Tinned fish may not be as sustainable as you imagine

Tinned fish is so chic right now, maybe you’ve heard. It was already a burgeoning trend before last year; the pandemic accelerated the appetite for shelf-stable delicacies we might otherwise order at a restaurant. There is also a public perception of sustainability, helped along by vocal purveyors of these products. Not so fast, wrote Layla Schlack for the San Francisco Chronicle: Those bespoke tinned fishies may be more sustainable than, say, shrimp and tilapia, but there are still issues. Depending on how fisheries are managed, anchovies and sardines can also run the risk of being overfished—sardine fishing off the West Coast of the U.S. has been banned since 2015 for this very reason. This doesn’t mean you should steer clear of tinned fish altogether, but there are ways to be more mindful about your consumption. Schlack encourages “vigilance and dietary diversity. Remember, there are plenty of different kinds of fish in the sea,” she writes.