Sustainability Simplified | Pete and his Apple Tree

SUSTAINABILITY is to seafood what derivatives are to finance … a confusing, mystical notion that is supposed to be good but not truly understood at any level by the vast majority.

With the aid of seafood buyers, NGO’s (non government organizations), media, social networks and just about every seafood participant in the supply chain, the misinformation surrounding this elusive topic has literally left a word that has lost all meaning. Humans have a tendency to continue to throw information into a pot in the hopes that in the end it will create something clear and faultless that everyone has a “ah hah” moment to when the end result appears. Ever noticed how this never really seems to happen? With sustainability, this is clearly not the case. In the last 5 years, sustainability has gone from a relatively unknown word, to a deal breaker. Literally every large scale organization out there is clamoring to become, “sustainable” or “green”. I need to digress here as I am about to shut my computer down as the silliness of the issue at hand dumbfounds me on every level.

To start ….

What is sustainability?

I am not going to give the UN or FAO description of the typical NGO definition that sounds all great and sophisticated that in the end actually further confuses you to the point you simply believe the little logo represents it, I mean if the clever person says so, it must be right … right?

No … The buck stops here!

“Sustainability, simply put is making sure that the demand today does not outstrip supply so that our children can also consume the good in question”

It is not rocket science. Here is an example on how simple this topic is, Sustainability Simplified take 1

Pete and his Apple tree

Pete lives on an island with an apple tree that produces 30 apples per month he needs to eat 1 apple a day to survive. At this point you are thinking great (Equilibrium: Supply = Demand), Pete can survive no problem by doing nothing but limiting himself to 1 apple per day.

Suddenly Mary is marooned on the island which throws Pete’s plans of a perfect existence into disarray. Naturally Pete is upset, but having company is better than sitting alone so he decides that sharing the apples is the right thing to do. BUT a decision is required, what should Mary and Pete do:

1. Eat apples as if nothing has changed and figure it out by day 15?

2.Realize that they will not be enough apples to eat by day fifteen thereby start rationing the apples?

3.After eating the first apple, plant the seeds and grow additional apple trees to continue producing apples so that they may survive and provide for their future children? (That is of course if Mary fancies Pete)

Initially you are thinking, c’mon two people on an island with 1 apple tree … apple trees don’t grow in coastal areas especially on islands. Well here we will evoke an economists favorite two words, Ceteris Paribus, which is the lazy way of saying, “Holding everything else constant”. This means only the island, Mary, Pete and the apple tree currently exist, the future is the only unknown here.

You see as much as people don’t want to accept it, we are living in a society that is dominated by individuals that adopt option 1 above, as sad as this is, it is the truth. We would rather trawl out every fish we can until we get to day 15, and then “figure it out”. To me, the year 2007 was day 15. It was this year that all of a sudden every buyer, NGO, educated derelict came out of the wood work and proposed the planting of another apple tree! All of a sudden, as if they had all received a cold hard slap across the face, they all wanted to become more sustainable … preserve those things we call natural resources … apples!

I could go on and on about this, but I am guessing I am losing your attention right about now, so I will end this blog with this …. It is imperative that one looks far beyond the pretty colored lists and the well designed logos and realize that if we are all to survive on this island (Earth), it is not enough to wait for someone else to plant that elusive apple tree. Look at the facts, don’t get confused by the misinformation and realize that NGO’s really don’t have all the answers. For the most part, we are told that in order to feed the worlds population we should continue taking as much as we can from the current stock of apples and hope that the tree produces enough to sustain the growth in the islands population … I mean we all know how bad farming is right, gosh!

To put things into perspective, on our island (planet Earth) there are around 353,015 Mary’s arriving every day (global birth rate) … that’s around 245 Mary’s every single second. In a nut shell, the islands (earth) population is growing at a pretty alarming rate. We either create an environment that can sustain such growth or … well there really is no ‘or’ now is there! Now go plant an apple tree.

Status Seafood launches brand new site

Status Seafood has worked with Matt McRae | Design to create a visually appealing website that showcases our latest products and our focus on setting the status quo in sustainability.

Here at Status, we like to keep things fresh. So we enlisted the help of designer Matt McRae to help create us a brand spanking new site, with all the bells and whistles.
“With this site, we hope to better connect with our customers and reinforce our brand message.”

With this site, we hope to better connect with our customers and reinforce our brand message of sustainablity. Plus, we wanted to let you know about the role we play in helping the impoverished communities of South Africa and how we are based around the principles of triple bottom line accounting. Key to the redesign was a new look for our seafood listings. We’ve revamped our product page so that you get the fish facts you need in an easy to understand layout.

We hope you enjoy the look of the new site, please get in touch and let us know your thoughts!

Sustainability Simplified | NGO’s Lists – The confusion, audacity and illegal protectionism!

At times, I cannot believe what I hear or read in this quandary that is the seafood industry.

A perfect example: When procuring shrimp, any normal minded chef would review a NGO’s (in this case one of the multitude of aquariums out there, lists of what seafood is:

- Best choice = GREEN
- Good alternative = YELLOW
- Do not buy = RED

” If this is not a direct form of protectionism, then I am living in the matrix and don’t truly exist!” Firstly, I find it particularly interesting how one NGO will certify a specific specie as YELLOW, then another NGO classify it GREEN and then a third RED! All the while, we are refering to the same specie of fish caught in the exact same FAO area with this same equipment! I too find it rather comical how one NGO has the man power and audacity to actually blanket all shrimp (and other seafood) from outside of the USA as RED (Do no buy). If this is not a direct form of protectionism, then I am living in the matrix and don’t truly exist!

Firstly, I need to digress … I am not only referring to shrimp but other fish species as well. To make matters worse, these farms are in fact BAP/GAA certified farms, which is a globally recognized assessment and certification denoting: BEST AQUACULTURE PRACTICES.

It is absurdity at its highest, as now a chef that pulls out his Phone or relevant NGO website and scans through his options realizes he can’t buy anything imported from those farms outside the USA, he/she will need to source from USA supply lines. One can only hope the US shrimp farms can produce enough shrimp to supply the unsustainable demand of the US consumer, all 300 million of them!

(A hint if you are wondering, it is absolutely impossible for the USA to currently produce enough shrimp to satisfy current levels of demand. This is a verifiable statistic and goes for just about all other seafood items)

These red and yellow lists are killing small farms and other sources of sustainable supply, literally choking them off before they get to market. This, given the population growth and starvation in the world is simply unacceptable and almost criminal to a certain extent, yet they continue on as if they are the authority in the industry and are truly protecting the oceans. I cannot tell you how far from the truth this is. I have it on good accord, that some of these NGO’s actually promote specific vendors or companies and force the market to only use what they deem as sustainable and can supply OR they will turn their backs to them. This is not an unbiased objective way at looking at things …

NGO’s should be allowed to post only 1 list, thats right ONE. This would be a GREEN list of species they advise people to eat. You cannot justify your claims that seafood from the far reaches of the world are in fact not sustainable.

Please let us in on your secret into how you are these omnipotent advisory figures that can determine the fish stocks and every farming technique used from all corners of the planet. This is an incredible feat, you are essentially in a league of your own given that organizations such as WWF, FAO and UN are still unable to do this … simply WOW!

Status Seafood now supplies Hake

The same family as cod and similar in many respects, hake is more coarsely grained with a slightly stronger flavor. Hake has white flesh that is low in fat and can range in texture from soft to firm, with incredible versitility in the kitchen.

Check out our seafood section for more information and to order.