What Fish to Eat – being socially responsible
May 4th, 2007
I recently downloaded the Shedd Aquarium’s 2007 Seafood Wallet Guide. I’m about to print it out and I suggest you do the same. You can carry it with you when you’re grocery shopping or out for dinner.
This is a great reminder to everyone that one person can make a difference. I choose to do this by voting with my money (seeing that voting at the ballot is somewhat of a waste of time).
The Seafood Wallet Guide groups fish into 3 categories: Best Choices, Good Alternatives, and Avoid – based on two criteria:
1. The fish is high in toxins, such as mercury
and/or
2. The fish is involved in some environmentally unsafe practice, such as overfishing or harming other ecosystems
> Download the Shedd Aquarium Seafood Wallet Guide (PDF – 48KB)
Ocean’s Alive is also an excellent resource
I’ve also included the list here for you: (*= limit consumption due to concerns about murcury or other contaminant)
BEST CHOICES
These are your best seafood choices! These fish are abundant, well-managed and fished or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
Barramundi (US farmed) – see Australis Aquaculture
Catfish (US farmed)
Clams (farmed)
Crab: Dungeness
Crab: Snow (Canada)
Crab: Stone
Halibut: Pacific
Lobster: Spiny (US)
Mussels (farmed)
Oysters (farmed)
Pollock (wild-caught from Alaska)
Salmon (wild-caught from Alaska)
Sardines
Scallops: Bay (farmed)
Shrimp (trap-caught)
Striped Bass (farmed or wild caught*)
Sturgeon (farmed)
Tilapia (US farmed)
Trout: Rainbow (farmed)
Tuna: Albacore (US & BC troll/pole-caught)
Tuna: Skipjack (troll/pole-caught)
GOOD ALTERNATIVES
These are good alternatives when the “best choices” aren’t available. There are, however, some concerns with how they are fished or farmed, or with the health of their habitats due to other human impacts.
Clams (wild-caught)
Cod: Pacific
Crab: Blue*, King (Alaska), Snow (US)
Crab: Imitation / Surimi
Flounder: Summer / Fluke
Lobster: American / Maine
Mahi Mahi / Dolphinfish / Dorado (US)
Oysters (wild-caught*)
Scallops: Bay
Scallops: Sea (Northeast and Canada)
Shrimp (US farmed or wild-caught)
Snapper: Gray / Lane / Mutton / Yellowtail (US)
Soles: Pacific
Squid
Swordfish (US*)
Tuna: Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (troll/pole-caught*)
Tuna: canned light
Tuna: canned white / Albacore*
AVOID
Avoide these fish, at least for now. They come from sources that are overfished and/or fished or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment.
Caviar (imported wild-caught)
Chilean Seabass / Toothfish*
Cod: Atlantic
Crab: King (imported)
Flounder: Atlantic
Groupers*
Halibut: Atlantic
Mahi Mahi / Dolphinfish / Dorado (imported)
Monkfish
Orange Roughy*
Rockfish: Pacific*
Salmon (farmed*, including Atlantic)
Sharks*
Shrimp (imported farmed or trawl-caught)
Snapper: Red*
Soles: Atlantic
Sturgeon (imported farmed* or wild-caught*)
Swordfish (imported*)
Tuna: Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (longline-caught*)
Tuna: Bluefin*
May 8th, 2007 at 8:13 am
I work with a company (Australis Aquaculture) that is, as far as I know, the only US-based Barramundi farm. They are definitely the largest and most environmentally friendly one–probably in the world. They farm Barramundi in an indoor fish farm that recirculates (reuses) 99.9% of its water, and produces very little waste. It’s very cool. And the fish they produce a fish with “no mercury, hormones or antibiotics” according to their website.
Their fish is in rather high demand, as you can imagine, but they continue to ramp up production and are now shipping to many parts of the country. Barramundi is mostly in high-end restuarants at this point, but Australis is starting to sell to Whole Foods markets and other grocery stores.
Their website is at http://TheBetterFish.com
May 8th, 2007 at 10:14 am
WOW! Thank you so much for this comment.
I hadn’t heard of Barramundi until I read the above list of fish. Then I saw it on a menu last week. I’m sure it will start showing up everywhere.
Rock on, Alejandro.
Any more info you want to share here, please do.
- pip
May 8th, 2007 at 10:27 am
[...] great comment from Alejandro Levins, an employee over at Australis Aquaculture, in response to What Fish to Eat: Being Socially Responsible. Sounds like someone knows what’s going on and doing something about it. [...]