Sustainable Event Tip #20 – Serve Only MSC Certified Sustainable Seafood

As many of you may already know, the food and beverage served at an event represents a significant sustainability impact. The amount of food waste at some events can be absolutely mind-boggling! The waste, however, is not the only impact. Just as important (if not more so) but much less obvious is the impact of where that food and beverage is being sourced from. When it comes to seafood, this is especially important.

Over the past century, the human population on Earth has more than tripled and its use of natural resources has increased even more. The fisheries of the world have been hit especially hard, with unsustainable fishing practices causing downright collapses in some fisheries (e.g. the North Atlantic cod fishery collapse and the orange roughy fishery collapse).

In the face of these hard truths, it’s important to be vigilant when serving seafood at your event by being certain that it’s coming from sustainable sources. The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) “Certified Sustainable Seafood” ecolabel helps in this regard by setting a standard for the sustainable management of fisheries and certifying the fish taken from them (check out its MSC certified ‘Fish to eat’ list).

As an event planner, this should be as simple as asking your caterer to serve strictly “MSC Certified Sustainable Seafood.” If their response is to look at you in confusion or to say it that cannot be done on budget, you’re probably best to immediately begin looking for a more capable caterer. As a caterer, satisfying this sustainability requirement should be as simple as referencing the MSC’s resources. They’ve done all the heavy lifting.