Megan Kuehn
Oct. 10, 2011
Seafood Tracking Assignment
Taking into account that I do not like seafood, I allowed my mom to choose my seafood item. My
subject for my report is a pepper encrusted Tuna steak from HEB on Blackhawk Blvd. in Houston, Texas,
bought on September 16th, 2011. The following Monday I emailed HEB, and received no reply. However, I
noticed on the packaging that the Tuna steak is a product of Sonoma Seafoods. The package also included
the web address and the packing company name and their address, M.S. Intertrade in Santa Rosa, CA
95403. That Wednesday I went to the Sonoma Seafoods website and was impressed with what I saw.
The company started making their products ready-packed for the grill and oven since 1993 and
joined Slate Gorton in 2009, a family owned industry.2 All seafood is prepared from scratch and contains no
MSG or Monosodium glutamate.1 I also learned that they developed package containers with the University
of California food scientists in order to make their foods as fresh as possible. It is also known that Sonoma
is the only seafood company that FedEx their products right to local stores.2 To the right of the web page,
Sonoma has claimed a Processing Certification from the MSC or Marine Stewardship Council. After clicking
more links and discovering more pages of the website the actual production process was found. All
products are made to order and my product had an early start one morning at 4am PST getting filleted and
stuffed, then packaged by 2pm PST.2 The first Fed Ex truck arrives and by 6pm PST all products are on
their way to local retailers such as HEB. The Tuna steak products as well as all Sonoma Seafoods products
are regulated under the U.S. Food & Drug Administration HACCP or Hazard Analysis Critical Control
Points.2 All employees have a National Marine Fisheries for HACCP certification.2 The goal of the MSC is
to educate consumers and direct consumers to think before they purchase seafood in order to increase the
sustainability of fish species.3 Having a certification in MSC, Sonoma Seafoods guarantees that all seafood
products comply with the regulations of the MSC and that the seafood that you consume is not threatened
in the ocean.
After doing more research on my product, I found that Peggy Filippone from About.com claims that
most commercial Tuna comes from California, which leaves me to believe she is correct in view of the fact
that my Tuna was produced and packaged there.4 She also says that about only one percent goes to the
market and the rest goes towards the canned market.4 My Tuna steak is among that one percent. Before
finding the percentage of Tuna in the market, I first looked for the percentage of seafood in the global
market. President and CEO of Conners Bros. Ltd., Christopher Lischewski, gives us a perspective on the
global seafood industry. He describes the seafood market as the largest international commodity.5 The fish
trade brings more than $60 billion dollars global revenue.5 He shares his concerns of aquaculture not being
able to keep up with global demand. We can see this as fisheries have reached their maximum sustainable
yield.5 To get a clearer picture of this we look at human population growth. From 1960 to 2003 the world’s
population increased at an annual rate of 1.8 percent and consumption of seafood at that time increased at
an annual rate of 3.0 percent.5 Figure 1 depicts the U.S. annual per capita consumption of fish and shellfish
in pounds correlating with five years from 2005 to 2009.6 Fresh and frozen meat of fish and shellfish is at
11.6 pounds in 2005 with a 1.4 percent increase by 2007 and then a slight decrease in 2008 and 2009.
Canned seafood declines in the span of five years and cured stays the same. The overall total stays above
sixteen pounds per capita until 2008. The decrease could depict the decline in availability of fish and
shellfish species as a result of fisheries reaching the maximum sustainable yield. Figure 2 focuses more
specifically on canned fishery products in pounds per capita, showing Tuna among them.6 The
consumption of canned salmon stays under 0.5 pounds per capita all five years but is increased and then
decreased every other year. Sardine consumption increased in 2006 but remained stagnant throughout the
next four years. Tuna is most consumed, yet shows a steady decrease in consumption with time. Shellfish
Megan Kuehn
Oct. 10, 2011
and other canned sea foods remained under 0.5 pounds in five years but were slightly increased in 2008
and 2009. The pounds per capita of each species may correlate with demand and availability each year,
but as well as figure 1 the total decreases over time. Table 1 shows the catch and MSY (maximum
sustainable yield) for each species of Tuna and where they were caught.7 The numbers show that with
each species of Tuna, they have either reached their MSY or they are exceedingly close.
In conclusion, the seafood tracking assignment gives us a better grasp on the essential awareness
that we must have in order to sustain our oceans. We must put forth every effort possible to maintain our
oceans entire resources simply due to the fact that the majority of the world’s nutrition comes from the
ocean. Scientific study and the graphs shown below are proof that the ocean can and will lose resources if
we let it. Sonoma Seafoods is a company that provides the world with optimism and hope, presenting
consumers with more knowledge, awareness, and quality foods that are consumer friendly and ocean safe.
The seafood industry still has a ways to go to get the oceans back to seeming limitless, but the future looks
bright depending on persona.
Figure 1: U.S. Annual Per Capita Consumption of fish and shellfish Pounds of Edible Meat
18
16
14
12
Fresh and Frozen
10
Canned
8
Cured
6
Total
4
2
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Megan Kuehn
Oct. 10, 2011
Figure 2: U.S. Annual Per Capita Consumption of Canned Fishery Products Pounds of Edible Meat
5
4.5
4
3.5
Salmon
3
Sardines
Tuna
2.5
Shellfish
2
Other
1.5
Total
1
0.5
0
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
Table 1: Stock Rating via International Seafood Sustainability Foundation in 2009
Stock
BFT
YFT
ALB
ALB-N
ALB-S
ALB-Med
SKJ
SKJ-E
SKJ-W
Eastern
Pacific
Ocean
Catch MSY
81
81
255
263
Western &
Central Pacific
Ocean
119
433
Pacific Ocean
74
494-767
102
288
41
77
67
147
N/A
1,784
1,376
Sources:
1. http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/MSG
2.
http://www.sonomaseafoods.com/index.html
Indian Ocean
114
320
N/A
66-100
98
441
Atlantic Ocean
86
119
92
131-147
15
23
4
29
33
N/A
122
26
143-170
30-36
N/A
Megan Kuehn
Oct. 10, 2011
3. http://www.msc.org/documents/msc-brochures/annual-report-archive/annual-report-2010-11-
english
4. http://homecooking.about.com/od/foodhistory/a/tunahistory.htm
5. www.bob-russell.net/Seafood/.../Lischewski%20
6. http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/20100909_consumption.html
7. http://iss-foundation.org/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2011/07/Summary-Stock-StatusJuly-2011.pdf