A week-long event to conserve the ocean through responsible and accessible seafood choices

[Hong Kong, 19 January 2024] WWF-Hong Kong is hosting Sustainable Seafood Week to raise awareness about sustainable seafood and provide accessible options for people to make responsible purchase and consumption choices. Themed ”Feast For Future” and held in collaboration with several local businesses, the initiative will run from 20 to 28 January. Participating businesses will introduce special menus, highlight sustainable seafood products, and display educational posters, promotional materials and seafood guides to encourage sustainable seafood consumption and help protect marine ecosystems.

Hong Kong is renowned for its fish markets, and seafood is an integral part of our community’s daily diet. However, 2023 statistics from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization show that Hong Kong residents consume an average of 65 kg of seafood per person each year, more than three times the global average of about 20 kg. At the same time, over 90% of global fisheries resources have been overfished or fully exploited.

Sustainable seafood is a core conservation issue for WWF-Hong Kong. In 2022, we launched the Sustainable Seafood Business Membership Programme, which today has over 25 members who collectively run more than 400 affiliated restaurants, suppliers and retail outlets. WWF-Hong Kong works closely with programme members in the food and beverage and seafood supply industries, assessing the sustainability of their products and fostering collaboration within the supply chain to offer more sustainable seafood choices to the public. This enables restaurants and retailers to source sustainable seafood and provide more sustainable options to their customers, while also meeting people’s dietary demands and helping to conserve marine ecosystems.

Many programme members are playing an active part in Sustainable Seafood Week, including:

AsiaWorld-Expo Management Limited
Boatat Trading Development (HK) Limited
Hong Kong Gold Coast Hotel
Hong Kong Gold Coast Yacht and Country Club
Le Meridien Hong Kong Cyberport
Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong
Royal Pacific Hotel
TamJai Samgor Mixian
TamJai Yunnan Mixian
The Fullerton Ocean Park Hotel Hong Kong

WWF’s Sustainable Seafood Badge – a mark of sustainable choice
Every seafood choice we made can impact marine ecosystems. WWF-Hong Kong developed our Seafood Guide to help people make responsible choices. We encourage people to consult the guide and choose seafood from either the “Green – First Choice” or “Yellow – Second Choice” categories. As Sustainable Seafood Week kicks off, the collective efforts of our participating members mean that more “WWF Sustainable Seafood” badges will be seen around the city to help people identify and select sustainable seafood products.

Dr Hau Cheuk Yu, Assistant Manager of Ocean Sustainability at WWF-Hong Kong, highlights that, “Certain common seafood items fall into the ‘Red – Avoid’ category and should not be purchased or consumed. For instance, Boston lobsters, often featured at buffets, are caught with fishing methods that frequently entangle critically-endangered North Atlantic Right whales – methods that pose a severe threat to the whales’ survival.” Meanwhile, the Golden Threadfin bream, widely consumed in Hong Kong, is a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List. Similarly, Bluefin tuna and Japanese eels also face overfishing issues.

Dr Hau explains that, “As the variety of sustainable seafood choices on the market expands, people are now in a much better position to make environmentally-responsible decisions. For instance, they can choose Western Australian lobsters instead of Boston lobsters, or opt for sustainably-caught Yellowfin tuna from Southeast Asia as a substitute for Bluefin tuna.”

WWF-Hong Kong extends our gratitude to all participating organisations for their support in providing delicious, affordable and sustainable seafood during Sustainable Seafood Week. We look forward to future collaborations with more businesses to further popularise sustainable seafood and protect our oceans. By prioritising sustainable seafood in our daily consumption habits, we can all make a personal contribution to ocean sustainability.

View Our Seafood Guide Here: https://seafood-guide.wwf.org.hk/en/seafood-guide

Sustainable Seafood Week

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WWF-Hong Kong Launches Sustainable Seafood Week

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