| Bad Fish |
Why you shouldn’t eat them |
| beluga sturgeon (beluga caviar) |
overfished and unmanaged |
| Chilean seabass (Patagonian
toothfish) |
reaches sexual maturity
very slowly; long-line fishing results in numerous albatross
deaths |
| clams, dredged |
habitat destruction through
capture |
| groupers |
Most species overfished;
in many species, large adults are all males |
| lingcod |
OK if from Alaska; overfished
off West Coast |
| monkfish |
overfished |
| orange roughy (slimehead) |
overfished; reaches sexual
maturity very slowly |
| oysters, dredged |
habitat destruction
through capture |
| rockfish (Pacific red snapper,
rock cod) |
overfished; slow-growing
|
| salmon, Atlantic |
wild stocks overfished;
farmed escapees dilute gene pool; farms pollute oceans; wild
fish populations depleted to feed farmed fish |
| scallops, dredged |
habitat destruction through
capture |
| sharks (shark cartilage, shark
fin) |
many species overfished; slow-growing; produce
few young |
| shrimp and prawns, farmed
|
farming destroys mangrove forests, pollutes
the environment with antibiotics and waste, and wild fish
populations depleted to feed farmed shrimp |
| shrimp and prawns, trawled |
trawling damages the seabed, massive bycatch |
| swordfish |
severely overfished, bycatch kills loggerhead
sea turtles and albatross |
| tuna, bluefin (maguro) |
overfished |
| |
| Iffy to
eat |
Why you
should think twice before eating them |
| crab, Alaskan king |
managed, but becoming overfished |
| crab, snow |
managed, but heavily fished |
| lobster (clawed, American,
Maine) |
managed, but heavily overfished |
| snappers, tropical (huachinango) |
most species overfished;
larvae die in shrimp trawl nets |
| sole (petrale, English,
Dover) |
most soles and flatfishes
are caught by trawl fishing, an ecologically destructive practice
that often results in excessive bycatch |
| spiny lobsters (crayfish) |
slow growing; overfished
almost everywhere except Cuba and Australia |
| |
| Good Fish |
Why they’re
OK to eat |
| anchovies |
fast-growing; abundant |
| bluefish, Atlantic |
fast-growing; abundant |
| catfish, farmed |
fast-growing; herbivorous;
raised in ponds |
| cod, Pacific |
abundant; well-regulated
fishery |
| crayfish (crawfish, crawdad) |
appropriately farmed |
| crab, Dungeness |
well-regulated fishery |
| herring, sardines |
abundant in certain seas |
| halibut, Pacific (Alaskan
halibut) |
abundant; well-regulated
fishery |
| hoki |
a well-managed fishery |
| mackerel |
fast-growing |
| mahi-mahi (dorado, dolphinfish) |
fast-growing; mature
rapidly |
| mussels, black and green-lipped
|
can be farmed without
major environmental impact |
| oysters, farmed |
may help clean waters;
those raised in nets don’t disturb seabed |
| pollock, Pacific (surimi,
krab) |
not overfished but competes
with declining Steller sea lions prawns, white-spotted capture
by trapping has no bycatch |
| salmon, wild (Alaskan &
Californian) |
many stocks sensibly
managed |
| scallops, farmed |
abundant |
| shrimp, pink |
abundant; captured
without environmental damage |
| squid (calamari) |
abundant; most die after
one year |
| striped bass, farmed |
inland ponds have little
environmental impact |
| sturgeon, farmed |
controlled inland rearing
ponds with little environmental impact |
| tilapia, farmed |
fast-growing; eat plants
not other fish |
| trout, farmed |
raised in freshwater
ponds with little environmental impact |
| tuna, Pacific albacore (tombo
tuna) |
well-regulated fishery causes
little or no bycatch. |
| tuna, yellowfin (ahi) |
abundant; fairly well-managed
fishery; “dolphin safe” labeling and monitoring program reduces
dolphin kills |
