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Just got some very interesting data on the costs of sustainable fishing & why the price per pound of fish can vary so much. Sitka Salmon, our monthly subscription sustainable fishery, shared some detailed numbers on the cost differences between their fish & market fish THREAD
As I add it up, their fish costs ~$8/lb more than it could (a big difference! clear reason many people can& #39;t afford sustainable fish) but the details of where that $8 go are telling. ~$1.80/lb is the cost of using eco-friendly fishing gear minimizing bycatch & habitat damage 2/?
Between $0.65 and $1.65 goes to paying fishermen their promised price EVEN IF there are market swings or harvests are extra high so the market price of fish goes down. It& #39;s an investment in making sure fishing communities have a reliable living. 3/?
$2.17 (the biggest single cost increase) is having the fish processed in the USA instead of sending the fish to China for processing. 2/3 of Alaska& #39;s fish is processed in China where there are few labor, safety, or environmental regulations, so the process is cheaper. 4/?
$0.55 is the added cost of demanding seafood traceability, tracking the fish at every step so we know it is the fish it& #39;s claimed to be. DNA testing reveals as much as 40% of fish in grocery stores isn& #39;t what it says on the label. The motive for substituting fish is complex. 5/?
Sometimes it& #39;s illegally harvested fish (unlicensed, illegal methods or waters). Sometimes an unpopular fish is substituted for a popular fish, often (fascinatingly) resulting in a less overfished, more sustainable species being passed off for an overfished unsustainable one 6/?
Many conservation groups agree improving our global tracing of fish is key to battling poaching, species depletion, & also the exploitative labor practices & unsafe harvesting & processing methods common in illegal fishing. Fascinating that Sitka& #39;s cost is as low as $0.55/lb. 7/?
Finally Sitka spends $1.35/lb on eco-friendly packaging, eco-friendly delivery transport, carbon offsets for their distribution impact, and investing 1% of revenue in wilderness conservation. Sum total roughly $8/lb.
Now, LOTS of people can& #39;t afford an extra $8/lb for fish, which makes this a great example of the need for gov& #39;t level regulation. Requiring traceability for the whole industry would let people buy safe, uncontaminated fish that is what it claims to be at practical prices. 9/?
Gov& #39;t investment in fishing tech that doesn& #39;t destroy habitat would guarantee the future of fisheries instead of risking fishery collapse which creates local recessions. & fair price laws or UBI would let fisher(wo)men earn enough to live on w/o living in fear of market flux 10/?
COVID has sparked a lot of discussion of how individual responsibility isn& #39;t enough: even with personal driving & flying almost at a standstill greenhouse gas output hasn& #39;t declined enough to meet targets, showing we *need* industry regulation, not just consumer action 11/?
+$8/lb for safe seafood shows the same: gov& #39;t action can make seafood safer to eat AND more humane to workers, but customers *cannot* afford the costs, we need global & national action or the majority of people will remain stuck in the current bind: unsafe fish or no fish. 12/12
