Here in Mzanzi, we love our seafood so much that it’s tricky to find a menu that doesn’t feature calamari, Kingklip or prawns. But, for anyone who has watched the spine-tingling documentary, The End of the Line, or given ear to the oracles at SASSI, it’s as clear as day that our oceans are not a bottomless resource.

Yes, it’s not so fun being bombarded with dismal facts, but here they are in a mussel:

85% of all fisheries are now classified as fully fished or beyond.
25% of all fish caught are thrown back, dead.
Many endangered species are caught up in fishing gear unintentionally.

So, what do we do?
Luckily, there are some really simple steps we can take which will, over time, impact the collective demand on fisheries. It’s not rocket science: if consumers rally together and refuse to eat blue fin tuna, eventually the blue fin tuna will be left to recover. Comprendez?

You’ve done your bit for trees and tins with separate bins, now take a stand for our scaly friends from under the sea.

1. Print out SASSI’s colour-coded seafood pocket guide which categorises selected seafood species according to their conservation status and sustainability. If out and about, use SASSI’s FishMS service – SMS the name of the fish to 079 499 8795 – and you will soon be sent all the info you require to make a good choice.
2. Quit eating fish on the red list (these are illegal or severely unsustainable) and you should systematically throw your toys if you come across any of these on a menu.
3. Carefully consider choosing fish on the orange list (there are ecological reasons for concern here like dubious farming methods).
4. Be intentional about eating fish on the green list – guilt free, as these fish come from the best managed populations.

While it’s important to know which fish we should steer well-clear of, it’s a lot more inspiring to celebrate the abundance of green, sustainable seafood in our waters so we have teamed up with SASSI and Pete Goffe-Wood and, over the next few days, will bring you gorgeous sustainable fish recipes in our series, Hooked to Cooked.

Take sustainable seafood by the fins, and get inspired.

Over and out.