Who doesn't enjoy a heaped plate of seafood? But have you ever thought about where our fish comes from? We spoke with the folks at WWF and discovered how we can help save our oceans for future bowls of fish head curry.

WWF-Malaysia and MNS launched the Save Our Seafood (S.O.S.) campaign earlier this year in conjunction with World Oceans Day. Fish stocks in our oceans have declined by almost 90%, signaling an urgent need to raise awareness on sustainable seafood choices. WWF and MNS are doing this by publishing Malaysia's first sustainable seafood guide, a pocket-sized bilingual book listing 50 of the most popular Malaysian seafood species. These species are sorted with an easy-to-follow traffic light system: Green for preferred/recommended eating choice, Yellow for eating occasionally, and Red for those we should definitely avoid.

Executive Director of MNS Dr Loh Chi Leong says that the guide is to “empower the seafood consumers and businesses to make informed decisions in choosing sustainable seafood, which means seafood that is caught and farmed responsibly and that it does not cause damage to our marine environment.”



At an average of 1.4 billion kg consumed yearly, Malaysians are Southeast Asia's biggest consumers of seafood. In 2004, we were consuming 45.4kg of the stuff per capita, compared to the next highest country, Thailand (at 32.7kg). Estimates show that it has risen to about 56kg of seafood this year. Seeing as the Malaysian population is at about 28.3 million this year, that's around 1.58 billion kg of seafood in 2010 alone. That, folks, is a lot of fish! We sure do love our seafood!

With demand comes decline, and now our fish supply has dwindled dangerously due to overfishing. Fisheries scientists have predicted that if the world does not start to consume seafood discriminately, we will not have any seafood left to eat globally. As such, it is important for Malaysians to start thinking now about how we eat seafood and how we all can play a part in conserving our marine resources so future generations can well enjoy ikan bakar too!

"We need to start making smart seafood choices"

A survey commissioned by WWF-Malaysia showed that only a quarter of Malaysian consumers are aware of the declining fish supply in our seas. However, more than 70% of them polled say that they are willing to reduce their seafood consumption if they knew that fish stocks were declining.

Executive Director/CEO of WWF-Malaysia Dato' Dr Dionysius Sharma states that consumers and businesses should all know where our seafood comes from, seeing as it comes from a variety of sources. Some are sustainable and some are not, depending on which area of the world it comes from, and who manages those fisheries. At this point in time, we are fishing faster than the fish can breed. This may very well result in us losing not just fish, but other marine life as well.



By making smart seafood choices, you can help improve stocks in our oceans locally and globally. Threatened and undersized fish need to grow and replenish their schools. Here's how you can do your part to help make sure there is enough fish for the future generation:

- Start by educating yourself on the types of fish that are endangered. Download the sustainable seafood guide so you know what choices to make when you are buying fish.
- If you fish, be aware of the size of the fish. If it is small, throw it back so that it can grow and breed.
- You can also talk to your favourite restaurants and find out if they are aware of this issue. If they aren't, you could show them the guide and they might be willing to make sustainable choices for their business. Spread the word and you'll see that there are people out there who share your concerns. Some restaurants have already started to make the change.

The Malaysian sustainable seafood guide can be downloaded for free at http://www.saveourseafood.my. You can also get it for free at MNS and WWF-Malaysia’s offices in Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya respectively and its branches throughout Malaysia. As foodies, we can do our bit to help keep endangered species of fish alive and make sure we can continue to enjoy them on our dinner table.

Photo Credits: WWF-Malaysia/Eric Madeja

Latest Comments