Buying seafood is not easy. Seafood is incredibly perishable, subject to extensive industry tricks (added preservatives, chemicals and colors to make it appear fresh), and difficult to track from boat to table. As a result of these obstacles, over 75% of the seafood consumed in the US is done so in a restaurant setting, putting trust in those chefs and owners who make a living sourcing products. For this reason, Seafood for the Future has spent the past year working with chefs and restaurateurs to ensure that their seafood is not just fresh and high quality, but well-managed and purveyed from documented sustainable fish stocks. Even with our extensive list of dedicated partner restaurants and chefs, people still want to know where they can purchase seafood to cook at home. Fortunately for the home chef we have a new partner here at Seafood for the Future, one dedicated to making sustainable seafood more accessible to the public nationwide.

I Love Blue Sea is an online store for seafood lovers offering ONLY the freshest most sustainable seafood in the market. Everything is sushi-quality fresh (though you can cook it, of course) and shipped in eco-friendly packaging. Owner Martin Reed developed this concept after realizing how difficult it was to source well-documented high quality seafood in the US. He states on his website:

“i love blue sea was born out of necessity. After moving away from the coast I was depressed by the lackluster seafood offerings at the markets and started looking for ways to get seafood ‘fresh enough to eat raw’. Everyone had a limited selection of poor quality seafood and were charging exorbitant prices for it. Worst of all markets were selling fish like bluefin tuna, an endangered species!…..I want people everywhere to be able to support The Movement to restore our oceans, so we ship anywhere in the lower 48. Our seafood is fresh enough to eat raw or ‘sashimi style’ (though cooked ours is better too!) and we have a diverse selection so you can try something fresh and new every time! Best of all, our prices are super competitive and we pass our discounted shipping rates on to you. So order something fresh and delicious – your purchase helps support the fisheries leading the recovery!”

There is no significant difference between shopping at your local market and buying your seafood through the mail, and in actuality, in the absence of many shipping variables, this can be a safer way to buy seafood. Most supermarkets get their seafood shipped to them from overseas the same way I love blue sea ships it to your door step. The difference here, however, is that instead of it being flown to a middle man, packaged in a warehouse, put on a truck, and driven to the market, the seafood goes straight from the wholesaler to your door, in turn decreasing the travel time. From a value perspective, the prices of this seafood is no higher than that of your local market, and considering the opportunity cost of the time saved not driving to the market, you as the consumer end up saving in the long run.

Be sure to check out their website for daily specials and an ever changing menu of fresh seafood.

Martin has been generous enough to extend a coupon for those of you reading this blog for 10% off -type in the code- weloveAOTP – it expires on the summer solstice.