Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum

*Click here for an explanation of our Sustainability Spectrum

Sustainability Assessment

Most edible jellyfish species have relatively short life spans and grow to reproductive age quickly and their populations are thought to be increasing worldwide due to the overfishing of their natural predators, the increasing ocean temperatures, and the ongoing eutrophication of the oceans.  Sea Port sources Jellyfish from Taiwan.  It is used in their Seasoned Jellyfish item which is part of their Asian Specialty line of products.   Jellyfish are growing in popularity as a food source.  However, the worldwide fishery data collection and management have not kept pace.  Some active management exists mainly to protect more valuable fish species as in the case of Australia prohibiting the netting of jellyfish when schools of juvenile fish are present.  If care is not taken during the netting of jellyfish, a high degree of bycatch can occur.

Environmental Impact: Moderate

Because population fluctuations seem to be closely tied with environmental factors, year to year jellyfish biomass is difficult to accurately predict. Management of the resource is inadequate for essentially all jellyfish fisheries.  Due to the worldwide increase in jellyfish biomass there is little concern about the health of jellyfish stocks and much more concern about why the world is seeing such an increase and what problems this may pose for the long term health of marine ecosystems.

Sustainability Improvements Needed

Improvements in the amount and types of data collected are needed in order to accurately establish fisheries trends and also to determine if this increase in the worldwide biomass of jellyfish is a “canary in the coal mine” in regards to overall marine health.

Actions that Sea Port is Undertaking

Sea Port foresees edible jellyfish stocks increasing worldwide and is excited to bring this new seafood item to the U.S. market. Sea Port believes that increasing the consumption of lower trophic seafood will in the long run help contribute to the protection of our aquatic environments while providing sustainably produced proteins for future generations.   Sea Port also believes that, in aggregate, choosing from a diverse variety of seafood is better for sustaining the world’s seafood resources and Seasoned Jellyfish should be a part of this variety.

We created the sustainability assessments for each of our seafood items in order to reveal the existing and potential environmental impacts and risks that are associated with producing them for human consumption.  This allowed us to establish the starting position for each of our seafood items along our progressive Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum®.   These assessments are only a single snapshot in time and because of this, we will continue to assess and update the critical sustainability needs associated with our supply sources and issue updates to the Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum® as needed.  There is a growing global awareness for the need to assure the sustainability of farmed and wild caught seafood and because of this; all around the world positive changes are rapidly occurring at all levels of the seafood supply chain.  We will continue to spread this growing awareness and work with our many industry partners to improve the sustainability of all seafood, which we believe is the ideal protein of choice to feed an ever growing world population.  Our Go Blue! Seafood Sustainability Spectrum® serves as our compass and yardstick as we strive to move all our products forward to becoming more sustainable.  Please join us in this committed quest and Catch Our Wave® to sustainability by choosing a diverse variety of responsibly produced seafood as part of your diet.