Love Seafood? Please Read!
 

Hi all, I just wanted to post this for people who love seafood and are interested in purchasing sustainably raised/caught fish. This list is directly from the Slow Food USA group newsletter, of which I subscribe.
Below is the list of Best Choice seafoods you can purchase from your local fishmonger or market. To learn more, please visit www.seafoodwatch.org.
**Moderators** I am in NO way affiliated with SF USA, just posting this to educate FT'ers who like me, enjoy seafood but want to consume it in a responsible manner. Thank you!


Best Choices:
Arctic Char (farmed)
Barramundi (U.S. farmed)
Catfish (U.S. farmed)
Clams (farmed)
Cod Pacific (Alaska longline)****
Crab: Dungeness, Snow (Canada), Stone
Halibut Pacific
Herring (Atlantic/Sardines)
Lobster Spiny (U.S.)
Mussels (farmed)
Oysters (farmed)
Pollock (Alaska wild)
Salmon (Alaska wild)
Scallops (Bay farmed)
Striped Bass (farmed or wild)
Sturgeon, Caviar (farmed)
Tilapia (farmed)
Trout (Rainbow farmed)
Tuna Albacore (British Columbia, U.S.: troll/pole)
Tuna Skipjack (troll/pole)

Good Alternatives:
Basa/Tra (farmed)
Clams (wild)
Cod: Pacific (trawled)
Crab: Blue, King (Alaska), Snow (U.S.)
Crab: imitation/Surimi
Flounder/Sole (Pacific)
Lobster American/Maine
Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish (U.S.)
Oysters (wild)
Scallops Sea (Northest and Canada)
Shrimp (U.S. farmed or wild)
Squid
Swordfish (U.S. longline)
Tuna Bigeye, Yellowfin (troll/pole)
Tuna canned light, canned white/Albacore

Avoid:
Chilean Seabass/Toothfish
Cod: Atlantic
Crab King (imported)
Flounder/Sole (Atlantic)
Groupers
Halibut (Atlantic)
Lobster Spiny (Carribean imported)
Mahi mahi/Dolphinfish (imported)
Monkfish
Orange Roughy
Rockfish (Pacific)
Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic)
Scallops Sea (Mid-Atlantic)
Sharks
Shrimp (imported farmed or wild)
Snapper Red
Sturgeon, Caviar (imported wild)
Swordfish (imported)
Tuna Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (longline)
Tuna Bluefin

Key:
Northeast = Connecticut-->Maine
Mid-Atlantic = North Carolina-->New York


Again, please visit www.seafoodwatch.org for more information about these recommendations.

I wouldn't consider farm-raised fish very sustainable.

That's ok if you don't, but to me it appears to be pretty sustainable.

Thanks OP for this. However, I'm wondering why Alaskan Salmon isn't on the list?

I thought it would be a pretty sustainable choice, what with poncing off down to the sea for years on end then swimming back up the rivers and streams to jizz off over a million plus eggs before collapsing knackered and getting caught, no?

Fish farms can be breeding pots of various diseases that have potential to wipe out the entire wild salmon etc. population of a particular stream through "escapees" from the farms.

Yeah, my first thought on the lists as posted is "Where is wild-caught salmon?" Perhaps they consider it somewhere in that vague space between recommended and avoid.

Anyway, just wanted to point out that I don't think you mean the link above. Seafoodwatch.com is a standard domain squatter placeholder site. I think you mean Seafoodwatch.org, which redirects here: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.asp

Edit: If you look at this pdf http://www2.warnerbros.com/happyfeet...nerSFWcard.pdf you see that Alaskan wild salmon is actually certified sustainable, and thus it is listed under Best Choices. So it's just an oversight on OP list.

Ya I was just typing too fast, thank you for the corrections, I'll edit my post ^

I agree that there's that potential, however, well managed fish farms that are run according to govt. regulations minimize the risk of farm raised fish getting out into the wild and interacting with wild stocks. The other aspect I think about when the farm vs wild debate comes up is that you simply cannot get people to up and quit eating fish, there will be a demand so instead of overfishing the oceans like we're doing now, the best alternative is to run fish farms to satisfy that demand, while letting the wild stocks regenerate in time.

The atlantic salmon farms in B.C. are supposed to cause problems for the wild pacific stock by introducing sea lice, pollute the bottoms of bays, as well as the mentioned escapes.

I wish the U.S. would just ban their import as it would probably close them all down overnight.

It seems ironic that Atlantic salmon is farmed in the Pacific region! :rolleyes:

I much prefer any Pacific salmon, or really any wild fish, over farmed fish. The only excetion is Artic Char (although I didn't realize it was farmed).

This thread made me remember this article about the possible future of farmed blue fin tuna
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asi...ic/6189975.stm

It was in the news yesterday about Gordon Ramsey withdrawing Blue Fin Tuna from his restaurant menus.
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...cle2594171.ece

I've not eaten Cod for a very long time and am always amazed when fish and chip shops in London offer no alternatives to cod (I always walk out). It's a common phenomenon to have a shop like this offer only one kind of fish.

I love Cod but I am very concerned about the future f that fish in the North Atlantic and therefore avoid it. There are a number of fish and chippies in London and the Home Counties offering alternatives to cod these days. I might have been lucky, but most places I have been to have other fish available. Some quite exotic too.

I cannot emphasize enough, PLEASE do NOT eat Atlantic Cod or Atlantic Bluefin Tuna! We really need to let the Cod stocks replenish themselves and we REALLY need to stop eating Atlantic/Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna. I only wish those in Asia would take note of this and stop ordering Bluefin in their Sushi/Sashimi.

Agree with you. ^

Because the population is diminishing? Or some other reason?

In Asia, this would mainly concern Japan. Chinese normally prefer domestic cooked fish and Koreans also do not use much tuna in their sashimi.

One good development would be to encourage especially chefs at hotels, cruise ships and other large fish consuming kitchens to switch to less endangered species. I think this is where the majority of the tuna in Asia and elsewhere goes to.

We've severely overharvested Atlantic Bluefin stocks, and continue to do so, to satisfy the worldwide demand for this kind of fish. Bluefin are very long lived, and take a while to reach maturity, so our consumption is absolutely decimating the wild populations and killing the species before enough fish reach the right age to reproduce. If we give the fish time to recover, we can sustainably fish them, but they need 20+ years *National Geographic estimate, not mine* before we start catching them again.

Another reminder to avoid most farmed atlantic salmon that's grown in the Pacific.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...y/Science/home

See: http://www.farmedanddangerous.org/sa...ronmental.html

Tuna Bluefin

yum ^ just had some last Sat :p

my version of the list would be inverted :D

Few of us are under any illusions that there aren't plenty of people just like you around.

Just be sure to enjoy and memorise every bite so you have something to tell the grandchildren about.

Taste awful as well. :td: I've tried several different types with different sauces & cooking method and still remains awful.

Why are imported mahi mahi bad? They are a fast growing, fast maturing species, so I'd be a bit surprised if it was overfishing. Is it a bycatch issue?

I'd agree but unfortunately the atlantic cod may never recover from overfishing.

Re: Bluefin Tuna

Don't worry, it is not a free for all anymore.

http://gov.ns.ca/fish/marine/sectors/pelagics.shtml

Junk science.

ive had monkfish liver a few times, liked the preparation

That's pretty pathetic. :td:

The Vancouver Aquarium has a similar program to encourage the consumption of seafood in a sustainable manner.

See: http://www.oceanwisecanada.org.

"I cannot emphasize enough, PLEASE do NOT eat Atlantic Cod or Atlantic Bluefin Tuna! We really need to let the Cod stocks replenish themselves and we REALLY need to stop eating Atlantic/Mediterranean Bluefin Tuna. I only wish those in Asia would take note of this and stop ordering Bluefin in their Sushi/Sashimi."

Amen to that. Sadly, the law of the seas can do little in stopping the Spaniards and the Portugese from fishing the Grand Bank stocks into extinction. It's nice to see that at least some people realize this.

Got an investment in fish farms, eh?

Well, farmed fish will be our mainstay in the future, like it or not. Only the wealthy will be able to taste wild species, just like with caviar and shark fin nowadays.

I think we'll see a cloned fish soon enough.

True. I am not against farmed fish but fish farming that is detrimental to the native species.

I can understand people in developing countries poaching their fish stocks but as for the Portuguese and Spanish it's just pure greed.

Sometimes it's hard to understand why Japan is being given a hard time over whale hunting while those two EU members poach the seas of the World of endangered species.

I don't have an answer about this but I do have some thoughts. Farm raised fish doesn't taste anything like wild fish. The health benefits are greatly diminished. It is also frequently loaded with antibiotics so you might as well eat chicken. Particularly be aware of any fish that comes from China. Do a google search on recent news in this regard. The acception to this is domesticly farmed shellfish - which is actually aquaculture (grown in it's natural habitat).

For those who keep pointing to overfishing as the reason for the decline in the fisheries they need to wake up and face the reality that polution is the main cause. It's the pink elephant no politician will talk about. Our overbuilding of the coast and poluted run off has led to a huge decline in the number of viable fry..... less baby fish = less adult fish.
We also pump effluent out into the middle of the ocean (example Boston)fresh water + chlorine is a deadly combination for the things that live there. If it is "clean enough that you could drink it" then we should drink it...not pump it out into salinated water and screw it all up.

I have no respect for any environmental group that doesn't have the balls to include overpopulation as the root cause of our environmental woes.

Much of the bluefin used in Asia these days is farm raised. The boat price of bluefin was down to $3/lb for a grade B fish this year... in past years it would be $15 or more with grade A's fetching as much as $30......
More at issue is the way the drag boats operate - obliterating everything in their path thus destroying the food chain. As long as we do that the Cod stocks will NOT replenish themselves. Much easier to blame over fishing (when the amount of guys still fishing commercially has decreased dramatically in the last ten years) than the root cause of HOW things are fished and our polluting.

It's a very US orientated list though. I wouldn't avoid Scottish farmed Atlantic salmon, because I understand the dynamics of the salmon fishery in Scotland, and basically the advent of salmon farming probably prevented the salmon disappearing completely in Scotland.

It would also be ridiculous to be sitting in Scotland eating Alaskan salmon (never mind it's never that good because it has to be frozen and flown in).

And their treatment of atlantic scallops is too fascile. I'll eat hand dived - I try to avoid trawled.

But for the US it's probably a good list - but there are some issues with it for applying everywhere.

A UK based organisation which certifies fisheries as sustainable can be found at http://eng.msc.org/

Frozen pacific salmon is actually quite o.k. as it freezes well. The fresh salmon season here is only about 2-3 months long so the rest of the year the only thing one can get is frozen salmon.

Do note that a lot of farmed fish, especially atlantic salmon requires a lot of feed derived from the by-catch of (over)fishing other oceans.

Farmed atlantic salmon also contains more heavy metals and mercury as well as PCBs for some reason.


Overpopulation leading to overfishing is the major factor. Many fisheries are far offshore to be affected by pollution as you cite but by overfishing.

For example, it is reported the orange roughy and patagonia toothfish (a.k.a. "Chilean sea bass") take a long time to mature (decades?) but fishing pressure is so heavy that the stock is starting to collapse.

Dredging isn't the cause. It appears that the ecological niche the cod occupied has been filled by other species (herring and mackerel), which apparently also feed on cod fry. The collapse of the cod population in the NW atlantic (Newfoundland/Grand Banks) may be so complete that no fishing at all (over the past 14 yeatrs or so) + no disturbance of the oceans may never lead to their recovery - There's no critical mass/density of cod to lead to a recovery.