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How to Eat Ethically

Monkfish
A fish to avoid...Monkfish in the New Fulton Market, South Bronx. Ethical seafood guides and Web sites typically divide the fish in markets and on menus into best choices, good alternatives, and species to avoid. After a decade of fish eating, and a year and a half of visiting markets and reading menus worldwide, I've come to my own conclusions about what is sustainable. The following partial list, though compiled with reference to major seafood-choice guides, is a personal one, with commonly available species divvied up according to whether, and how often, I eat them. The italicized words summarize the issues associated with a species, and the figure in parentheses is its average trophic number—its rank on the food chain between one and five—based on its diet. With a few exceptions, the higher the number, the more likely a species is to be overfished, and the greater its risk of containing contaminants. You'll find the full list, along with complete explanations, in the appendix of Bottomfeeder.

No, Never
Bluefin tuna. Overfished. Mercury. (4.43)
Cod, Atlantic. Fished by pirate vessels. Bottom-trawled. (4.42)
Halibut, Atlantic. Mercury. Bottom-trawled. (4.53)
Chilean sea bass. Longlines, bottom-trawls. Mercury. Pirate vessels. (3.96)
Grouper. Longlined. Mercury. (3.60)
Monkfish...

Depends, Sometimes
Abalone. Illegally fished. (2.00)
Anchovy. Overfished. (3.11)
Catfish. Antibiotics. (3.87)
Clams. Dredged. (2.00)
Cod, Pacific. Trawled. (4.01)
Crab. (Blue crab, 2.60)
Haddock. (4.09)
Lobster...

Absolutely, Always
Arctic char; barramundi. (4.26; 4.35)
Halibut, Pacific. (4.13)
Herring. (3.23)
Jellyfish. (2.00)
Mackerel. (3.65)
Mullet. (2.13)
Oysters, mussels... and many more.


Sustainable Seafood Web Sites
www.seafoodwatch.org (or search for "Seafood Watch.") UNITED STATES
The Monterey Bay Aquarium's easy-to-use Seafood Watch card divides leading seafood species available in the United States into three columns: red for "Avoid," yellow for "Good Alternatives," and green for "Best Choices." You can download and print out wallet-sized regional guides (from the Northeast to Hawaii), or simply enter the name of a fish in their searchable database...

www.fishonline.org (or search for "FishOnline.") UNITED KINGDOM
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), a British charity founded in 1977, has made its pocket Good Fish Guide available online; it divides leading seafood species available in Britain into "Fish to Avoid" and "Fish to Eat"...

www.seachoice.org (or search for "SeaChoice.") CANADA
Sustainable Seafood Canada, a coalition of conservation organizations (among them the David Suzuki Foundation and the British Columbia branch of the Sierra Club), has created the easy-to-use SeaChoice wallet card, which divides leading seafood species available in Canada into three columns: red for "Avoid," yellow for "Some Concerns," and green for "Best Choice"...

www.msc.org (or search for "Marine Stewardship Council")
This independent organization assesses capture fisheries (for wild-caught, as opposed to farmed, seafood) around the world...

www.fishbase.org (or search for "FishBase")
A fish can go by many names, and these aliases can be the bane of seafood buying. The Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia has created a searchable database, originally intended for scientists, of thirty thousand fish species worldwide...

www.iucnredlist.org (or search for "World Conservation Union")
This Switzerland-based conservation organization's Web site offers a searchable database of its red list of threatened species; think twice about buying marine species listed as "VU" (Vulnerable) and especially "EN" (Endangered) and "CR" (Critically Endangered)...

www.gotmercury.org (or search for "Got Mercury")
This simple calculator determines the amount of mercury you are getting from seafood. Enter the name of the fish, your weight, and the serving size, and the site will calculate the percentage of the safe weekly allowance of mercury you will be getting...

For more tips on eating ethically, including detailed descriptions of fishing gear, questions to ask your fishmonger, and a list of principles for choosing seafood, consult the Appendix of Bottomfeeder.



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  How to Eat Ethically

Monkfish
A fish to avoid...Monkfish in the New Fulton Market, South Bronx. Ethical seafood guides and Web sites typically divide the fish in markets and on menus into best choices, good alternatives, and species to avoid. After a decade of fish eating, and a year and a half of visiting markets and reading menus worldwide, I've come to my own conclusions about what is sustainable. The following partial list, though compiled with reference to major seafood-choice guides, is a personal one, with commonly available species divvied up according to whether, and how often, I eat them. The italicized words summarize the issues associated with a species, and the figure in parentheses is its average trophic number--its rank on the food chain between one and five--based on its diet. With a few exceptions, the higher the number, the more likely a species is to be overfished, and the greater its risk of containing contaminants. You'll find the full list, along with complete explanations, in the appendix of Bottomfeeder.

No, Never
Bluefin tuna. Overfished. Mercury. (4.43)
Cod, Atlantic. Fished by pirate vessels. Bottom-trawled. (4.42)
Halibut, Atlantic. Mercury. Bottom-trawled. (4.53)
Chilean sea bass. Longlines, bottom-trawls. Mercury. Pirate vessels. (3.96)
Grouper. Longlined. Mercury. (3.60)
Monkfish...

Depends, Sometimes
Abalone. Illegally fished. (2.00)
Anchovy. Overfished. (3.11)
Catfish. Antibiotics. (3.87)
Clams. Dredged. (2.00)
Cod, Pacific. Trawled. (4.01)
Crab. (Blue crab, 2.60)
Haddock. (4.09)
Lobster...

Absolutely, Always
Arctic char; barramundi. (4.26; 4.35)
Halibut, Pacific. (4.13)
Herring. (3.23)
Jellyfish. (2.00)
Mackerel. (3.65)
Mullet. (2.13)
Oysters, mussels... and many more.


Sustainable Seafood Web Sites
www.seafoodwatch.org (or search for "Seafood Watch.") UNITED STATES
The Monterey Bay Aquarium's easy-to-use Seafood Watch card divides leading seafood species available in the United States into three columns: red for "Avoid," yellow for "Good Alternatives," and green for "Best Choices." You can download and print out wallet-sized regional guides (from the Northeast to Hawaii), or simply enter the name of a fish in their searchable database...

www.fishonline.org (or search for "FishOnline.") UNITED KINGDOM
The Marine Conservation Society (MCS), a British charity founded in 1977, has made its pocket Good Fish Guide available online; it divides leading seafood species available in Britain into "Fish to Avoid" and "Fish to Eat"...

www.seachoice.org (or search for "SeaChoice.") CANADA
Sustainable Seafood Canada, a coalition of conservation organizations (among them the David Suzuki Foundation and the British Columbia branch of the Sierra Club), has created the easy-to-use SeaChoice wallet card, which divides leading seafood species available in Canada into three columns: red for "Avoid," yellow for "Some Concerns," and green for "Best Choice"...

www.msc.org (or search for "Marine Stewardship Council")
This independent organization assesses capture fisheries (for wild-caught, as opposed to farmed, seafood) around the world...

www.fishbase.org (or search for "FishBase")
A fish can go by many names, and these aliases can be the bane of seafood buying. The Fisheries Centre at the University of British Columbia has created a searchable database, originally intended for scientists, of thirty thousand fish species worldwide...

www.iucnredlist.org (or search for "World Conservation Union")
This Switzerland-based conservation organization's Web site offers a searchable database of its red list of threatened species; think twice about buying marine species listed as "VU" (Vulnerable) and especially "EN" (Endangered) and "CR" (Critically Endangered)...

www.gotmercury.org (or search for "Got Mercury")
This simple calculator determines the amount of mercury you are getting from seafood. Enter the name of the fish, your weight, and the serving size, and the site will calculate the percentage of the safe weekly allowance of mercury you will be getting...

For more tips on eating ethically, including detailed descriptions of fishing gear, questions to ask your fishmonger, and a list of principles for choosing seafood, consult the Appendix of Bottomfeeder.