The seafood industry must pull our oceans back from the brink

The seafood industry is urged to transition toward sustainability to prevent the collapse of marine ecosystems, which provide protein to three billion people and absorb 95% of greenhouse gas-induced heat. The document highlights critical threats including ocean acidification, expanding dead zones, and the fact that only 10% of global fish stocks are under-fished. To address these issues, nine of the world's largest seafood companies have launched the Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative, pledging to eliminate illegal products and modern-day slavery from their supply chains while advocating for better ocean governance and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

• The oceans play a critical role in global climate stability by absorbing 95% of the heat generated by greenhouse gas emissions, yet they are currently facing unprecedented acidification and oxygen loss.
• Global fish stocks are largely over-exploited or at capacity, with only 10% being under-fished. Wild fish capture has been declining by 0.38 million tonnes per year since peaking around 1996, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
• The aquaculture sector, while expanding, faces significant sustainability hurdles, specifically regarding the use of antibiotics, disease, and a reliance on wild fish for feed.
• The Seafood Business for Ocean Stewardship (SeaBOS) initiative consists of nine major companies—including Maruha Nichiro Corporation, Thai Union Group, and Cargill Aqua Nutrition—that have pledged to remove modern-day slavery and unreported, unregulated, and illegal products from their supply chains.
• Reforming fisheries management is estimated to potentially increase annual catches by 16 million tons per year by 2050.

APA

Österblom, J. R. K. N. H. (2017). The seafood industry must pull our oceans back from the brink. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/seafood-business-for-ocean-stewardship/

Chicago

Österblom, Johan Rockström, Knut Nesse, Henrik. The seafood industry must pull our oceans back from the brink. World Economic Forum, 2017. https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/seafood-business-for-ocean-stewardship/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Österblom |first1=Johan Rockström, Knut Nesse, Henrik |title=The seafood industry must pull our oceans back from the brink |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=15 June 2017 |url=https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/seafood-business-for-ocean-stewardship/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{sterblom2017seafood, author = {Österblom, Johan Rockström, Knut Nesse, Henrik}, title = {{The seafood industry must pull our oceans back from the brink}}, publisher = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2017}, month = jun, url = {https://www.weforum.org/stories/nature-and-biodiversity/seafood-business-for-ocean-stewardship/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }