Why Support Local Fishermen?
Eating seafood provides a highly nutrient-dense protein, rich in omega-3s and vital vitamins and minerals essential to boosting brain function, improving heart health and assisting the body’s immune system.
So what could be a better option for one’s health than eating seafood? Locally caught San Diego seafood, responsibly harvested by committed marine stewards, is the best option.
There are at least ten reasons to support local fishermen. For example, in San Diego, fishermen provide an invaluable service to consumers, delivering a vast number of unique species that creates a smorgasbord of fish and shellfish products to choose from. But supporting these fishermen goes far beyond the seafood they provide. The seafood’s journey from dock to plate generates hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars. This revenue stream back into the community includes the deckhands and dockworkers involved, vendors of marine goods and services including fishing gear, vessel maintenance and repairs, fuel, supplies, bait and baiting services to locally owned, locally operated businesses. Local fishermen also contribute to working waterfronts by maintaining a key presence that maintains San Diego’s fishing heritage, which itself attracts its share of tourists, also benefiting local businesses.
Supporting San Diego fishermen also means less reliance on imported fishery products and that has immense marine ecosystem benefits. Californians have an insatiable demand for seafood and consume the most seafood of all the states in the United States. To compensate, California consumers rely heavily on the fisheries of foreign countries, often poorer and less regulated, where their seafood production is often associated with social injustices. Therefore, domestic consumers largely eat seafood with management and sustainability standards considerably lower than those applied to San Diego fishermen. Reliance on buying from local harvesters reduces the transfer of these environmental burdens and creates a lower carbon footprint relative to seafood caught overseas and flown into U.S. markets.
When buying from local fishermen, buyers connect directly with the seafood’s source, engaging with who caught it and how. Consider: When dining out, ask where your seafood comes from. If the answer is San Diego, be assured you’re eating healthier and sustaining the area’s rich fishing heritage.