish are an important part of the diet. Also, fish are low in the "bad" fats commonly found in red meat, called omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fats are found in all seafood but are highest in fatty ocean fish such as salmon, sardines, mackerel, anchovies, and tuna. They are less abundant, although still significant, in flaky, leaner fish such as tilapia and catfish.

In part due to sustainability issues, the seafood industry is beginning to shift from wild harvest to aquaculture, the production of aquatic plants and animals under grower-controlled conditions. Aquaculture is growing rapidly in many countries, particularly China, Chile, and Thailand. Total world production is estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations.

Sustainable seafood is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired. The sustainable seafood movement has gained momentum as more people become aware about both overfishing and environmentally destructive fishing methods. Sustainable seafood organizations promote either farm-raised fish or wild-caught seafood that is either caught in a sustainable manner or is a species that is currently able to sustain its harvest. The goal is to prevent over fishing as well as to discourage methods that harm a large variety of species beyond the ‘target’ fish.