The United States harvests billions of pounds of seafood every year, and some of it is very delicious. But a shameful amount of it gets thrown away, too.
According to recent research from the Johns Hopkins Center for a Livable Future, as much as 2.3 billion pounds of seafood is squandered every year in the U.S. — that’s nearly half of the entire supply. The amount of seafood we waste every year could provide enough protein to fulfill the annual requirements for 10 million men (or 12 million women). The waste happens at all levels of the supply chain, but consumers are particularly to blame. There are numerous ways to reduce food waste at the individual level, including better meal planning and opting for frozen seafood (which lasts longer).
This finding will hopefully provide a wake-up call to Americans who are increasingly turning to seafood for its health benefits–at the same time that climate change and over-harvesting is damaging the world’s supply of ocean creatures. “If we’re told to eat significantly more seafood, but the supply is severely threatened, it is critical and urgent to reduce waste of seafood,” David Love, the lead author of the study, told the Hopkins Hub.
