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Sustainable Seafood Guide
How to choose delicious seafood that's healthy for you and the environment
Seven Quick Tips for Selecting Seafood
When in doubt about choosing seafood in a store or restaurant, here are seven basic guidelines that you can follow to help pick seafood that is healthy and sustainable:
Eat lower on the food chain
Smaller fish tend to be more plentiful and better for your health because they contain less mercury. Great small seafood to choose includes squid, oysters, mackerel, sardines and mussels.
Buy American
American seafood isn't perfect, but the U.S. variety of a particular type of fish is generally better than its imported counterpart because this country has stricter fishing and farming standards than other parts of the world.
Buy wild
Given current issues with the environmental impact of fish farming, a wild-caught fish is almost always better than a farmed fish of the same variety for your health and the environment.
Eat local
Unless you're eating fish from a nearby body of water, it has to be frozen or transported, which uses more energy. And it's very likely that it was caught or farmed en masse in order to keep the price down. You're usually better off eating the local variety of a particular type of fish instead of its counterpart from across the country, unless that species has been depleted in local waters. (See the Eat or Avoid? section for more guidance.)
Buy from trusted retailers
Certain businesses have set higher standards for the seafood they sell in their stores, and many have pledged to create long-term sustainable seafood plans. Find guides to good retailers at the Conservation Alliance for Sustainable Seafood Solutions and Greenpeace.
Ask where your fish came from
The health of different species varies by region. Alaskan seafood such as salmon and halibut, when caught in sustainable ways, is generally good for you and the environment.
Look for the blue sticker
The Marine Stewardship Council certifies seafood that is caught or raised in a sustainable, environmentally friendly manner. Items that meet its criteria are marked with a MSC-certified sticker like the one shown here.
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last revised 6/4/2009
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