Seafood Watch
Encyclopedia
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 and Android.
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.
s) are also noted, although they may appear in any category.
The Seafood Watch website includes both regional and country-wide guides for the United States. Pocket guides are available from the aquarium and further information is on the web site. Several of the regional guides are also available in Spanish
. The guides are updated twice annually, while the website is updated more often. Recommended seafood includes Sardines, US-farmed Sturgeon
(but not wild caught), Atlantic Croaker
, Pacific Halibut
, Wreckfish
, White Seabass
and Dungeness Crab
. Restaurants and retailers are also targeted with an educational program developed by Seafood Watch.
In 2010 Seafood Watch added its “Super Green” list, which features seafood that it is good for human health and does not harm the oceans. The Super Green list highlights products that are currently on the Seafood Watch "Best Choices" (green) list, are low in environmental contaminants and are good sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
Recommendations are updated regularly; to view the latest, visit SeafoodWatch.org.
Below are some fish currently rated Avoid by Seafood Watch
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Recently, industry organizations have begun to push back against Seafood Watch's efforts. After publication of a sustainable sushi guide, the National Fisheries Institute
, a seafood industry trade group, wrote on its blog that the guides were "confusing and contradictory," adding that they didn't fully take into account the economic, environmental and social aspects of seafood sustainability.
Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification
Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification are programs aimed at increasing consumer awareness of the environmental impact and sustainability of their seafood purchasing choices....
, and has influenced similar programs around the world. It is a program designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood
Seafood
Seafood is any form of marine life regarded as food by humans. Seafoods include fish, molluscs , crustaceans , echinoderms . Edible sea plants, such as some seaweeds and microalgae, are also seafood, and are widely eaten around the world, especially in Asia...
from sustainable
Sustainability
Sustainability is the capacity to endure. For humans, sustainability is the long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions, and encompasses the concept of union, an interdependent relationship and mutual responsible position with all living and non...
sources. It is best known for publishing consumer guides for responsible seafood purchasing in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, including making them available on mobile devices, such as the iPhone and Android.
Seafood Watch is a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million visitors. It holds thousands of plants and animals, representing 623 separate named species on display...
, and is a partner of SeaWeb's Seafood Choices Alliance
Seafood Choices Alliance
The Seafood Choices Alliance is a program of the nonprofit ocean conservation organization, SeaWeb. It was established in 2001 to bring together the disparate elements and diverse approaches in a growing "seafood choices" movement in the United States and expanded into Europe in 2005...
. 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.
Seafood list
The group gives somewhat US-centric lists of recommendations – the best seafood choices, fish to avoid, as well as "good alternatives". The "avoid" category is for seafood which is overfished and/or fished or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. Health alerts for fish with high levels of contaminants (e.g. mercury, dioxins, PCBPolychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...
s) are also noted, although they may appear in any category.
The Seafood Watch website includes both regional and country-wide guides for the United States. Pocket guides are available from the aquarium and further information is on the web site. Several of the regional guides are also available in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
. The guides are updated twice annually, while the website is updated more often. Recommended seafood includes Sardines, US-farmed Sturgeon
Sturgeon
Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common...
(but not wild caught), Atlantic Croaker
Sciaenidae
Sciaenidae is a family of fish commonly called drums, croakers, or hardheads for the repetitive throbbing or drumming sounds they make...
, Pacific Halibut
Pacific halibut
The Pacific halibut is found on the continental shelf of the North Pacific Ocean and Bering sea. They are demersal, living on or near the bottom. The halibut is among the largest teleost fish in the world. Halibut are strong swimmers and are able to migrate long distances...
, Wreckfish
Wreckfish
The wreckfish are a family, Polyprionide, of perciform fishes.They are deep-water marine fishes and can be found on the ocean bottom, where they inhabit caves and shipwrecks . Their scientific name is from Greek poly meaning "many" and prion meaning "saw", a references to their prominent spiny fins...
, White Seabass
White seabass
White seabass or white weakfish, Atractoscion nobilis, is a species of croaker occurring from Magdalena Bay, Baja California, to Juneau, Alaska. They usually travel in schools over deep rocky bottoms and in and out of kelp beds....
and Dungeness Crab
Dungeness crab
The Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister , is a species of crab that inhabits eelgrass beds and water bottoms on the west coast of North America. It typically grows to across the carapace and is a popular seafood...
. Restaurants and retailers are also targeted with an educational program developed by Seafood Watch.
In 2010 Seafood Watch added its “Super Green” list, which features seafood that it is good for human health and does not harm the oceans. The Super Green list highlights products that are currently on the Seafood Watch "Best Choices" (green) list, are low in environmental contaminants and are good sources of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids.
Recommendations are updated regularly; to view the latest, visit SeafoodWatch.org.
Below are some fish currently rated Avoid by Seafood Watch
| Common name | Latin name | Source | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chilean Seabass/Toothfish | Dissostichus eleginoides | Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | |
| Atlantic Cod Cod Cod is the common name for genus Gadus, belonging to the family Gadidae, and is also used in the common name for various other fishes. Cod is a popular food with a mild flavor, low fat content and a dense, flaky white flesh. Cod livers are processed to make cod liver oil, an important source of... |
Gadidae Gadidae Gadidae is a family of marine fish, included in the order Gadiformes. It includes the cod, haddock, whiting, and pollock.Most species of gadid are found in temperate waters of the northern hemisphere, although there are some exceptions. They are generally medium sized fish, and are distinguished... |
Atlantic | |
| King Crab King crab King crabs, also called stone crabs, are a superfamily of crab-like decapod crustaceans chiefly found in cold seas. Because of their large size and the taste of their meat, many species are widely caught and sold as food, the most common being the red king crab, Paralithodes camtschaticus.King... |
imported | Some imported king crab is poached. Seafood Watch recommends domestic king crab from Alaska and California, whose fishing is better controlled. | |
| Atlantic Flounder Flounder The flounder is an ocean-dwelling flatfish species that is found in coastal lagoons and estuaries of the Northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.-Taxonomy:There are a number of geographical and taxonomical species to which flounder belong.*Western Atlantic... s, Soles |
Atlantic | ||
| Grouper Grouper Groupers are fish of any of a number of genera in the subfamily Epinephelinae of the family Serranidae, in the order Perciformes.Not all serranids are called groupers; the family also includes the sea basses. The common name grouper is usually given to fish in one of two large genera: Epinephelus... s |
Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | ||
| Atlantic Halibut Halibut Halibut is a flatfish, genus Hippoglossus, from the family of the right-eye flounders . Other flatfish are also called halibut. The name is derived from haly and butt , for its popularity on Catholic holy days... |
Atlantic | ||
| Spiny lobster Spiny lobster Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters, are a family of about 45 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia... |
Caribbean imported | ||
| Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish | (imported) | ||
| Monkfish Monkfish Monkfish is the English name of a number of types of fish in the northwest Atlantic, most notably the species of the anglerfish genus Lophius and the angelshark genus Squatina... |
|||
| Orange Roughy Orange roughy The orange roughy, red roughy, or deep sea perch, Hoplostethus atlanticus, is a relatively large deep-sea fish belonging to the slimehead family . The Marine Conservation Society has categorized orange roughy as vulnerable to exploitation... |
Hoplostethus atlanticus | Habitat destruction, bycatch of non-target organisms, and overfishing. There are also health concerns about mercury or other contaminants. | |
| Rockfish Striped bass The striped bass is the state fish of Maryland, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and the state saltwater fish of New York, Virginia, and New Hampshire... |
Pacific | ||
| Salmon Salmon Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true... |
farmed, including Atlantic | Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | |
| Scallops: Sea | Mid-Atlantic | ||
| Shark Shark Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago.... s |
Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | ||
| Shrimp Shrimp Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important... |
imported farmed or wild | ||
| Red Snapper | |||
| Sturgeon Sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name used for some 26 species of fish in the family Acipenseridae, including the genera Acipenser, Huso, Scaphirhynchus and Pseudoscaphirhynchus. The term includes over 20 species commonly referred to as sturgeon and several closely related species that have distinct common... Caviar |
imported wild | Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | |
| Swordfish Swordfish Swordfish , also known as broadbill in some countries, are large, highly migratory, predatory fish characterized by a long, flat bill. They are a popular sport fish of the billfish category, though elusive. Swordfish are elongated, round-bodied, and lose all teeth and scales by adulthood... |
imported | Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | |
| Tuna Tuna Tuna is a salt water fish from the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. Tuna are fast swimmers, and some species are capable of speeds of . Unlike most fish, which have white flesh, the muscle tissue of tuna ranges from pink to dark red. The red coloration derives from myoglobin, an... : Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin |
longline | Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants | |
| Bluefin Tuna | Limit consumption due to concerns about mercury or other contaminants |
Industry criticism
National Fisheries Institute
The National Fisheries Institute is the United States industry trade group representing the seafood industry. It is a member of the International Coalition of Fisheries Associations . Its member companies consist of all levels of business involved in seafood, from fishing vessel operators to...
, a seafood industry trade group, wrote on its blog that the guides were "confusing and contradictory," adding that they didn't fully take into account the economic, environmental and social aspects of seafood sustainability.
See also
- Conservation statusConservation statusThe conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...
- OverfishingOverfishingOverfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....
- Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certificationSustainable seafood advisory lists and certificationSustainable seafood advisory lists and certification are programs aimed at increasing consumer awareness of the environmental impact and sustainability of their seafood purchasing choices....
- Seafood Choices AllianceSeafood Choices AllianceThe Seafood Choices Alliance is a program of the nonprofit ocean conservation organization, SeaWeb. It was established in 2001 to bring together the disparate elements and diverse approaches in a growing "seafood choices" movement in the United States and expanded into Europe in 2005...
- Mercury in fishMercury in fishFish and shellfish concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury. Fish products have been shown to contain varying amounts of heavy metals, particularly mercury and fat-soluble pollutants from water pollution...