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Where does that seafood on your plate come from?

It’s a question not a lot of people ask, but it’s an important one. With a new partnership between the Aquarium, Texas restaurants, the Texas Sea Grant College Program at Texas A&M University and Audubon Aquarium’s Gulf United for Lasting Fisheries (G.U.L.F.), we hope more consumers can know when their fish or shellfish meal is sustainably sourced.

Overfishing (where fish are harvested faster than they can reproduce) is one of the most significant threats facing our oceans today. Conservationists warn that unregulated commercial fishing threatens one-third of the world’s fisheries and if these species disappear, there could be enormous and untold consequences on the marine ecosystems.

Reaching consumers while they’re eating out is important because restaurants account for 70 percent of the seafood consumed in the United States, making chefs and restaurateurs the “frontline” of seafood education. And getting the word out to consumers is so important because they have the most capacity to make a difference by the choices they make, both when dining out and at home.

Three founding restaurants will be first participants in the program, which will show their patrons that they are dining on food that has been responsibly sourced. The Texas State Aquarium’s Shoreline Grill, Corpus Christi Yacht Club and Glow, in Rockport, will proudly display their sustainable status in a window decal or on their websites and will receive in-house staff training to help them communicate with customers about sustainable seafood.

Through this growing restaurant partnership, the Texas State Aquarium, Audubon Aquarium and Texas Sea Grant hope to reach millions of consumers, encouraging more and more suppliers and consumers to ensure their seafood is sustainably sourced and helping chefs create delicious meals that consumers can feel good about eating.