If You Love Seafood But Worry About Our Oceans, What are the Best Fish to Eat?
Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch
Helping consumers make sustainable seafood choices
I love seafood, especially salmon, but for a long time I stopped eating it because I was never sure whether I should be eating farmed or wild, Atlantic or Alaskan. Then I discovered the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch pocket guide. Now when I'm eating out and want salmon, I simply asked whether it's farmed or wild. If it's farmed, I pass. If it's wild, I ask where it's from. If it's from Alaska, bon appetit! Otherwise, I look for other choices on the menu.The Seafood Watch guide makes it easy for consumers to choose seafood that has been sustainably harvested. The guide lists dozens of types of seafood and gives one of three ratings - Best Choice, Good Alternative, and Avoid - based on where and how it's caught. Wild-caught Alaskan salmon, for instance, is marked a best choice, followed by wild-caught Washington salmon, which is listed as a good alternative. The guide says to avoid any farmed or Atlantic salmon.
According to the aquarium website, the original sustainable seafood list was developed as part of the 1997-1999 "Fishing for Solutions" exhibit. Today the Seafood Watch program has grown to include six regional pocket guides for consumers, three Spanish editions and a mobile edition for cell phones and other mobile devices. All versions are updated every six months. The program also has its own domain pointing to program information - www.seafoodwatch.org - and the aquarium has a staff dedicated to creating, updating and distributing the guides in the US and Canada.
Why It Matters
Nearly 75% of the world's fisheries are either overfished or fully fished
Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
Sustainable seafood and more
Sea Change: A Message of the Oceans
Amazon Price: $11.16 (as of 12/16/2009)
Fish Forever: The Guide to Sustainable Seafood
An award-winning seafood cookbook for the eco-conscious
Fish Forever: The Definitive Guide to Understanding, Selecting, and Preparing Healthy, Delicious, and Environmentally Sustainable Seafood
Amazon Price: $23.07 (as of 12/16/2009)
Amazon says: Written for people who love seafood but worry about the overfishing of certain species as well as mercury and other contaminants, Fish Forever pinpoints today's least-endangered, least-contaminated, best-tasting fish and shellfish species. Johnson provides in-depth guidance on 70 different fish along with 96 stylish international recipes that highlight the outstanding culinary qualities of each. In addition to teaching readers about sustainable fishing practices, Johnson will be donating a portion of his royalties to Save Our Wild Salmon, an organization that works to restore wild salmon runs. Complete with over 60 beautiful color photographs, how-to tips, and fascinating sidebars, Fish Forever is a must-have kitchen resource for seafood lovers everywhere. A mutiple award winner, this great book also won the IACP's "Best Single-Subject Cookbook."
Impact of Poor Fishing Practices
25% of sea creatures caught in fishing gear are "bycatch," unwanted or unintentional catch that are tossed out or killed
More Sustainable Seafood Guides
- Marine Stewardship Council - Fish to Eat
- Find which fish the MSC recommends as sustainable
- Greenpeace Seafood Report and Supermarket Scorecards
- Find which supermarkets have the best seafood practices, such as purchasing policies, details on the source of the seafood, and training their staff on seafood sustainability issues.
- Environmental Defense Fund Seafood Selector
- See the lists of Eco-Best to Eco-Worst seafood choices and print a pocket seafood selector.
- World Wildlife Fund Sustainable Seafood Consumer Guides
- The other resources on this page are geared to American consumers, but if you live in Europe or other parts of the world, WWF has country-specific guides to help you make the best seafood choices in your area.
What About Squid?
Since we're on Squidoo...
I couldn't complete this page without including some information about Squidoo's mascot, the squid. What does Seafood Watch say about this cephalopod?If you enjoy squid, longfish squid (also called common squid or boned squid) that is trawl-caught in the US Atlantic is the best choice. All other choices are considered "good alternatives." There are no types of squid that the Seafood Watch guide currently marks as a seafood to avoid. So if squid's your pleasure, enjoy!
Do You Worry About What Seafood to Eat?
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- aj2008 aj2008 Nov 4, 2009 @ 6:50 am
- We are very careful what seafood we buy and always check the labels. An important lens.
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- bengriston bengriston Sep 11, 2009 @ 10:36 am
- When you read National Geographic and see the stories on how the oceans are being depleted it makes you want to avoid fish. But it has so many healthy properties that are good for you, you want to eat it. Thanks for this lens so I can make a good decision at the market.
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- OhMe OhMe Jul 14, 2009 @ 10:54 pm
- I am not a big seafood eater but my family sure is so I appreciate this information. Thank you.
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- monarch13 monarch13 May 8, 2009 @ 8:33 am
- Congratulations, you were nominated for a Healthy, Wealthy and Wise Group Excellence Award!
Good Luck and Good Health!
Monarch 13 (Michelle)
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- spirituality spirituality Apr 8, 2009 @ 9:13 am
- Great lens - you've been blessed by a squidoo angel :)
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More About Seafood Watch from Wikipedia
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Seafood Watch is one of the best known sustainable seafood advisory lists, and has influenced similar programs around the world. It is a program designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. It is best known for publishing consumer guides for responsible seafood purchasing in the United States, including making them available on mobile devices, such as the iPhone.
Seafood Watch is a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and is a partner of SeaWeb's Seafood Choices Alliance. It has roots in the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Fishing for Solutions exhibit which ran from 1997 to 1999 and produced a list of sustainable seafood. It was one of the first resources for sustainable seafood information together with the Audubon Society's What is a fish lover to eat? which also came out in the late 1990s.
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