Skip to main content

How to Sustainably Shop for Seafood, Made Simple

From nature to nutrition, the ocean and its wildlife play a vital role in our everyday lives. For us to continue to enjoy all this delicate ecosystem has to offer, we must take steps to protect and preserve it.

Related Guides

Related Videos

One of the simplest ways to have a positive impact on our natural waterways is by making sustainable choices when shopping for seafood. Purchasing fish and seafood that has been caught or farmed in ways that are minimally invasive or damaging to the ocean’s environment is the best way to ethically eat all of the fruits of the sea.

Knowing how to identify the most sustainable seafood does require a little bit of knowledge but these resources will make it easier to navigate these waters.

What Does Sustainability Mean?

Sustainable seafood is wild or farmed and harvested in an environmentally safe manner with the least amount of impact on the ocean ecosystems and surrounding wildlife.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program is the standard for sustainability resources. Seafood Watch works with fishing industries around the world to ensure that seafood is produced in an ethical and environmentally responsible way. 

Seafood Watch believes that environmental protection, social responsibility, and economic viability are the key to making sure the fisheries and aquaculture we rely on for food and livelihoods are healthy for humans and the ocean for years to come. 

Seafood Watch also works to promote regulations like enforceable catch limits to prevent species from being exploited and overfished, and addresses illegal fishing and destructive harvesting methods like bycatch — the unintentional capture of other marine species such as dolphins and sea turtles in fishing nets. 

Farming and Catch Methods

Wild Caught

Wild-caught seafood is harvested by fishermen in the fish’s natural habitats. While this method tends to produce the freshest, most nutritious fish with a lower environmental impact, wild fisheries have to make sure that the fish populations are not being overfished, and fishing gear that is used has the least impact on the surrounding habitats to ensure sustainability.

Farm-Raised

Farmed or Aquaculture fished seafood is commercially raised in controlled environments and was created as a way to produce lower cost seafood while also addressing the problems with overfishing wild-caught populations.

Farm-raised fish makes up about 90% of the fish consumption within the U.S. and in the past, the industry has faced many issues due to poor standards, genetic modifications, and pollution. However, governments and farmers have begun to regulate farmed fish and adopt healthier practices like reducing environmental damage, disease, and pollution, and limiting the use of wild fish as feed. Properly implemented, aquaculture can be a very sustainable seafood source.

Fish Aggregating Device

Any fishes caught using a fish aggregating device (FAD) should always be avoided. This method is typically used in tuna fishing, employs a giant net attached to the ocean floor to catch a wide group of animals, many of which shouldn’t be harvested, and causes devastating habitat damage. Many countries have moved to ban the use of FADs in commercial fishing.

Sustainable Shopping Tips

Local

Buying from local fisheries not only supports the local economy but involves seafood that is usually caught in more environmentally sustainable ways. Smaller fisheries use catch methods like handlines, pots, and traps or diving, which have a lower impact on the surrounding ecosystems.

Many of the fish in stores is farm-raised overseas and imported from countries with less sustainable regulations than the U.S. These fish can often contain high levels of antibiotics and chemicals that aren’t held to the same standards of sustainability and quality as the American fisheries.

Season

Like most foods, seasonality plays a huge part in their availability and sustainability. Since fish are migrating creatures, knowing what is in season in your area will guarantee you the freshest and eco-friendliest options.

Variety

The “Big 5” (Cod, Haddock, Tuna, Salmon, and Prawns) are the most consumed seafood in America and this high demand can lead to the issues of overfishing, harmful catch methods, habitat destruction, and overuse of antibiotics that we are now working to address.

Shopping for alternative seafood species — like rainbow trout, mullet, sardines, and mackerel — is a great way to get the same nutrients, expand your culinary palate, and encourage the sustainability of the fisheries by reducing the pressure on other species and allowing them to rebound.

Seafood Markets

Whether you are at the farmers market or a grocery store, buying from the fish counter is the best way to get the freshest seafood and the expert at the counter can usually direct you to the most sustainable options.

Stores like Whole Foods work with Seafood Watch to label their fish for sustainability and there is also an app from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch which can be used to identify fish they consider to be best choices or good alternatives and those you want to avoid.

Frozen Seafood

Shopping for previously frozen seafood is a healthy and affordable option that benefits from learning about the fish on the packaging.

Seafood labeled with a logo from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC), or Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) will identify that the seafood has come from an American or sustainable overseas fishery.

Stores like Whole Foods, Costco, Safeway, and Stop & Shop all have sustainable seafood brands.

Canned Fish

Tinned tuna fish will be labeled with the same sustainability logos as fresh and frozen. When shopping for tuna, it is important to note the “pole caught” harvesting methods to avoid products made from farming methods like FADS that can cause bycatch.

There are tuna brands like Safe Catch, Wild Planet, and American Tuna that are known for being sustainably caught.

Editors' Recommendations

Improve your skin and eyes with these delicious foods high in vitamin A
Want more vitamin A in your life? Here are some foods that are full of the essential nutrient, which is great for your overall health
Foods high in vitamin A.

Most of us know that vitamin A is good for us, helping our eyes function at their very best. But there are plenty of other benefits as well, from dealing with inflammation and promoting healthy skin cells, keeping cancer at bay and giving an assist to the immune system. Not enough? Well, vitamin A is good for your bones too.

Think of vitamin A as a two-pronged essential nutrient. There's preformed vitamin A found in things like fish and carotenoids, which tend to show up in produce and plant-based foods. What's the best way to get your daily intake (an estimated 900 mcg for the average man)? A well-balanced diet, of course. But there are definitely some things work targeting the next time you're at the farmer's market or grocery store.

Read more
How to break a fast — the 7 best foods to eat
What to eat (and drink) when you're ready to chow down after a fast
Bowls of bone broth on a tray

Although fasting has been practiced for thousands of years, it has become uniquely popular in the last decade thanks to the proliferation and popularity of intermittent fasting. Some people practice time-restricted eating, which involves limiting your eating window to a certain number of hours per day and extending the overnight fasting timeframe. For example, 18/6 intermittent fasting would entail fasting for 18 hours per day, typically overnight, then doing all of your eating during a six-hour window in the daylight hours. In this scenario, you might have your first meal of the day at noon, finish your last meal at 6 p.m., and then fast overnight until the following day at noon. 
Other people practice alternate-day fasting, which essentially involves a 24-hour water fast followed by a full day of regular eating in a cyclical pattern. Others just do an occasional 24-hour fast when they feel comfortable doing so. As the name implies, this means you won't eat for a full 24-hour window. Keeping hydrated with water intake is always allowed in any safe fasting program.
When you're practicing intermittent fasting or engaging in occasional fasting, the focus is typically on getting through the fasting window until it's time to eat again, rather than what you will actually eat when the fast has lifted.
What are the best foods to break a fast? What foods should you avoid after fasting? Keep reading to find out!

The 7 best foods to eat to break a fast
Here are some of the best foods to eat after fasting:

Read more
Did you know these popular foods are high in saturated fat?
The foods high in saturated fat you may want to cut out of your diet
An array of meats and cheeses.

Saturated fat is a fat that is solid when at room temperature. This happens because all of the carbon molecules are connected by double bonds. Butter is an example of one of the foods high in saturated fat. On the other hand, olive oil contains unsaturated fats, and that is why it is liquid at room temperature rather than solid.
Diets high in saturated fat have long been associated with raising “bad” LDL cholesterol levels and increasing the risk of heart disease, cardiovascular disease, and certain inflammatory conditions. However, there is also newer evidence potentially debunking this thinking, as some studies show that certain saturated fats, such as those found in coconut, can actually lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Most nutritionists and dietitians suggest limiting your intake of processed saturated fats—such as those in hot dogs, doughnuts, or mayonnaise—to no more than 10% of your daily caloric intake or a daily value of 20 grams. Instead, focus on foods high in monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, such as anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. Not sure what kind of fat is in your favorite foods? Keep reading for a list of foods high in saturated fats, and see if you can replace some of them with healthier options.

Read more