Celebrating National Seafood Month

Hey, seafood lovers—did you know it’s National Seafood Month? The United States is a global leader in sustainable seafood, supporting an industry with 1.2 million jobs nationwide and adding $55 billion of value to the nation’s GDP in 2011 (Fisheries Economics of the U.S.). To celebrate, NOAA Fisheries is publishing great seafood stories, including science features, culinary Q&As, and seafood videos and podcasts.

Ensuring that both present and future generations can enjoy the benefits of sustainable seafood is a core responsibility of the Department of Commerce through NOAA Fisheries. From Alaska to Maine, U.S. seafood is responsibly harvested under a strong monitoring, management, and enforcement program that works to keep the marine environment healthy, fish populations thriving, and our seafood industry on the job.

Responsibly harvested seafood starts with sound science, and at the heart of fisheries science is the stock assessment. We break it down for you in this animated video—the ABC’s of stock assessments.

Sound science makes effective management possible. Since 2000, 34 overfished stocks have been rebuilt, including the most recent—the southern stock of black sea bass.

Effective management is only possible if we have even-handed enforcement of our nation’s fishing and seafood laws. Special Agent Chris McCarron gives us the 411 in this video—protecting our seafood and marine resources—on how fisheries patrol officers and special agents work to keep our seafood industry legal, safe, and sustainable.

This month you can listen to a podcast about scientists and fishermen working together on Bering Sea Pollock. Go behind the scenes with NOAA Fisheries scientists on a research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico. And, get a few favorite recipes from a man who knows his seafood. Walter Coghlan, the chief steward on the NOAA research vessel Oregon II, tells us about fine cooking on the high seas.

There’s still more to come on www.fisheries.noaa.gov and www.fishwatch.gov during National Seafood Month so be sure to follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and you’ll learn why sustainable seafood is a U.S. success story.