Global seafood systems collapse under corporate control as consumers navigate greenwashing and regulatory gaps

The collapse of seafood sustainability is not a consumer problem but a systemic failure of neoliberal governance, where industrial fishing subsidies, trade agreements, and industry-backed certification schemes have prioritized short-term profit over ecological and social resilience.

This crisis is deeply rooted in colonial legacies—from the enclosure of coastal commons to the displacement of Indigenous stewardship systems—and is exacerbated by Western frameworks that reduce marine life to 'stocks' while ignoring cultural and spiritual relationships with the sea. The solution lies in dismantling corporate power structures, as seen in the Haida Nation’s marine protected areas or the Senegalese *pêche artisanale* cooperatives, which demonstrate that community-led governance can restore biodiversity while ensuring food sovereignty. However, this requires confronting the WTO, the EU Common Fisheries Policy, and agribusiness giants like Thai Union, whose lobbying has watered down every major sustainability initiative. The path forward must center Indigenous knowledge, feminist labor rights, and binding international agreements that treat oceans as kin, not commodities—a radical departure from the consumerist narrative that blames shoppers for a system rigged against them.