Learn how to make the best choices when shopping for sustainable seafood for your family.
Shopping for Sustainable Seafood
Quality, contaminate-free seafood is as important to good cuisine as fresh, organically grown vegetables, herbs and fruits.
Overfishing, habitat destruction and pollution has put our oceans — and the creatures in them — in peril. Even some fish
farming, or aquaculture, contributes to genetic and chemical pollution. Chefs Collaborative members urge you to be an informed
The Chefs Collaborative’s buying guide, Seafood Solutions, help chefs and the general public make environmentally responsible
seafood purchasing decisions. The booklet is available from the Chefs Collaborative; Boston, MA; www.chefscollaborative.org. Other
sustainable seafood guidelines are available online from the Monterey Bay Aquarium (www.montereybayaquarium.org), the Seafood
Choices Alliance (www.seafoodchoices.com) and Audubon (seafood.audubon.org).
Sustainable Seafood: Best Catches of the Day
Use the list below to shop for the most sustainable seafood. These fish are abundant, responsibly managed, and are fished or
farmed in an eco-friendly manner.
Anchovies
Catfish, farmed
Caviar, farmed
Char, Arctic
Clams, farmed
Crawfish
Halibut, Pacific
Herring, Atlantic
Mackerel
Mussels, farmed
Oysters, farmed & Pacific
Rainbow trout, farmed
Rock lobster from California & Australia
Salmon, canned
Salmon, fresh, from Alaska & California (chinook, coho, keta, pink, sockeye)
Sardines
Striped bass
Tilapia, farmed
Tuna (ahi, albacore and yellowfin)
Doreen Howard is a freelance writer who specializes in stories on food and sustainable gardening.
Read more about restaurants and local food sources: Farmers and Chefs Team to Serve Fresh Local Food.