Since China is a leading market for a number of types of seafood, and much of this seafood is imported from other countries, Chinese consumption of seafood is an issue of vital importance to many of the world's fisheries. Focusing on luxury seafood, in particular bêche-de-mer, shark fin and live reef food fish, this paper firstly examines the links between Chinese consumption and species population trends in source countries. After a discussion of current efforts at conservation and management of these fisheries, the paper shows how the consumption of luxury seafood in contemporary China is intertwined with broader historical trends, including the expansion of Southern Chinese cuisine; cultural beliefs and traditions, in particular surrounding elements of traditional Chinese medicine; and most importantly, notions of social status and conspicuous consumption linked to the development of the Chinese economy and social stratification. The paper points to the role of the historical, cultural and social processes that underlie Chinese luxury seafood consumption, and to the need for greater levels of action among various actors to address this consumption if sustainability is to be achieved.

Maternal seafood intake is of great health interest since it constitutes an important source of n-3 fatty acids, but provides also an important pathway for fetal exposure to Hg. The objective of the present study was to determine associations between Hg contamination and both maternal seafood consumption and fetal growth in French pregnant women. Pregnant women included in the ‘EDEN mother–child’ cohort study answered FFQ on their usual diet in the year before and during the last 3 months of pregnancy, from which frequencies of seafood intake were evaluated. Total hair-Hg level was determined for the first 691 included women. Associations between Hg level, seafood intake and several neonatal measurements were studied using linear regressions adjusted for confounding variables. The median Hg level for mothers was 0·52 μg/g. Maternal seafood intake was associated with Hg level (r 0·33; P < 0·0001). There was no association between Hg level and fetal growth in the whole sample of women, except for an early negative relationship with biparietal diameter. A positive association was found between seafood intake and fetal growth in overweight women only which remained unchanged after adjustment for Hg level (birth weight: +101 g for a difference of 1 sd in seafood consumption; P = 0·008). Although seafood intake was associated with Hg contamination in French pregnant women, the contamination level was low. There was no consistent association between Hg level and fetal growth. Taking into account Hg level did not modify associations between seafood intake and fetal growth.