User:LetMeDriveTheBoat/Sustainable seafood

Surimi History
The process for making surimi was developed in many areas of East Asia over several centuries though the exact history and origins of this product are unclear. In China, the food was used to make fish balls (魚蛋/魚丸) and ingredients in a thick soup known as "Geng" (羹) common in Fujian cuisine. In Japan, it is used in the making of numerous kamaboko, fish sausage, or cured surimi products.

The industrialized surimi-making process was refined in 1969 by Nishitani Yōsuke of Japan's Hokkaidō Fisheries Experiment Institute to process the increased catch of fish, to revitalize Japan's fish industry, and to make use of what used to be considered "fodder fish".[citation needed] Surimi industrial technology developed by Japan in the early 1960s promoted the growth of the surimi industry which ultimately provides countries with frozen fish due to advancements of on-vessel cleaning and freezing technology. Originally, Atlantic cod was the primary fish used but because of overfishing and environmental change, the Alaskan Pollock quickly replaced it, and it remains the largest single fishery for deep ocean white-fleshed fish. This commodity is sent to China which has the “largest variety of highly processed fish products in the world” with different styles of cooking the product throughout the country like the "color or texture". The demand for Alaskan Pollock was an all time high at about 7 million metric tons in the late 1980's. The successful growth of the industry was based on the Alaska pollock (or walleye pollock). Subsequently, production of Alaska pollock surimi declined and was supplemented by surimi production using other species.

Two to three million tons of fish from around the world, amounting to 2–3 percent of the world fisheries' supply, are used for the production of surimi and surimi-based products. The United States and Japan are major producers of surimi and surimi-based products. Thailand has become an important producer. China's role as producer is increasing. Many newcomers to the surimi industry have emerged, including Lithuania, Vietnam, Chile, the Faroe Islands, France, and Malaysia

Sustainable Seafood Movement[edit]
The Sustainable Seafood Movement is an initiative born through the realization that the marine ecosystems of the world were being overexploited and destroyed. It began in the 1990s and was driven by social marketing through Ecolabel and awareness campaigns. Through social marketing, the collaboration between environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and industry allowed for the consumer to make informed choices, potentially contributing to the conservation of marine biodiversity. A company who has joined the movement is Seafood Watch who have been fighting for sustainability options for aquaculture. "Around 80% of the seafood eaten in the country is not cooked by the consumer" which can lead to the consumer being misled by product labels. Seafood Watch provides a pamphlet for people to use when catching or purchasing fish, for size and other informative purposes. A Sustainable way to consume fish is to buy fish caught in our country; our country imports "five billions pounds of seafood every year, and 90 percent of it comes from countries like China and Vietnam." Making an effort to reach out and purchase goods from the Community-supported fishery is a great to practice sustainability. Community groups like Local Catch have 590+ locations which are ready to serve consumers in boat-to-fork fashion. This helps the fishermen since they "benefit from selling directly to consumers." This method of business allows fishermen and consumer to grow a connections through seafood.

Coronavirus Affects

The Coronavirus has crippled the economy in recent months which will have outstanding results for upcoming months and maybe even years. The pandemic has forced borders to close, backing up imports and exports of trade commodities. The commercial fishing industries have taken a big hit since many restaurants have been shut down until further notice. High end seafood has taken the biggest hit since the demand for expensive fresh seafood cuisines has dropped tremendously. For example, “The lack of demand, according to Patrice McCarron, the executive director of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association, has led to many fishermen forgoing putting traps in the water. Prices of lobster plunged in the wake of restaurant closures, with reports of dealers paying as little as USD 2.00 (EUR 1.83) a pound for lobster”. Previously, according to Yankee Lobster Company, the price for a pound of lobster was $7.99 market value. And as a result, the price is down 75% of what it was before the pandemic.

While it is evident that the industrial sized companies are suffering, many small scale fisheries have experienced less sales, since markets have been closed. This has not stopped people in the industry from finding creative ways to stay afloat economically. One of the ways is direct marketing. This method has become popular for small scale fisheries who are no longer selling to restaurants. There is no longer a middle man between the farmer and the consumer so many farmers “catch it, clean it and, in many cases, distribute it right to your door”. The fishermen have been running “direct-to-consumer events where fishermen can bring their catch to a central location and deal directly with the buyers” and “marketing their shellfish online, at farm stands or right at the farm”. In San Francisco a seafood processor has a machine that “disperses billions of molecules of ionized hydrogen peroxide into the air, getting into nooks and crannies and sanitizing every surface, helping to kill pathogens that can contaminate food and make workers ill”. While scientists are still working out the effectiveness of this method, Aloha Seafood has reported extremely high decreases in employee sickness.

The problem for many fisheries is that they did not expect or prepare for a pandemic that would frightfully impact such a massively important commodity for many coastal towns and cities. The definition of resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties. The COVID-19 Pandemic has challenged humanities resilience by causing global sickness and economic collapse. What Mark T. Gibbs expresses in Marine Policy reflects “the large and often unforeseen perturbations that can expose resilience” which perfectly expresses how the world has come to experience the ruthlessness of the virus. It remains unknown still what the effects of the virus will have on the ocean but with so many months spent not fishing, means that depleted fisheries may have some time to recover back to sustainable levels. An executive order was placed to promote competitiveness among American seafood industries to "maximize commercial fishing" and to "enforce common-sense restrictions on seafood imports that do not meet American Standard." In order to kickstart the industries back to gear, President Donald Trump issued an executive order for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to release $300 million in coronavirus aid to the seafood industry. This money will assist fisheries in need of financial aid.