FOR CONSUMERS
A future
without fish
An average person in Hong Kong consumes 66.5kg of seafood per year,
almost 3 times higher than the global average.
The seafood choices of every person in Hong Kong can impact our oceans.
94% of the world’s fisheries are overfished
or fished to the maximum sustainable level.
Wild-capture of seafood almost quadrupled from the 1950s to late 1980s. After peaking at 90 million tons per year, the number has been decreasing ever since.
Only 6% of our fishery are underfished, and can still be further exploited.
Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing accounts for around 20% of the world’s fishing. This means over $23 billion worth of seafood were caught either without a license, caught in unregulated areas or are unreported. What this means is the seafood you are eating might not be legal.
Illegal fishing also damages the ocean floor and marine ecosystem grievously with destructive fishing methods, including bottom trawls, miles-long walls of driftnets.
IUU seafood is prevalent in seafood markets throughout the world. In Hong Kong, 22% of locally registered vessels still operate trawl nets in the South China Sea in 2019.
Over half of South African dried abalones imported into Hong Kong are likely illegally sourced and trafficked. Over half of South African dried abalones imported into Hong Kong are likely illegally sourced and trafficked. Illegal trade of the CITES listed, Endangered Humphead Wrasse (Cheilinus undulatus) is frequently reported.
Source: How to End Illegal Fishing, Trawled fish consumption continues despite ban, An assessment of South African dried abalone consumption and trade in Hong Kong
Without regulation or monitoring, certain fishing and aquaculture practices can negatively impact marine animals not usually targeted as seafood.
Annually, about 300,000 cetaceans (whales, dolphins and porpoises) die entangled in fishing nets as bycatch.
Similarly, 89% of hammerhead sharks and 80% of thresher and white sharks in the NE Atlantic Ocean were caught as bycatch over the last 2 decades.
Feed-grade fish are fish used to feed other fishes (see “Feeding fish with fish”).
Believed by most to be “trash”, an average of 20 million tonnes of feed-grade fish are taken from the ocean to make fishmeal or fish oil for aquaculture and livestock every year.
Yet, about ¾ of these fish-grade fish are juveniles of commercially important species, such as anchovies and halibuts.
Reduce the amount, frequency, and variety of seafood consumption
Choose sustainably caught or farmed seafood
