Rising to the Challenge: Meeting the EAT-Lancet Commission’s Recommendation to Sustainably Increase Seafood Consumption

A new report from the EAT-Lancet Commission finds that fish and shellfish are the only animal-sourced foods for which there is a need to increase production to help feed the global population a healthy diet within planetary boundaries. But this needs to be done sustainably. Oceana encourages governments, civil society, and industry to rise to this challenge by recovering our planet’s most precious resource – the ocean and the abundant fish stocks within. Together we can chart a path toward increased seafood production for those who need it most by protecting and rebuilding ocean abundance in concert with coastal communities and small-scale producers.

“Seafood is a critical part of healthy, sustainable, and traditional diets,” said Oceana CEO James Simon. “The EAT-Lancet report highlights a vital piece of the puzzle: the enormous potential of rebuilding wild fisheries to help feed the world. We know that a restored ocean can feed 1 billion people a healthy seafood meal every day, forever. By rebuilding fish populations, reducing fish loss and waste, and ensuring that fish remain accessible to the coastal communities who rely on them most, we can feed people while safeguarding ocean health and equity.”

Today, at least 740 million people depend on the ocean for food, livelihoods, or both. But too many fisheries are in decline because of destructive and illegal fishing, weak management, and climate impacts. In addition, several industrialized countries have severely overfished their own waters and are now fishing in other nations’ seas, putting unfair added pressure on the communities that depend on those fish for their food and income but lack the means to stop it.

“We have simply shifted the problem elsewhere,” said Oceana Senior Research Director Tess Geers. “That threatens the food security, livelihoods, and cultures of coastal communities around the world who will face poverty, malnutrition, or both if they lose access to their fish. If seafood is to play the role the EAT-Lancet Commission recommends it should, we need our oceans and the fisheries they support to be as healthy and resilient as possible.”

This also means – as the report notes – that we cannot rely on a business as usual growth model for aquaculture, given the serious environmental harms of some forms of aquaculture.

“Not all aquaculture is created equal,” added Geers. “Farming carnivores like salmon requires antibiotics, pesticides, and large volumes of wild-caught fish for feed, threatening important ecosystems and food security. Taking whole schools of wild fish to feed farmed species is not sustainable or equitable. It benefits a wealthy few while pricing fishers out of their own markets and making locally caught fish less available to the people who depend on it most.”

Oceana is campaigning in nine countries and the European Union (with plans to launch a campaign team in Ghana in 2026) to establish and defend science-based fisheries management and other ocean protections. Oceana works hand in hand with small-scale fishers and coastal communities to help secure their rights, protect and strengthen their livelihoods, increase their access to fish, and ensure their voices are present in policy decisions at the national level.

# # #

Oceana is the largest international advocacy organization dedicated solely to ocean conservation. Oceana is rebuilding abundant and biodiverse oceans by winning science-based policies in countries that control one-quarter of the world’s wild fish catch. With more than 325 victories that stop overfishing, habitat destruction, oil and plastic pollution, and the killing of threatened species like turtles, whales, and sharks, Oceana’s campaigns are delivering results. A restored ocean means that 1 billion people can enjoy a healthy seafood meal every day, forever. Together, we can save the oceans and help feed the world. Visit Oceana.org to learn more.