Seafood and the Environment: "Best and Worst List"

LuvMySoldier · **Seafood and the Environment: "Best and Worst List"**

We keep hearing about the health benefits of eating fish, but at the same time, we're warned that eating too much fish could expose us to unsafe levels of mercury and PCBs (industrial chemicals). There's also overfishing, pollution and habitat destruction to consider. So what's a responsible consumer to do?

By following a few guidelines from the Environmental Defense group's Oceans Alive project, you can minimize your risk and learn how to make smart choices that are good for you and for the oceans.

Where are your favorites on the lists?

Oceans Alive's "Eco-Best" picks are high in healthy omega-3 fatty acids and low in contaminants, and are caught or farmed in an environmentally responsible manner:

Abalone (U.S. farmed)
Anchovies
Arctic char (farmed)
Catfish (U.S. farmed)
Caviar (U.S. farmed)
Clams (farmed)
Crab - Dungeness, snow (Canada),
stone
Crawfish (U.S.)
Halibut - Pacific (Alaska)
Herring - Atlantic (U.S., Canada)
Mackerel - Atlantic
Mahimahi (U.S. Atlantic) Mussels (farmed)
Oysters (farmed)
Sablefish/black cod (Alaska)
Salmon - wild (Alaska),
canned pink/sockeye
Sardines
Scallops - bay (farmed)
Shrimp - northern (Canada),
Oregon pink, U.S. farmed
Spot prawns
Striped bass (farmed)
Sturgeon (U.S. farmed)
Tilapia (U.S.)

(Excerpted from Environmental Defense's "Oceans Alive" project.)

"Eco-Worst" fish are high in mercury or PCBs, and farming them takes a considerable toll on the environment:

Caviar (wild) Salmon - Atlantic (farmed)
Chilean seabass/toothfish Shark
Cod - Atlantic Shrimp/prawns (imported)
Grouper Skate
Halibut - Atlantic Snapper
Marlin Sturgeon (wild)
Monkfish/goosefish Swordfish (imported)
Orange roughy Tilefish
Rockfish/rock cod (Pacific) Tuna - bluefin

Tip: If labels and menus aren't descriptive, safe choices are generally anchovies, catfish, clams, Dungeness and stone crabs, crawfish, Pacific halibut, Atlantic herring, mussels, wild or Alaskan salmon, sardines and bay scallops.

Tip: Many fish are similar in flavor and texture, so try substituting well-managed species for depleted ones, such as farmed striped bass for orange roughy.

(Excerpted from Environmental Defense's "Oceans Alive" project.)

(Borrowed from iGo Green > Seafood Smarts > Making choices that are good for you and the oceans)