Monterey Bay Aquarium is committed to inspiring conservation of the oceans. The Seafood Watch program was developed by the aquarium to research and evaluate wild-caught and farmed seafood. The result is comprehensive seafood sustainability recommendations for the major seafood species consumed in the United States. Seafood Watch defines sustainable seafood as from sources, whether fish or farmed, that can maintain or increase production into the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or function of affected ecosystems.

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; conduct outreach and marketing to generate awareness that will motivate consumers and business to support sustainable sources of seafood; and, conduct scientifically rigorous analyses and make these analyses accessible to the public or other seafood users groups.

New Criteria & Methodology - Starting January 2012

Ratings for Products on FishChoice

Previous Criteria & Methodology - Prior to January 2012

New Criteria & Methodology - Starting January 2012

Wild Fisheries Criteria

1. Impacts of Fishery on the Stock in Question

1.1 Inherent resilience of the stock

1.2 Health of the stock

1.3 Fishing pressure

2. Impacts on Other Species

2.1 Inherent Resilience of the bycatch and other retained stocks

2.2 Health of the bycatch and other retained stocks

2.3 Mortality caused by this fishery on bycatch and other retained stocks

2.4 Secondary factor: discards and bait use

3. Effectiveness of Management

3.1 Management of fishery's impacts on fished stocks

3.2 Management of fishery's impacts on bycatch species

4. Habitat & Ecosystem Effects

4.1 Impact of fishing gear on the substrate

4.2 Modifying factor: mitigation of fishing gear impacts

4.3 Ecosystem and food web considerations

Aquaculture Criteria

1. Data

1.1 Data relevance

1.2 Data quality

2. Effluent

2.1 Waste discharged per ton of fish

2.2 Management of farm-level and cumulative impacts

3. Habitat

3.1 Habitat conversion and function

3.2 Farm siting management effectiveness

3.3X Predator and wildlife mortalities

4. Chemical Use

4.1 Evidence or risk of chemicals use

5. Feed

5.1 Wild fish use

5.2 Net protein gain or loss

5.3 Feed footprint

6. Escapes and Introduced Species

6.1 Escape of principal farmed species

6.2X Escape of unintentionally introduced species

7. Disease, Pathogen and Parasite Interaction

7.1 Disease, pathogen and parasite interaction

8. Source of Stock - Independence from Wild Fish Stocks

8.1 Independence from Wild Fish Stocks

Developing Recommendations

Step 1. Prioritize seafood for assessment

Step 2. Assemble seafood information

Step 3. Create a draft Seafood Watch Report

Step 4. Review Process

Phase I - Internal Process Review

Phase II - Internal Science Review

Phase III - External Peer Review

Step 5. Seafood Watch Ranking Session

Step 6. Official Seafood Watch Report & Recommendations Published

	Best Choice	Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.
Wild Fisheries-  Final score ≥ 3.2 and scores for Criteria 1, 3 and 4 are all ≥ 2.2 and Criterion 2 subscore ≥ 2.2
Aquaculture-   Final score between 6.666 and 10, and no Red criteria, and no Critical scores
	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.
Wild Fisheries-  Final score ≥ 2.2 and Criterion 3 ≥ 2.2 and (Final score ≤ 3.2 or scores for Criteria 1 & 4 ≤ 2.2 or Criterion 2 subscore ≤ 2.2)
Aquaculture-  Final score between 3.333 and 6.666, and/or one Red criterion, and no Critical scores
	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.
Wild Fisheries-  Final score < 2.2 or score for Criterion 3 < 2.2 or any one criterion has a critical score or two or more of the following are < 2.2: Criterion 1 score, Criterion 2 subscore, Criterion 4 score
Aquaculture-  Final score between 0 and 3.333, or more than one Red criterion, or one or more Critical scores

	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.

Previous Criteria & Methodology - Prior to January 2012

Seafood Watch's framework for developing seafood recommendations follows these steps:

For both wild capture fisheries and farm-raised seafood there are five criteria used in developing the final recommendations. For wild seafood, the criteria are:

The criteria for farm-raised seafood are:

For each of the above criteria, there are several factors that are considered in evaluating the fishery against each criterion. The criteria are evaluated on a scale of "conservation concern" - which has four grades: low, moderate, high, and critical. The overall Seafood Watch recommendations are developed with the methodology described below with definitions included:

Click here to view a list of Seafood Watch "Best Choice" products and visit Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program's website to learn more.