The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program provides comprehensive seafood sustainability recommendations useful for any U.S. seafood buyer. In addition, Seafood Watch provides resources for seafood retailers and restaurants including training materials, tools specific to the professional seafood buyer, consumer pocket guides (wallet cards that tell consumers what seafood is ranked in each of their color categories) and other point of purchase (POP) materials. Complete information about the program, including science-based, peer-reviewed reports on over 300 farmed and wild-caught seafood items, can be found on their website, www.SeafoodWatch.org

Seafood Watch developed a seafood ranking system and methodology that uses green for best choices, yellow for good alternatives and red for products to avoid. Many other NGOs use a ranking system that is based on the Seafood Watch methodology. Seafood Watch recommendations are updated regularly and made available to the seafood industry as well as consumers on tools ranging from convenient pocket guides to comprehensive listings.

Since its inception in 2000, Seafood Watch has distributed over 30 million pocket guides. Seafood Watch is currently working with the two largest food service providers in the U.S. to help them shift their seafood purchases towards sustainable sources and has over 190 partner organizations in North America that help spread the word and distribute Seafood Watch pocket guides to their visitors and customers. 

Products in the Seafood Watch ranking system may be ranked in two ways:

GREEN		Best Choice; Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
YELLOW		Good Alternative; Species is an option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.

To learn more about the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch program please www.seafoodwatch.org.