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.