SUSTAINABLE SEAFOOD PROGRAMS

Fishchoice is excited to be collaborating with the following organizations to make sustainable seafood easily understood and accessible. Each organization has unique offerings to the seafood industry. Brief descriptions are included here and more comprehensive information is available on each organization from the corresponding links.

 

SEAFOOD RATING & SCORING PROGRAMS

• Seafood Watch by Monterey Bay Aquarium
• Blue Ocean Institute
• New England Aquarium
• FishWise
• SeaChoice
• Ocean Wise
• NOAA Fisheries' FishWatch

 

SEAFOOD CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

• Food Alliance
• Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

 

 

Seafood Watch Program by Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Seafood Watch program researches and evaluates wild-caught and farmed seafood. Seafood Watch's mission is to empower consumers and businesses to make choices for healthy oceans. The goal is to shift the buying habits of consumers and businesses to support sustainable fisheries and aquaculture operations. Seafood Watch is committed to providing seafood recommendations and background information to enable consumers and businesses to make more environmentally sound decisions. The program provides comprehensive seafood recommendations for the primary seafood consumed in the United States. Click here to learn more about the Seafood Watch program.

 

	Best Choice	Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
	Good Alternative	Species is still a good option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.
	Avoid	Species may be overfished, there may be unacceptably high levels of bycatch, and/or the fish is caught or farmed in ways that have deleterious impacts on affected ecosystems.

 

 

Blue Ocean Institute

Blue Ocean Institute developed a comprehensive seafood analysis and methodology referred to as the Guide to Ocean Friendly Seafood. This methodology addresses both wild and farmed seafood with five criteria.  For more details about the Blue Ocean Institute seafood program, click here.

 

	Green	Species is relatively abundant, and fishing/farming methods cause little damage to habitat and other wildlife.
	Light Green	Species has medium to high levels of abundance, or fishing/farming methods cause some damage to the environment.
	Yellow	Some problems exist with this species' status or catch/farming methods, or information is insufficient for evaluating.
	Orange	Species abundance is generally low, or fishing/farming methods typically have large environmental impact.
	Red	Species has a combination of problems such as overfishing, high bycatch, and poor management; or farming methods have serious environmental impacts.

 

	A-List	Preferred Ocean-Friendly choice
	B-List	Acceptable alternative

 

 

FishWise

FishWise is a non-profit organization designed to improve the sustainability of seafood carried by retailers, distributors and producers using the most credible certification and ratings available by government, industry, and non-governmental organizations. FishWise usings Seafood Watch ratings in its programs, click here for more details about FishWise. 

 

	Best Choice	Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
	Good Alternative	Species is still a good option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.
	Avoid	Species may be overfished, there may be unacceptably high levels of bycatch, and/or the fish is caught or farmed in ways that have deleterious impacts on affected ecosystems.

 

 

SeaChoice

Five organizations-Canadian Parks & Wilderness Society –BC Chapter, David Suzuki Foundation, Ecology Action Centre, Living Oceans Society, and the Sierra Club BC formed SeaChoice to help Canadians support sustainable seafood and aquaculture. SeaChoice uses Seafood Watch ratings in its programs, click here to learn more about SeaChoice.

 

	Best Choice	Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
	Some Concerns	Species is still a good option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.
	Avoid	Species may be overfished, there may be unacceptably high levels of bycatch, and/or the fish is caught or farmed in ways that have deleterious impacts on affected ecosystems.

 

 

Ocean Wise

Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program created to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood. Ocean Wise works directly with restaurants, markets, food services and suppliers ensuring that they have the most current scientific information regarding seafood and helping them make ocean-friendly buying decisions. To learn more about Ocean Wise click here.

 

	Recommended	Sustainable
	Not Recommended	Unsustainable

 

 

NOAA Fisheries' FishWatch

Most seafood certification and ratings programs for U.S. fisheries are based on scientific data and monitoring provided by the federal government through NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), also known as NOAA Fisheries. FishWatch.gov, a NOAA-sponsored website, helps answer common questions about seafood and sustainability. NOAA Fisheries measures the sustainability of the Nation’s fisheries through the Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI). FishChoice.com includes all FSSI scores for seafood products from U.S. fisheries that are part of the index on the product detail pages. To learn more about FishWatch click here.

FSSI Scoring Interpretation:

0	=Neither overfishing nor overfished status is known
0.5	=One status is known and occurring; either stock is overfished or overfishing is occuring
1.0	=Stock is overfished and overfishing is occurring
1.5	=One status is known and not occurring; stock is either not overfished or no overfishing is occurring
2.0	=Both statuses are known and either stock is not overfished or overfishing is not occuring
2.5	=Stock is not overfished, biomass is at or above 80% BMSY but overfishing status is not known
3.0	=Both statuses are known; either overfishing is occurring and stock is not overfished and biomass is above 80% BMSY or overfishing is not occurring and stock is not overfished but biomass is not above 80% BMSY
4.0	=Stock is not overfished, overfishing is not occurring and biomass is at or above 80% BMSY

 

 

SEAFOOD CERTIFICATION PROGRAMS

 

Food Alliance

Food Alliance is a non-profit organization that certifies farms, ranches, food processors and distributors for sustainable agriculture and management practices. Food Alliance developed a certification program for oysters, clams, geoducks, and mussels. The certification demonstrates social and environmental responsibility and organizations are certified by a third party process.  For more details about Food Alliance shellfish certification, click here.

 

 

Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

The Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) operates a global seafood certification program where wild capture fisheries can become certified as sustainable. Fisheries are certified against a rigorous, scientific methodology by an independent third-party accredited certifier during the MSC Full Assessment process. The MSC sustainable fisheries standard has three overarching principles that every fishery must prove that it meets: sustainable fish stocks; minimizing environmental impact; and effective management.  To learn more about the Marine Stewardship Council please click here.