NOAA Fisheries
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. This agency is the leading U.S. authority on marine fisheries science and management. NOAA Fisheries manages over 500 stocks under 10 National Standards that include minimizing bycatch, protecting marine habitats, and setting appropriate annual harvest levels based on scientific assessments and surveys. As a result, U.S. fisheries are among the most sustainable in the world.
FishWatch
Consumers still have a lot of questions about seafood. Most know seafood is an important part of a healthy diet but where can they get more information? FishWatch.gov, a NOAA-sponsored website, helps answer common consumer questions about seafood and profiles favorite species, including salmon, shrimp, scallop, and crabs. FishWatch also highlights aquaculture, which is also called fish or shellfish farming. Aquaculture supplies about half the seafood consumed by humans globally and that number is expected to grow. Farmed seafood accounts for about half of all the seafood imported by the U.S. each year. To find out more about aquaculture, visit NOAA’s website at Aquaculture.noaa.gov.
Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI)
NOAA Fisheries measures the sustainability of the Nation’s fisheries through the Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI). The FSSI tracks the status of rebuilding and maintaining 230 commercially and recreationally important stocks and complexes. The index incorporates critical components of managing fisheries - controlling harvest rates, maintaining population size, and increasing knowledge about the status of fish stocks and complexes.
The FSSI is calculated by assigning a score for each fish stock or complex based on the five criteria below. A fish stock or complex “earns” points when we know its status and when that status is at or above a certain level deemed optimal for the stock. The score increases as additional assessments are conducted, overfishing is ended, and stocks rebuild to the level that provides maximum sustainable yield for the fishery (BMSY, the largest amount of catch the resource can sustain). The FSSI has improved by over 60% since 2000 and quarterly updates are provided. More information on the FSSI is available online.
FSSI Scoring Table
| RULE |
SCORE |
| 1. Stock has known status determinations: |
|
-Overfishing status known |
0.5 |
-Overfished status known |
0.5 |
| 2. Fishing rate is below the overfishing level determined for the stock (i.e. no overfishing) |
1.0 |
| 3. Stock abundance (biomass) is above the minimum stock size threshold defined for the stock (i.e. not overfished) |
1.0 |
| 4. Biomass is at or above 80% of maximum sustainable yield (BMSY) (this point is in addition to the point awarded for being above the overfished level) |
1.0 |
| TOTAL POSSIBLE |
4.0 |
Explanations of "overfishing" and "overfished:"
- Overfishing refers to the rate of fishing. Overfishing occurs when the rate of removal from a stock is too high, i.e. more fish are being taken from the stock such that the remaining stock can't self-replenish. A priority for the U.S. is ending overfishing so that all stocks have continuous self-sustaining populations.
- Overfished refers to a population stock that is too low to replenish itself and requires a change in management practices to rebuild. In the U.S., overfished stocks are required to be managed under rebuidling plans that, over time, will return the stock to a prescribed threshold.
FishChoice.com includes all FSSI scores for seafood products from U.S. fisheries that are part of the index on the product detail pages. 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 |
NOAA Fisheries' FSSI Summaries on FishChoice