Sustainable seafood

Defining sustainable

Defining what seafood is sustainable is a moving target, requiring expertise and constant research. A certain species may be sustainable at a certain fishery, but identifying sustainable fisheries may shift from time to time.

Seafood health advisor

There are health advisories on some fish due to their levels of mercury (a heavy metal), PCBs (industrial pollutants) and pesticides (such as DDT).

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned that very large, older and predator fish — particularly shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tilefish — should be avoided by women who are pregnant, nursing or of childbearing age.

See our easy Seafood Health Advisory chart (PDF)

For information about mercury health alerts in fish, see Seafood safety by Goldie Caughlan, (Sound Consumer, December 2002).

When consumers buy seafood from an ecologically sound fishery, it reduces pressure on depleted and threatened species. Sustainable seafood programs at the retail level and in restaurants will help modify demand for unsound choices.

Educating consumers and steering them to sustainable seafood is part of the work being done by organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Environmental Defense, Blue Ocean Institute and the National Audubon Society. Panels of marine experts monitor the oceans' fisheries and periodically designate which fish are abundant and caught in environmentally friendly ways, and which ones aren't, and categorize them for consumers in helpful guides.

The best seafood choices always are in a "green" category, which means the fish are abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways. These fish typically include Alaskan wild Salmon, wild Halibut, farmed abalone, farmed catfish, farmed oysters, trap-caught wild shrimp, and farmed sturgeon.

Seafood in the "yellow" category is a good choice, but there are some cautionary concerns with the way it may be caught or farmed. This includes Swordfish from the Pacific Ocean, king crab, wild clams, U.S. farmed shrimp or U.S. trawl-caught shrimp.

Seafood on the "red" list should be avoided because it's over-fished or caught or farmed in ways that harm marine life and the environment. Fish in the red category includes most shark, Chilean sea bass, king crab, orange roughy, imported shrimp and Atlantic swordfish. (See Seafood Choices for Healthier Oceans for more detail.)

Monterey Bay Aquarium's staff of experts updates a seafood guide with this information every six months.

"Fisheries conservation is among today's most important marine conservation issues," says Julie Packard, Monterey Bay Aquarium's executive director. "It's an environmental problem whose solution is in people's hands every time they buy seafood. Through our Seafood Watch program, we want people to have the information they need to make wise choices when they shop."