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To help maintain ocean habitats and biodiversity, choose sustainable sources of seafood by avoiding threatened species and choosing seafood that has been harvested responsibly.

Find it! Sustainable seafood

How to choose sustainable sources of seafood

1. Find out which seafood sources have sustainable populations, and eat those species while avoiding depleted ones. For instance, type "tuna" into the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program, and find out where sustainably fished tuna populations are located. Print out their guide and take it with you to the store or restaurant. Other good sites to check include the John G. Shedd Aquarium's Right Bite, the Blue Ocean Institute's Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood, the Green Guide's Fish Picks, the Seafood Choices Alliance, and the Environmental Defense Fund's Seafood Selector. Get seafood info on-the-go with EDF's Seafood Selector To-Go!
2. Ask local retailers, producers, restaurant owners, and chefs where they get their seafood from, and how it is caught or produced (line-caught, netted, trawled, organically farmed, etc.) If they can't tell you, choose to spend your seafood dollars elsewhere.
3. Spread the word about sustainable seafood choices to your friends and relatives. Give them a copy of the Seafood Watch guide.
4. Pay attention to independently-run eco-labeling and certification programs. For instance, the Marine Stewardship Council labels sustainable and environmentally friendly wild seafood sources (click "where to buy sustainable seafood" and then click your country for a listing of certified products). The Aquaculture Certification Council performs a similar role for farmed fish, ensuring traceability, sustainability, and eco-friendly seafood farming practices.

Choosing sustainable sources of seafood helps you go green because...

• It ensures that the seafood on your plate is not contributing to the depletion of biodiversity or loss of ocean habitat.
• It will encourage restaurants and retailers to sell well-managed, non-threatened species.
• It encourages sustainable and responsible development of aquaculture.
• Consumer awareness promotes transparency within the fishing industry.

Seafood sustainability is an issue concerning entire ecosystems, from apex predators like sharks all the way down to baitfish, filter-feeders, and coral. Preserving marine habitats is key to maintaining biodiversity, which plays a crucial role in the recovery of an ecosystem after a disaster.[1] A full 75 percent of worldwide commercial fish stocks are already considered fully exploited, overexploited, or depleted.[2] Overfishing, illegal targeting of threatened species, bycatch, and bottom trawling all actively undermine biodiversity and habitat sustainability.[3][4] Additionally, some fish are farmed and fed in an unsustainable way, which has adverse effects on water quality and local waterway biodiversity, and can even aid the transmission of diseases into wild fish populations.[2]

With more than 75 percent of the world's fisheries either fully fished or over-fished, purchasing power can drive the seafood marketplace, and promote environmentally friendly fisheries and aquaculture operations.[5] A 2006 article published in the Journal of Science predicted a collapse (a loss of 90 percent) of most current commercial seafood stocks by 2050 if sustainability is not addressed.[6]

Glossary

• bycatch: Also known as incidental catch, is the name for organisms caught that are not a vessel's "target-species." Bycatch can include fish, turtles, seabirds, marine mammals, whales, sharks, and dolphins. It is estimated that between 18 and 40 million tons of bycatch are discarded annually by commercial fishing vessels using non-selective fishing equipment like trawler nets, drift nets, and longlines.[4][7]
• trawlers: Commercial fishing vessels that drag large nets along the ocean floor to harvest bottom-dwelling species like shrimp, flounder, cod, and rockfishes. This practice wreaks destruction upon the ocean floor habitat and sea life such as corals, clearing miles in a single pass and creating a dead zone that may take centuries to rejuvenate.[8]

External links

• Cape Cod Commercial Hook Fishermen's Association (CCCHFA) The CCCHFA is working to build sustainable fisheries
• Monterey Bay Aquarium - Seafood Resources Sustainable seafood sources
• Oceans Alive - sustainable seafood choices
• US Department of Agriculture - National Organic Standards
• Marine Conservation Biology Institute
• Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute
• Sierra Club - Preserving the Ocean's Bounty by Eating Wisely