Aquarium Scarium

Some of the aquariums in the US started issuing wallet cards, advising people on what were good fish to eat and what were not, based on a variety of criteria. They basically told people not to eat farmed fish, and not to eat certain species of fish that may truly be in danger, though some that they warn you about are fine to eat, depending on where they're caught.
     Example: East Coast cod is on the bad choice list for many aquariums. However, the New England fishery is now being well managed, and the fish has rebounded very quickly. When it's available, it's a wonderful fish, and you don't have to feel guilty eating it. The Icelandic cod fishery is one of the best managed in the world, and Icelandic cod is always a good choice. Pacific cod, very similar to its East Coast cousin, is also from a well managed fishery, as long as it's from US waters - cod imported from Russian and Asian waters is still being over fished. Ours comes from US waters.
     Recently, many farmed fish have been added to the "Best Choice" lists, because the aquariums finally realized that in order to feed people and maintain wild stocks, there has to be a farmed alternative. Some of the ones they mention include Arctic char, sea scallops, shrimp, barramundi, yellow perch, oysters, mussels and clams. One fish they refuse to recognize as a good choice is farmed salmon, because of issues with Atlantic salmon being raised in Pacific waters. Wild salmon fisheries were terrified of escaped salmon co-mingling with the Pacific salmon and damaging the species. Perhaps a valid fear, but we don't buy Atlantic salmon raised in the Pacific. All of our raised salmon comes from operations that we know to follow sound environmental practices, off the east coast of  Canada and the west coast of Scotland.
     Seafood species that are particularly in danger (and we don't sell them for that reason) include warm water lobster from South America and the Asian Pacific - these are the cheap lobster tails you see in box stores and chain groceries that are cheaper than cold water tails - and they are being wildly over fished. We get our tails from Maine, a well managed fishery, and North Australia, a very successful operation managed by native Aborigines near Darwin.
     Blue fin tuna has been fished almost to extinction, largely to feed the Japanese, and we don't sell it. We also don't sell Caspian Beluga caviar - also horribly over fished. During the holidays, we sell American sturgeon caviar, which is wonderful, from sustainably raised fish, and much cheaper.
     The aquariums tell you not to eat imported mahi mahi, not sure why, but don't mention American caught mahi, which is plentiful and delicious.
     In September of last year, the Monterey Bay Aquarium de-blacklisted 21 species of west coast fish that had been endangered. According to a report on CBS news:
"Key actions that helped the West Coast ground-fish rebound include greatly increased government monitoring and control of fishing boats’ take, assigning fishing quotas to individual fishermen rather than to types of fish, and closing off some areas of the ocean to safeguard vulnerable habitat..."
     It took just 14 years to rebuild the fisheries and get them back to a sustainable industry.
     The bounty that comes from our lakes and oceans is one of our greatest treasures. Those of us in the seafood industry who rely on the resource want to preserve that resource for future generations. The best thing that you can do, as seafood consumer, is know your fishmonger.
     And stop avoiding raised seafood - as long as you know the source!! Where do you get your wild beef, chicken and pork? Responsibly farmed seafood will save wild stocks, and that's vital to the future of the only food we still hunt for public consumption.