June 8, 2018 — Restaurateurs from New England and Aquaculturalists from as far west as California exchanged their stories and theories on how to build sustainability with the seafood industry at the Harborside Campus on Johnson and Wales on Wednesday.
Then Anna Malek Mercer, the executive director of the Commercial Fisheries Research Foundation, stepped to the front of the room with a much simpler solution.
“American seafood is sustainable seafood,” Malek Mercer said. “This is American wild harvest. This is also American grown. Really bringing that message to the forefront I think is something that is really easy to communicate.”
Having earned a doctorate in Fisheries Oceanography from the University of Rhode Island’s Graduate School of Oceanography, Malek Mercer pointed to the fact that the commercial finishing industry faces more government regulations — that promote sustainability — than the pharmaceutical industry. Overall, the fishing industry faces 13,218 regulations, seventh most in the United States, and just behind air traffic, which has 13,307.
Malek Mercer said the regulations have led to 98 percent increase in fish stock sustainability index since 1976 and 39 stocks have been rebuilt from low levels since 2000.