Help Vaquitas in honor of World Ocean’s Day
World Oceans Day is a global day of ocean celebration and collaboration for a better future. Celebrate our oceans at Summer Safari Nights Friday, June 9.
Located in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, The Old Pueblo in Tucson is famous for saguaros, tumbleweeds and tamales, so why should we care about vaquitas out in the Pacific Ocean?
Vaquitas are small porpoises, and world’s most endangered marine mammal. They are likely to go extinct without immediate action. Scientists estimate the entire population of the vaquita is down to just 30 animals, only half of what it was a year earlier. While AZA-Accredited Aquariums and Zoos are supporting heroic rescue efforts, you can help vaquitas here in Tucson by supporting sustainable seafood!
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD?
Sustainable seafood is a way to replenish our oceans and manage their resources into the future. Sustainable seafood is seafood either caught or farmed in ways that allow for a healthy relationship with our oceans that can endure forever, while supporting the livelihoods of fishing and fisheries-dependent communities using sustainable practices.
WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Unsustainable seafood practices linked to unsustainable harvesting is pushing many species to extinction – including seashore species that rely on fish for food. Many of the animals at our Zoo could go extinct in the wild if unsustainable seafood practices continue and nothing changes.
Informed consumers can make all the difference by finding out where their fish comes from and by making responsible choices. Overfishing, lack of effective management, habitat degradation and our own consumption habits are just a few factors contributing to a decline in wild fish and marine wildlife populations. While the ocean can seem vast and unaffected, evidence of these problems abounds.
WHAT CAN YOU DO? Be a consumer conservationist!
- Only purchase sustainable seafood. Use the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch app to make savvy shopping easy!
- Support restaurants and companies that use sustainable seafood. Write to restaurants and companies and ask them to support sustainable seafood practices.
- Visit the Reid Park Zoo! When you visit the Zoo or become a Zoo member, you help us contribute to conservation efforts worldwide.
WHY BUY SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD?
Conservation is people. Sustainable seafood is the only way to stop the damage to the oceans while helping fishing and aquatic communities.
No matter if you live in the Sonoran desert where there are no open waters, we’re better – and stronger – together. When all the AZA Zoos and Zoo friends join forces, it creates a powerful force to support sustainable seafood companies.