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If you're interested in adjusting your seafood eating habits towards eating more sustainable seafood, the Monterey Bay Aquarium maintains a guide on which seafo

If you're interested in adjusting your seafood eating habits towards eating more sustainable seafood, the Monterey Bay Aquarium maintains a guide on which seafood (based on species and location/method of catch) is most sustainable, somewhat sustainable, and not sustainable. My favorite version of the guide is the printable version that you can fold up and put in your wallet: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/consumer-guides https://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/consume... Here's the main site where you can search for a fish by name: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/ https://www.seafoodwatch.org/ This is geared towards the USA but I think the guides are at least somewhat useful in other countries.

ygjb 6y ago
https://seafood.ocean.org/ https://seafood.ocean.org/ is a good international alternative; for example, Ocean Wise logos can be found on many menus in Vancouver and other Canadian cities.
nanna 6y ago
I'd be interested in an EU or UK version of this if anyone can link?
- twic 6y ago
  This is for the UK: https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search The app page has links to Android and iOS apps, and a PDF (although the latter is dense and highly coloured, not ideal to print). This being for the UK, they also have a fish finger guide.
  - twic 6y ago
    But what winds me up in the UK is how rarely i even have the option of eating sustainably. If i go to a fishmonger, or a decent-sized supermarket, sure. But in a small supermarket, or a pub or a fish and chip shop, it's always the standards: cod, haddock, skate, rock, plaice (and to be honest plaice is a pleasant surprise). Of those, haddock is the only one that's really okay (scores 2-4): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Haddock https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Haddock Cod is okay if it's from the far north, but most of the time you have no way of knowing (scores 1-5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Cod%2C+Atlantic+Cod https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Cod%2C+Atlan... Plaice is okay if it's from the east coast, but even then, the fishing methods are damaging (scores 2-5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Plaice https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Plaice Rock salmon is critically endangered (scores 5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Spurdog%2C+Spiny+Dogfish%2C+Dogfish%2C+Rock+Salmon+or+Flake https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Spurdog%2C+S... Skate is endangered and illegal to fish (scores 5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Skate https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Skate Now, given that rock and skate are endangered, i have to admit i'm a bit confused about how they end up on menus. Are they being imported from other parts of the world where they're legal to fish? Or are they actually other, similar and legal, fish being sold under incorrect but familiar names?
    - arprocter 6y ago
      The strange thing is I can remember when there was a push to use whiting over cod, but on that site the former is 3-5 while cod is 1-2 Breaded plaice is my favourite, although often chip shops don't seem to have any
- KerrickStaley 6y ago
  seafoodwatch.org also has a list to other resources if you live in a country other than the USA: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/resources https://www.seafoodwatch.org/resources
RankingMember 6y ago
I think the intent is great, but what is the percentage of the population that would utilize such a thing in their daily life? Not trying to be a downer, but I think most people don't have the bandwidth to be carrying around little cards reminding them to buy this/don't buy that, "oh, and is that tuna line-caught or pole-caught?", etc. If eating a certain kind of fish is causing environmental damage, we need regulation as a chokepoint somewhere in the chain, whether it be to stop it from being fished or at least from being sold.
- jsilence 6y ago
  Exactly! And that is probably the reason why the majority of us should cut down hard on animal based food consumption, just to be on the safe side.
  - defnotashton2 6y ago
    Oh cool let me change my entire lifestyle just to be safe.. For everyone else..
    - bartvk 6y ago
      Do you really feel that adjusting ingredients in your meals is equal to changing your entire lifestyle?
  - michannne 6y ago
    Is this satire?
    - legerdemain 6y ago
      We shit where we eat, and then we get angry at the turds in our cereal bowls. Who put them there? Is this satire? Yes, fisheries in decline means that, voluntarily or not, we will lose our cedar plank salmon and our sushi-grade tuna. We will instead talk up the pleasures of the sardine, its ennobling humility and its clean taste, but it will be self-delusion covering up an obvious sense of loss, just as celebrating a birthday on Zoom is a pathetic loss no matter how much we try to put a happy face on it. We are all getting a taste of what it feels to lose things, maybe lose them for good. This is the experience of our parents and grandparents, survivors of war, refugees, people thrown into sudden poverty. It's a common experience around the world, but many of us have forgotten it. It's time to get reacquainted. Families who lose everything in stock market crashes and hurricanes look at the wreckage of their lives and ask, "Is this satire?" In 40 years, I fully expect to be an out-of-touch antebellum grandma, talking of lost pleasures to people who've never tasted coffee or traveled across the Atlantic, the same way I have never ridden in a phaeton or tasted ortolan.
strbean 6y ago
I got to see Alton Brown talk about sustainable seafood there! His message was pretty much "Eat calamari, eat it a lot."
- kls 6y ago
  Which sucks, because it is one of the few seafood's that I actually dislike. I don't like certain oily fish, and I don't like calamari other than that I like pretty much every seafood. I spearfish where I live which I like because I can only take what I am going to eat, I don't injure any other fish like pole and net fishing does and everything I take is of legal size. It allows me to be more selective of what I take. I tend to target, hogfish, mangrove / mutton snapper and lionfish as the reproduce fast and are able to withstand the pressure of fishing. While it is legal during certain times, whee I live, to take grouper, tuna and permit, I tend to avoid taking them as they are more susceptible to fishing pressure. I have spearfished for over 30 years and it is astonishing how much the fish population has declined even in my lifetime.
  - strbean 6y ago
    I'm jealous, I'd love to go spearfishing :) I personally enjoy calamari, but it definitely doesn't hit the spot for bony fish / shell fish cravings. And it is missing the omega-3's of oily fish. :(
- dllthomas 6y ago
  IIRC, to paraphrase the reasoning: "they're overpopulated, their caught in not-too-damaging ways, they're healthy if you don't fry them, and they would totally eat you given the chance." That was a great time, thanks for coming with us!
Balgair 6y ago
This is a great tool! Not just for checking on the fish you are already eating, but for trying out new seafood. I like to think of it as a very well curated recommendation list. For instance, Barramundi is a very tasty fish that I discovered via this tool. We eat it regularly now. It also gives you the other names that the fish/seafood is known as, so you can shop around or know what your order is like.
derbOac 6y ago
My father-in-law is a commercial fisherman and very active ecological activist, and becomes livid at the Monterey Bay guide. I don't totally understand why but I think basically he believes it grossly oversimplies commercial seafood chains and in the process hurts producers acting sustainably, and in some cases provides cover for problematic markets before it's too late. In his case I think this is because the seafood he produces isn't on the guides at all. It's not obscure, just not covered, but he's noticed in using the guides, people tend to avoid products they can't verify as "good". In other cases (in his mind) the guide hurts people working in markets to change the means of production to become more sustainable. His position is that there's basically no substitute for understanding where your food is coming from. I think he sees the core problem is then disconnect between consumers and production, in that the global production chain has become so financially efficient that sources are completely obscured from purchasers. I'm not sure I agree with him on everything regarding the guide. The global seafood market is insanely complex, and the guide helps navigate it in at least a simplified way. But I think he's right in a sense that real changes are going to require something more substantial in terms of consumer changes and /or real international regulation and enforcement. There's too much fraud and detachment from actual supply. I don't think fishing is unusual in this regard in the food supply but I do think it's different in that a lot (not all) of it involves wild as opposed to farmed resources.

ygjb 6y ago

https://seafood.ocean.org/ https://seafood.ocean.org/ is a good international alternative; for example, Ocean Wise logos can be found on many menus in Vancouver and other Canadian cities.

nanna 6y ago

I'd be interested in an EU or UK version of this if anyone can link?

twic 6y ago
This is for the UK: https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search The app page has links to Android and iOS apps, and a PDF (although the latter is dense and highly coloured, not ideal to print). This being for the UK, they also have a fish finger guide.
- twic 6y ago
  But what winds me up in the UK is how rarely i even have the option of eating sustainably. If i go to a fishmonger, or a decent-sized supermarket, sure. But in a small supermarket, or a pub or a fish and chip shop, it's always the standards: cod, haddock, skate, rock, plaice (and to be honest plaice is a pleasant surprise). Of those, haddock is the only one that's really okay (scores 2-4): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Haddock https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Haddock Cod is okay if it's from the far north, but most of the time you have no way of knowing (scores 1-5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Cod%2C+Atlantic+Cod https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Cod%2C+Atlan... Plaice is okay if it's from the east coast, but even then, the fishing methods are damaging (scores 2-5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Plaice https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Plaice Rock salmon is critically endangered (scores 5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Spurdog%2C+Spiny+Dogfish%2C+Dogfish%2C+Rock+Salmon+or+Flake https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Spurdog%2C+S... Skate is endangered and illegal to fish (scores 5): https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Skate https://www.mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/search?name=Skate Now, given that rock and skate are endangered, i have to admit i'm a bit confused about how they end up on menus. Are they being imported from other parts of the world where they're legal to fish? Or are they actually other, similar and legal, fish being sold under incorrect but familiar names?
  - arprocter 6y ago
    The strange thing is I can remember when there was a push to use whiting over cod, but on that site the former is 3-5 while cod is 1-2 Breaded plaice is my favourite, although often chip shops don't seem to have any
KerrickStaley 6y ago
seafoodwatch.org also has a list to other resources if you live in a country other than the USA: https://www.seafoodwatch.org/resources https://www.seafoodwatch.org/resources

RankingMember 6y ago

I think the intent is great, but what is the percentage of the population that would utilize such a thing in their daily life? Not trying to be a downer, but I think most people don't have the bandwidth to be carrying around little cards reminding them to buy this/don't buy that, "oh, and is that tuna line-caught or pole-caught?", etc. If eating a certain kind of fish is causing environmental damage, we need regulation as a chokepoint somewhere in the chain, whether it be to stop it from being fished or at least from being sold.

jsilence 6y ago
Exactly! And that is probably the reason why the majority of us should cut down hard on animal based food consumption, just to be on the safe side.
- defnotashton2 6y ago
  Oh cool let me change my entire lifestyle just to be safe.. For everyone else..
  - bartvk 6y ago
    Do you really feel that adjusting ingredients in your meals is equal to changing your entire lifestyle?
- michannne 6y ago
  Is this satire?
  - legerdemain 6y ago
    We shit where we eat, and then we get angry at the turds in our cereal bowls. Who put them there? Is this satire? Yes, fisheries in decline means that, voluntarily or not, we will lose our cedar plank salmon and our sushi-grade tuna. We will instead talk up the pleasures of the sardine, its ennobling humility and its clean taste, but it will be self-delusion covering up an obvious sense of loss, just as celebrating a birthday on Zoom is a pathetic loss no matter how much we try to put a happy face on it. We are all getting a taste of what it feels to lose things, maybe lose them for good. This is the experience of our parents and grandparents, survivors of war, refugees, people thrown into sudden poverty. It's a common experience around the world, but many of us have forgotten it. It's time to get reacquainted. Families who lose everything in stock market crashes and hurricanes look at the wreckage of their lives and ask, "Is this satire?" In 40 years, I fully expect to be an out-of-touch antebellum grandma, talking of lost pleasures to people who've never tasted coffee or traveled across the Atlantic, the same way I have never ridden in a phaeton or tasted ortolan.

strbean 6y ago

I got to see Alton Brown talk about sustainable seafood there! His message was pretty much "Eat calamari, eat it a lot."

kls 6y ago
Which sucks, because it is one of the few seafood's that I actually dislike. I don't like certain oily fish, and I don't like calamari other than that I like pretty much every seafood. I spearfish where I live which I like because I can only take what I am going to eat, I don't injure any other fish like pole and net fishing does and everything I take is of legal size. It allows me to be more selective of what I take. I tend to target, hogfish, mangrove / mutton snapper and lionfish as the reproduce fast and are able to withstand the pressure of fishing. While it is legal during certain times, whee I live, to take grouper, tuna and permit, I tend to avoid taking them as they are more susceptible to fishing pressure. I have spearfished for over 30 years and it is astonishing how much the fish population has declined even in my lifetime.
- strbean 6y ago
  I'm jealous, I'd love to go spearfishing :) I personally enjoy calamari, but it definitely doesn't hit the spot for bony fish / shell fish cravings. And it is missing the omega-3's of oily fish. :(
dllthomas 6y ago
IIRC, to paraphrase the reasoning: "they're overpopulated, their caught in not-too-damaging ways, they're healthy if you don't fry them, and they would totally eat you given the chance." That was a great time, thanks for coming with us!

Balgair 6y ago

This is a great tool! Not just for checking on the fish you are already eating, but for trying out new seafood. I like to think of it as a very well curated recommendation list. For instance, Barramundi is a very tasty fish that I discovered via this tool. We eat it regularly now. It also gives you the other names that the fish/seafood is known as, so you can shop around or know what your order is like.

derbOac 6y ago

My father-in-law is a commercial fisherman and very active ecological activist, and becomes livid at the Monterey Bay guide. I don't totally understand why but I think basically he believes it grossly oversimplies commercial seafood chains and in the process hurts producers acting sustainably, and in some cases provides cover for problematic markets before it's too late. In his case I think this is because the seafood he produces isn't on the guides at all. It's not obscure, just not covered, but he's noticed in using the guides, people tend to avoid products they can't verify as "good". In other cases (in his mind) the guide hurts people working in markets to change the means of production to become more sustainable. His position is that there's basically no substitute for understanding where your food is coming from. I think he sees the core problem is then disconnect between consumers and production, in that the global production chain has become so financially efficient that sources are completely obscured from purchasers. I'm not sure I agree with him on everything regarding the guide. The global seafood market is insanely complex, and the guide helps navigate it in at least a simplified way. But I think he's right in a sense that real changes are going to require something more substantial in terms of consumer changes and /or real international regulation and enforcement. There's too much fraud and detachment from actual supply. I don't think fishing is unusual in this regard in the food supply but I do think it's different in that a lot (not all) of it involves wild as opposed to farmed resources.