Sustainability Criteria  

Sustainability is a vague and slippery term, especially when it comes to seafood. There is ultimately no consensus about what something needs to be to be called sustainable. Happy Fish unpacks our plain-language of the science and scientific principles underpinning SASAL assessments used to establish our sustainability claims of Happy Fish.

You can dive deeper into the science on the SASAL website.

Location! Location! Location!

What’s location got to do with sustainability? 

• A species caught in one area in NSW can be sustainable BUT the same species caught in QLD may not be. 
• Even adjacent locations (fisheries) can have different outcomes. 
• This is why SASAL assessments get really granular. 
• Assessments are location-specific and go right down to the individual Fishery and Fisher-Farmer level for greater accuracy. 

Population and Reproduction

Is the population going to bounce back, thrive and be a sustainable source of seafood? 

• Fish need time to grow, reproduce and build thriving communities.
• SASAL examines a fish’s entire life cycle; how fast does it grow? become sexually mature and reproduce? 
• And at what age is it harvested? 

Ecosystem Impacts

What impacts does fishing have on the broader environment?

• How much impact does fishing have on the fish’s habitat? 
• What are the impacts on surrounding marine life, both plant and animal? 
• How does fishing impact this ecosystem’s food-chain and therefore the entire balance?

Bycatch

How much non-targeted marine life is caught by fishers and dies?

• To be sustainable, fishing (harvesting) should minimise the catch of non-targeted species, therefore minimising bycatch.
• SASAL assessments examine the quantity, population and ecosystem impacts of bycatch.

Rewilding the Oceans

Sustainability is just the starting point for Happy Fish; the big dream is to break beyond sustainability and explore how we can regenerate and rewild the oceans. Sustainability is about maintaining and protecting what we have but keeping things as they are. Regenerative is about creating the conditions for something to thrive and regenerate. It’s about providing the optimal conditions for natural systems to expand and thrive.