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Seafood Watch Logo Seafood Watch was developed by the Monterey Bay 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.

Seafood Recommendations | New Criteria & Methodology (> Jan. 2012) | Previous Criteria & Methodology (< Jan. 2012)

Seafood Recommendations

Final Score for Wild Fisheries = geometric mean of the four scores (Criterion 1-4).
Final Score for Aquaculture = geometric mean of the eight scores (Criterion 1-8).

Symbol	Seafood Rating	Seafood Rating Summary	Seafood Watch Scoring
	best choice*	Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.	Wild Fisheries: Final score > 3.2 and no individual criterion scores of "Red" or "Critical"
			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 neither Management factor scores (3.1 & 3.2) are Red (<= 2.2) and no more than one criterion score of Red and no Critical scores, and doesn't meet criteria for "Best Choice."
			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 one/both Management factor scores (3.1 & 3.2) are Red (<= 2.2), or two or more criteria score Red, or one or more Critical criteria scores.
			Aquaculture: Final score between 0 and 3.333, or more than one Red criterion, or one or more Critical scores

Because effective management is an essential component of sustainable fisheries, Seafood Watch issues an Avoid recommendation for any fishery scoring Red for Management (Criterion 3).

*Products posted on FishChoice primarily under the Seafood Watch ratings must be either a "Best Choice" or "Good Alternative."

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

Previous Criteria & Methodology - Prior to January 2012 Wild Fisheries Critieria

Inherent Vulnerability to Fishing Pressure
Status of Wild Stocks
Nature and Extent of Discarded Bycatch
Effect of Fishing Practices on Habitats and Ecosystems
Effectiveness of the Management Regime

Aquaculture Criteria:

Use of Marine Resources
Risk of Escaped Fish to Wild Stocks
Risk of Disease and Parasite Transfer to Wild Stocks
Risk of Pollution and Habitat Impacts
Effectiveness of the Management Regime

Developing Recommendations

Identify seafood for review
Assemble seafood information
Create a seafood report.
Seafood Report Review
Seafood Watch Rating Session
Monitoring, Updates & Evaluation