Sustainable Seafood in Hong Kong: What’s the catch?
Reported by Hong-shun Wong
It’s another ordinary Friday night, and chefs are all working hard in the kitchens of Dai Pai Dongs.
Adding the chopped chilies, garlic and ginger. Breadcrumbs are important too. At last, add the fried shrimps and all the other ingredients back to the wok. Stir everything together, and the Typhoon Shelter Crab is done. Every night, hundreds of this famous local dish are sold in seafood restaurants in Yau Ma Tei.
“I would like to order it when I come here every time,” said Mr. Alan Lam, a local citizen, and also a seafood lover. “It’s finger-licking good.”
Cantonese-style seafood has been hailed as a trademark feature in Hong Kong for decades, attracting thousands of both local and foreign food-lovers to Hong Kong to taste these mouth-watering dishes every year.
Even though citizens and tourists loved seafood so much, the concept of sustainable seafood is not latching on among consumers to help with the problem in the city.
Hongkongers are seafood fanatics, ranking eighth in global seafood consumption.
“We are in the early stages of development of a real mindset, a real kind of attitude around sustainable seafood,” said Prof. Yvonne Sadovy from the School of Biological Science at the University of Hong Kong, “A lot of people just don’t realize where their seafood comes from, and don’t realize that there is an issue.”
Hong Kong people are seafood fanatics. Because of its gifted geographical location as an entrepot and a fishing pot in the past, seafood dishes are famous and easy-to-get in Hong Kong. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in 2018, Hong Kong’s per capita seafood consumption is in excess of 70kg, four times the global average of 18.9 kg, ranking second in Asia and eighth in the world.
But the city’s massive appetite for seafood is pushing local fisheries to its sunset as fish stock decimate due to overfishing, as the percentage of the world’s marine fish stock that has been overfished increased from 10 percent in 1975 to over 30 percent in 2015, according to The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report written by the FAO in 2018. Only the remaining 7 percent of the world’s marine fish stocks are being underfished in 2015.
Proposed in the 1990s by environmental protection groups, sustainable seafood focuses on the sustainability of the marine population, that seafood is captured or farmed in a way that minimizes harm to the ocean, so as to keep it healthy and make fish available for future generations.
However, sustainable seafood is still foreign to the majority of Hong Kong consumers, says Benjamin So, the founder of 178 Degrees, a local shop located in Sheung Wan which only sells sustainably managed seafood.
“Consumers in Hong Kong haven't reached the same level of concern because they aren't as well educated [on the concept] and they don't recognize the value of sustainability,” So said.
Choices of sustainable seafood are limited in Hong Kong.
Mrs. Wendy Lo, a local housewife, said that although she has heard of sustainable seafood, she can hardly find shops that provide the seafood in Hong Kong.
“I think its promotion is just not enough.” Mrs. Lo said. “It is difficult to buy sustainable seafood in Hong Kong. I just cannot find them in supermarket and department stores nearby.”
According to a report done by the World Wide Fund For Nature (WWF) in July, even though some local supermarkets are working well, there are still a number of local supermarkets that are not doing enough on sustainable seafood protection policy.
The scorecard from WWF assessed the nine major local supermarket groups on their performances on procurement policy of sustainable seafood, including six key performance areas from food labelling, chemicals tests to the promotion of sustainable seafood.
In the report, the non-governmental organization pointed out that most of the local supermarket groups, such as AEON and YATA, are taking steps forwards in the supply of sustainable seafood, gaining improvements in the six key performance areas. Only two supermarkets are showing no improvements in the ranking, comparing with the last edition.
The sourcing of sustainable seafood is another problem, according to Prof. Sadovy.
Sustainable seafood is generally more expensive than the unsustainable ones, as the certification process is also a reason why the sustainable ones are more expensive, pointed out by Prof. Sadovy. Another reason for the higher price is that the supply of that particular species of seafood is limited, or even completely non-available sustainably.
In a report released by the WWF in 2016, the price difference between sustainable and unsustainable seafood has been narrowing in recent years, but the relatively high price of sustainable seafood is still a decisive factor for many businesses.
“I think there are quite a few companies who want to do it, increasingly now, especially young people are now getting into positions of making decisions in companies,” she continued, “However, one of the biggest challenges they have is that many kinds of seafood, that they are interested in, are very difficult to find a sustainable source.”
Some local hotels and restaurants are actually doing well in supplying sustainable seafood to customers. As the biggest and the most renowned hotels in Hong Kong, Hyatt Hotel Corporation and the Peninsula have taken steps to provide sustainably-sourced seafood for years by cooperating with the WWF.
There is also a lack of transparency in information for consumers since Hong Kong currently lacks food labelling regulation to adequately inform consumers origins of their food, such that retailers and consumers find it difficult to trace the supply chain of the product, says So.
“There needs to be more information presented in food labels, as well as accountability when information isn't supplied,” So said, “Sadly, the consumer protection is very weak in Hong Kong.”
As a result, retailers and customers may find it difficult to trace the whole supply chain of the product, leaving the accountability and sustainability of the products in doubt. This makes the promotion of sustainable seafood even more challenging in the community.
To solve this problem, he thinks there should be improvement in data transparency so that consumers can be well-informed, and have a better understanding with the products they chose.
Prof. Yvonne Sadovy believes that more efforts should be put on its promotion.
Prof. Sadovy believes that the government should do more on illegal fishing, in order to develop sustainable seafood locally.
“Let’s say all the seafood that come into Hong Kong is legally sourced. You know the source, and it’s much easier to find a sustainable source.” Prof. Sadovy said, “But because our government not able to ensure that all seafood entering Hong Kong is legal, then there’s a lot of uncertainties about where it comes from, and we can’t know if it’s sustainable or not.”
Education is one of the most direct way to deliver the idea of sustainable seafood in Hong Kong.
To promote sustainable seafood locally, non-government organizations put much efforts in educating the public. In the last decade, the environmental-protecting group organized a number of activities to do so, including holding Sustainable Seafood Week in 2015 and 2018, and publishing Seafood guide for the local market.
In the mid-November, the WWF also held a talk about sustainable seafood during their Hoi Ha Wan Festival, in order to further promote the concept in Hong Kong.
To raise the local citizen’s awareness and knowledge on sustainable seafood, So formed the Hong Kong Sustainable Seafood Coalition with some other members of the industry, including suppliers, buyers and restaurants, with the help of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition in United Kingdom in 2018. It targets to advance the local sustainable seafood market by promoting responsible purchasing and consumption.
He also helped with the founding of Choose Right Today, a local organization aiming to provide guidance on understanding sustainable seafood and where to find it.
Even though measures to develop sustainable seafood can be implemented with the collaboration of different parties in the society, Prof. Sadovy thinks that actions from all walks of life in society are the most essential.
“Consumers can actively look for sustainable options, or even urge the suppliers and businesses to provide sustainably managed products by creating pressure. It sends that message out that we care, and that could affect businesses,” she said.
“It’s just choices, just active choices.” Prof. Sadovy added.
Inside the Dai Pai Dong, Alan Lam is savoring the very last bite of his mouth-watering Typhoon Shelter Crab, which is made of non-sustainable sources.
“I just can’t imagine my life without seafood,” Lam said. “Maybe I should consider sustainable seafood next time, to save the ocean.”