Through The Eyes of Fishermen: The Importance of Sustainability

Sustainability and a desire to take care of our environment are paramount in any successful business plan in 2025. In this blog, I will be focusing on the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), Life Below Water, and what 4Ocean has been doing for years to help preserve our oceans. 4Ocean is a company that sells apparel but more specifically, bracelets made out of recycled plastic that their team removes from our oceans. Each bracelet is made up of around 1 pound of recycled plastic and the colors vary each month depending on the animal that is being highlighted.

As I grew up fishing with my dad, we go about this hobby a little differently than most fishermen. We have 2 main goals that we enforce with anyone who fishes with us: Only catch and release what you reel in and take back more than what you brought. Many of our friends and family have asked about our 2nd rule and what we mean by it. We explain the rule by describing how we bring 2-3 empty trash bags to every spot we fish at, and before the end of each day fill each bag up completely with trash and debris from the coastlines and properly disposing them. Thus, bringing back more than we originally brought to the beaches. With these rules that we enforce on ourselves, caring for the ocean and the environment around us has always been at the forefront of our minds which led us to completely fall in love with 4Ocean and what it stands for.

A Red Drum caught and released on the Padre Island National Seashore

4Ocean is known for its iconic bracelets and the animals they support but also provides over 150 jobs in each country in which it operates to build teams across the world. Along with providing jobs, 4Ocean hosts worldwide volunteering events for people to get hands-on involvement with its main goal of ending the ocean plastic crisis. Founded by 2 surfers and starting with just selling bracelets, 4Ocean has now removed millions of pounds of plastic from our oceans, has teams around the world, and sells many more products made from recycled materials on their website.

4Ocean's Team picking up debris and plastics in Bali

Although a specific example, 4Ocean provides a great mission to live by and shows how important it is for businesses to be environmentally aware. As technology advances, we shouldn’t overlook the parts of our world that have helped us get to where we are now and have withstood the test of time such as our oceans. To conclude, just like with my dad and I’s fishing rule of taking back more with us than what we brought, companies need to take on more responsibility than just maintaining their businesses, thus being confident that their actions are positively impacting our environment.