A reasonable compromise

If the world of seafood consumption functioned perfectly, consumers would only eat locally and in season when populations were healthy. If you're in Alaska during the summer you can feast on Salmon. If you're in Nebraska and want Salmon at all, tough luck. This would reduce the demand for any individual fishery and would not force the artificial production of a naturally fixed product. As it is, fish is an increasingly popular food staple around the country meaning that people with little to no local populations are looking elsewhere. Additionally, those with access to seafood often seek more established or popular fish from other places - like eating Yellowfin Tuna from halfway around the world here in San Francisco.

Unfortunately, most of us cannot devote the time or energy or patience to meeting this ideal of local and seasonal. I buy Salmon because it's always available (in the store), I've cooked it before, and I know it's delicious. But I also know there is not enough wild Salmon in the world's waterways to match our collective demand. In my eyes, this means aquaculture -farm raising - is a necessity if done with the consumer and environment's best interest in mind.