Seafood restaurants are looking for new sustainable solutions for their supply chain amid worries that overfishing could threaten the viability of the industry, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
According to a recent study by the United Nations, current commercial fishing practices could almost completely exhaust the global supply of fish within 40 years. Almost 30 percent of fisheries are already producing less than 10 percent of their former potential, according to the Journal.
According to a report on the BBC website, fishing employs 35 million people worldwide and receives $27 billion in annual subsidies. Global seafood demand is projected to rise to 150 million metric tons within 20 years.
Corporate supply decisions can have an enormous effect on the fish population, according to the Journal. McDonald’s decision to rely solely on North Atlantic cod caused its entire fishery to shut down. The restaurant chain now uses five different fish species to produce its Fillet-o-Fish sandwich. The company now requires fisheries to meet minimum standards on reporting practices, the environmental impact of their harvesting practices, and the amount of fish the fishery leaves to replenish the population.
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