For those who eat seafood, it’s time to take a look at how that smoked salmon, lobster tail, crab legs or shrimp scampy got from the ocean to your plate.

Not only should you be aware of the mercury levels in the seafood you dine on, but also how the seafood is caught, and how that impacts the environment.

According to Blue Ocean Institute, among the best (most abundant, eco-friendly) choices are:

• Farmed clams, mussels and oysters
• Farmed talapia from the U.S.
• Wild Alaskan salmon
• Mahimahi (poll- and troll-caught)
• Yellowfin tuna (poll- and troll-caught)

In the middle group (some issues with abundance and/or fishing/farming methods and how they impact the environment):

• Farmed rainbow trout
• Swordfish (contains high levels of mercury)
• Blue, snow and tanner crab (contains high levels of mercury)
• Yellowfin tuna (canned or line-caught, contains high levels of mercury)
• Farmed shrimp in the U.S.
• Sea scallops
• Lobster
• Monkfish

The worst choices (issues including overfishing, farming methods that seriously impact the environment) are:

• Grouper (contains high levels of mercury)
• Atlantic halibut
• Atlantic cod
• Chilean sea bass (contains high levels of mercury)
• Orange roughy (contains high levels of mercury)
• Farmed slmon( contains high levels of mercuryt)
• Shrimp (imported)
• Shark (contains high levels of mercury)
• Caviar (wild sturgeon)

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Seafood Watch is a program of Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources.

It recommends which seafood to buy or avoid, helping consumers to become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood.

Seafood Watch History
Monterey Bay Aquarium developed a list of sustainable seafood as part of their 1997-1999 “Fishing for Solutions” exhibit anticipating visitor questions about making better seafood choices. Their Portola Cafe restaurant and husbandry department also adopted a “sustainable seafood” policy. The list evolved into the Seafood Watch pocket guide for consumers.

Today, they have a dedicated staff to create and distribute regional Seafood Watch pocket guides across the United States and Canada.

Seafood Choices Matter
The choices we make as consumers drive the seafood market place. Your purchasing power can make a difference by supporting those fisheries and fish farms that are better for the environment, while at the same time relieving pressure on others that are not doing as well.

Some of the key problems that help experts evaluate whether a fishery is sustainable include the level of bycatch observed, the fishing methods and their impact, if it is farmed—how it is farmed, and how well the fishery or aquaculture operation is managed. With nearly 75% of the world’s fisheries either fully fished or overfished, these issues are more important than ever.

Using the Seafood Watch pocket guide allows you to make choices based on the best available information and supporting environmentally friendly fisheries and aquaculture operations.

To browse all seafood, click here.

To find regional seafood choices in your area, click here.

To get a free, printable pocket-sized guide, click here.

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