Is My Choice of Seafood Sustainable?
Eating fresh seafood in Cincinnati is a choice—a luxurious one. How can Midwesterners be thoughtful about their seafood purchases?
NOAA has a great website called Fishwatch.gov, an easily searchable, informative, interactive, and concise database of more than 100 popular seafood species. If you know the common name of a fish, that’s one way to search; if you don’t know fish names, or if you just want to peruse the entire database, you can click on “all profiles” and the complete library appears. For example:
Wreckfish (Polyprion americanus) – also known as sea bass or stone bass—here’s what you need to know: “U.S. wild-caught wreckfish is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.”
Atlantic Cod (Gadus morhua)—“Although populations are well below target levels, U.S. wild-caught Atlantic cod is still a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed under a rebuilding plan that allows limited harvest by U.S. fishermen.”
Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar)—warning: “Commercial fishing for Atlantic salmon in the United States is prohibited. Atlantic salmon found in the market is farm-raised.”
Fishwatch.gov makes it easy to be a smart consumer. The fish, the oceans, and the earth will appreciate it.
Tom is a freelance writer specializing in environmental, energy, and transportation issues. He lives in Cincinnati’s Westwood neighborhood. He likes to garden, but, alas, the deer have robbed him of yet another earthly pleasure.
