Sustainable Seafood: What to Eat and What to Avoid
Our quick-and-easy guide to best and worst seafood species for the planet's health.
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Our guide to the most and least sustainable seafood species in the sea.
What are the best (and worst) fish to eat for the planet’s health? Here’s a guide to help you decide. For more information on sustainable species and to download a seafood guide for your region, visit seafoodwatch.org or download Monterey Bay Aquarium’s free Seafood Watch app.
Best Choices
- Bass: striped (US hook & line, farmed)
- Catfish (US)
- Clams, mussels, and oysters
- Sablefish/black cod
- Salmon (wild Alaskan)
- Sardines (Pacific)
- Shrimp (wild Alaskan, US farmed)
- Tilapia (US and Ecuador)
- Trout: rainbow (US farmed)
- Tuna: albacore/white canned (US and Canada, troll, pole), skipjack/light canned (FAD free,US troll, pole) and yellowfin (US troll, pole)
See also Good Catch: How to Find the Healthiest Eco-friendly Fish
Worst Choices
- Abalone (China and Japan only)
- Crab: canned (imported)
- Mahi Mahi (imported; US and Ecuador are OK)
- Orange roughy
- Rockfish (Canada trawl)
- Salmon (farmed Atlantic)
- Sharks
- Squid (imported; US is OK)
- Swordfish (imported; US is OK)
- Tuna: albacore/white canned (except Canada & US troll, pole, and US longline), bluefin & skipjack/light canned (imported longline and purse seine), and yellowfin (except troll, pole, and US longline)
See also 3 Simple Seafood Shopping Strategies