When we sit down to eat, the fish on our dinner plate is only part of what’s served. Fish meal, made from wild-caught fish and used to feed farmed fish and animals, is an often-overlooked ingredient in the American food supply. As Ian Urbina’s reporting reveals (“Farmed seafood is marketed as a sustainable answer to overfishing. But it comes with a dangerous catch,” Ideas, Oct. 11), fish meal is a hidden link between industrial fishing and the food we eat every day.
The seafood sector’s lack of supply chain transparency can hide the true costs of food production. Fish meal can come from fisheries with troubling records of illegal fishing and labor abuses, yet opaque supply chains make it difficult to know. These problems don’t disappear simply because the fish end up as feed rather than a fillet.
The United States has both the responsibility and the leverage to change this. Expanded seafood traceability requirements would help regulators and businesses track fish, including those used for fish meal, from the vessel where it was caught to the final point of sale. More transparency and traceability would make it harder for bad actors to profit from illegal fishing and forced labor, while giving responsible fishers and honest businesses a fairer chance to compete.
Seafood must be a trusted source of food, and the United States must make knowing where it comes from the rule, not the exception.
Max Valentine, PhD
Washington, D.C.
The author is campaign director and senior scientist at Oceana.
America can set the standard for sustainable aquaculture
Ian Urbina’s op-ed raises important considerations about the environmental and social impacts of certain aquaculture operations overseas. These issues reinforce the need for the United States to invest in responsible domestic aquaculture production.
Urbina quotes my statement that federal legislation supporting open ocean aquaculture would give the United States an opportunity to demonstrate that we can sustainably produce more seafood in our own waters. I stand by that statement.
The answer to challenges facing global aquaculture is not to turn away from fish farming but to advance science-based practices that address them. American researchers and producers continue to develop more sustainable feeds, including alternatives made from US-grown crops, reducing reliance on wild-caught fish feed. Strong environmental standards and effective oversight are equally critical.
The bipartisan Marine Aquaculture Research for America Act would establish a federal framework for permitting and oversight of open ocean aquaculture, providing regulatory clarity needed for responsible development in US waters.
America has an opportunity to demonstrate how seafood production, scientific innovation, and environmental stewardship can work together. We’ve already demonstrated it in open ocean state waters. We have the science, technology, and expertise to lead by example. The urgency has never been greater.
Drue Banta Winters
Fairhope, Ala.
The author is campaign manager for Stronger America Through Seafood.