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Sustainable Seafood Menu

The depletion of fish stocks, one of the major global and local marine conservation issues, has so far been poorly addressed in the Red Sea region. Over the last two decades the fishing effort in the Red Sea has increased dramatically with severe impacts upon the fish stock and potentially on the entire marine ecosystem as well as on the entire Red Sea community. Some key commercial species are believed to have declined by over 90% since 1990; sounding ear piercing alarm bells among conservationists. HEPCA has lobbied and campaigned for the establishment of a fisheries management plan and has succeeded in the establishment of legislation to reduce the impacts of fishing; but unfortunately enforcement is miserably absent. We therefore call upon the Red Sea community to battle unsustainable fishing from another front: by removing the demand on the market for unsustainable fish, each one of us can help protect the Red Sea environment. After last week’s incident concerning a Red Sea hotel chain serving sharks and rays on their dinner buffet, HEPCA feels the urgent need to put more attention to the “Sustainable Seafood Menu”, compiled by our team of marine biologists. On our website a copy of this list is available for the public in English and Arabic. We ask all hotels, restaurants, tour operators and other companies in the Red Sea to please follow the guidelines concerning sustainable seafood in order to protect those species that are already on the edge of survival. Our choices do not only count, but can make a difference by discouraging destructive fisheries!