Our Sustainable Seafood Partnership with Sam Rust, Inc.

Sustainable seafood is, essentially, fished or farmed in a way that meets the needs of the present without compromising ocean health or the ability of future generations and marine life to thrive. According to the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch group , methods of sustainable fishing include:

• Avoiding overfishing, i.e. catching fish faster than they can replenish their populations through reproduction.
• Reducing the carbon footprint of vessels and vehicle transport.
• Limiting bycatch, which is when unintended animals are captured during fishing.
• Using non-wild fish species to feed farmed fish, reducing the strain on wild populations.
• Managing pollution and disease in seafood farming.
• Preserving aquatic habitats for the future.
• Preventing farmed fish from escaping and impacting local ecosystems.
• Protecting human rights.
• Preventing illegal fishing.
• Using science-based management and regulations in fisheries and aquaculture.

The Virginia Aquarium founded the Sensible Seafood Program to address growing issues seen in the seafood industry, with Sam Rust being one of several local businesses who have committed to offering sustainable seafood options to their customers. The program’s mission is to educate, collaborate, and advocate with a focus on responsible practices that sustain fisheries now and in the future.

A few Aquarium staff recently toured the Sam Rust facility in nearby Hampton, where stacks of crates filled with dozens of seafood species are processed and shipped out to buyers across Virginia and the East Coast. The team enjoyed a tour from Sam Rust employee Caitlin, whose family has worked for the company since before she was born and who has been an employee herself since her teenage years. Aquarium employees donned coats and hair nets to explore the building, from the loading bay and storage areas to massive walk-in coolers, freezers, a fish prepping room, and their in-house lobster aquarium room, where they keep massive crustaceans alive and fresh for customers.

Sam Rust’s facility has foregone automation, instead relying on a legion of employees unloading incoming trucks, transporting products around the facility, cutting and cleaning seafood, and packing orders for their own in-house delivery fleet to bring to customers. They have committed to keeping jobs in the local economy, and some employees have been with them for up to four decades. The company is hoping to expand their facility, having surveyed the land behind the current property to build outwards.

Just in the past year, the Aquarium ordered 22 different types of seafood through Sam Rust, Inc. from both domestic markets as well as international vendors. Although many may conflate domestic fisheries with better environmental benefits, the Sam Rust team ensures the fisheries their oversea products come from follow similar standards of sustainability as local sources. Some of the Aquarium’s imported products such as red tuna and smelt are shipped from healthy fisheries in Indonesia and Peru, respectively. Other products are delivered from Canada, Argentina, Nicaragua, Chile, Japan, and China. All seafood meets the same quality as what is served in local restaurants.

According to Caitlin, importing products from overseas can help sustain local fish populations by alleviating consumer demand for U.S. fish. “We have to keep the wild population available,” she said of their decisions to shop abroad. “It helps take the pressure off of wild species in the U.S.” And although the local region is rich in seafood, there is not enough biodiversity in this area alone to meet the industry demand for variety. Importing from abroad ensures the Aquarium can provide species like capelin for the sea turtles, herring for the sharks and seals, scallops for the rays, and other essential components of the animals’ diets.

Nonetheless, the majority of the Aquarium’s seafood originates from the United States, including clams, cod, squid, spot, bluefish, black bass, rainbow trout, and more. The most locally-sourced items purchased are live Virginia oysters, responsibly farmed from locations around the Tidewater area.

The Sam Rust team also sees opportunities in their line of work to protect the environment from harmful species. Virginia blue catfish is native to the Mississippi River system, but was introduced to the Chesapeake Bay and its connected rivers several decades ago, and has since become an invasive species that overconsumes native wildlife. Sam Rust hopes to continue growth on blue catfish sales in the future.

The Virginia Aquarium team is thankful for Sam Rust, Inc.’s commitment to sustainable seafood and for this long-standing partnership! The Aquarium team looks forward to their continued collaboration to support the marine environment and keep the animals well-fed.