The Case for Local and Sustainable Seafood: A Georgia Example

Original Article Jennifer Sweeney Tookes Peggy Barlett Tracy Yandle First published: 2 April 2018 https://doi.org/10.1111/cuag.12106 Tookes is an applied anthropologist at Georgia Southern University, conducting anthropological research on food, human health, and fishing communities in the Caribbean and coastal Georgia since 2003. Peggy Barlett is Goodrich C. White Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University. Tracy Yandle is Associate Professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Emory University. Share a link Abstract Growing demand for local, sustainable food is supporting an explosion of direct marketing throughout the United States (U.S.). Despite recent scholarship on ethics and sustainability issues in seafood, these are less commonly addressed among the consumers participating in the local food movement. This paper examines the interplay between demand for local and ethically sourced foods and the implications for seafood sustainability in the U.S. south, asking: what are Georgia consumer perceptions of local and sustainable foods, to what extent do they consider seafood in the local food movement, and how can Georgia fisheries fit within these understandings and preferences? We refashion a values‐based supply chain model to encapsulate consumers’ preferences, and propose a three‐tiered, process based model of involvement for seafood consumers. In sum, we argue that sustainable seafood deserves a more prominent place in the local food movement.