May 3, 2012 – A growing buy-local-food movement coupled with increasing awareness of over-harvested fish populations has led foodies and shoppers along the North Carolina coast to seek out sustainable, regionally-harvested seafood in ever larger numbers, retailers and conservation experts say.
But while the rising interest is a positive for conservation efforts, purchasing sustainable seafood remains complicated for the average consumer.
For example, several national grocery store chains, including Whole Foods and Target, recently announced decisions to pare down seafood departments to better comply with national “buyer’s lists.” Distributed by conservation groups, the lists rank different types of seafood based on population levels and overfishing of species, among other things.
But the lists often conflict, and their relevance can vary drastically depending on geographic location, according to Scott Baker, fisheries specialist with N.C. Sea Grant.
“Different groups having different designations for the same species, I think that’s definitely a problem,” he said. “You would assume they’re all using the same data, but I would assume there are different levels of up-to-date-ness.”