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
consumer about seafood, whether you choose it from a restaurant menu, catch the fish yourself or buy it at a market.
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.
