Educate Yourself About Making the Right Seafood Choices

People realize that when they eat a specific animal, it came from a specific location. For instance, if you were to eat venison, the deer you ate was probably hunted in a forest within the United States. Because it is easy to see that deer are plentiful, people concerned with the environment would say that it's fine to eat the venison and that eating venison may even be useful to help control the deer population. Unfortunately though, it's not easy for people to see into the ocean to understand how fish populations work, so it's difficult for people to realize what kinds of fish are okay to eat and what kinds aren't. The reality is that there are finite fish stocks in the ocean, and if they are depleted, whole species of fish can become endangered and even extinct.

No one wants to force a species of any animal to become extinct, and scientists know so much about both land and sea animals that there's no need to. That's why it's so important that people learn about where your food comes from. Over the past few years, there has been a big movement towards making more informed food choices, and as First Lady Michelle Obama and other leaders have said, the foundation for making those good choices has to be laid by educating the public. When people realize that there are finite fish stocks so fishing must be done in safe quantities, they'll understand why it's safer for the environment to consume certain kinds of seafood rather than others. Overfishing can not only kill off a species that humans can no longer consume, but it can greatly damage much more sea life by removing an important part of the food chain for other fish and sea creatures.

Seafood can be an incredibly healthy source of protein so people don't need to stop eating fish, they just need to do it responsibly. The finite fish stocks of Bluefin Tuna, Red Snapper, Chilean Seabass, Atlantic Halibut and Atlantic Cod have all been over fished to the point that those fish are at risk of dying out. For people who love the flavor of halibut and cod, there are always fresh Pacific Cod and Halibut that are fine to eat. Much of the healthy fish that is available in America comes from Alaska, where fish stocks have healthy populations because the Alaskan government makes sure that it's finite fish stocks are well-regulated. So make sure you know where your seafood comes from when you sit down to eat.