There is a wealth of online resources that can help guide chefs through the process of finding the sustainable seafood they want to serve. Here are a baker’s dozen that I turn to often. Most of these look at sustainable seafood through a national or even international lens.
But we here at Seafood & the Menu would love to see this list grow, so if you have a regional resource you think should be included, please send the link and a short note on why it is useful to [email protected].
FishChoice
This non-profit organization maintains this site as a sort of one-stop shop for aggregated information about sustainable seafood choices.
Aquarium of the Pacific’s Seafood for the Future
Seafood for the Future promotes and facilitates the growth and expansion of responsible marine aquaculture in U.S. state and federal waters as a complement to well-managed wild-capture fisheries. Information on this site includes tips on how to make informed seafood buying decisions, tales of stories fisheries, videos showing farming techniques and recipes.
aquariumofpacific.org/seafoodfuture
Aquaculture Stewardship Council
The Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) is an independent, international non-profit organization that has developed a certification program for responsible aquaculture. The ASC uses market forces to transform aquaculture by reducing its key negative social and environmental impacts through compliance with standards at the farm level. The site provides a search tool to help you pinpoint sustainable seafood sources down to the farm level.
Chef’s Collaborative Seafood Solutions
Chefs Collaborative is a food industry group that works to fix our broken food system. The resources it maintains on its Seafood Solutions site includes event listings for upcoming seafood-centric dinners that shed light on underutilized species; seafood information disseminated as its annual food summits; and Chef Power Hour discussions about various topics pertaining to seafood.
chefscollaborative.org/programs/seafood-solutions/
Environmental Defense Fund Eat These Fish!
This site highlights twelve species that exemplify what happens when we shift to smarter fisheries management. These species are representative of a growing list of sustainable, abundant and delicious American seafood that you should feel great about sourcing, preparing and consuming.
Fishwatch.gov
This site is maintained by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration and provides up-to-date information on the status of both wild caught and farmed seafood.
GAA’s Best Aquaculture Practices Certification
The Best Aquaculture Practice (BAP) certification program is administered by the Global Aquaculture Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocacy, education and leadership in responsible aquaculture. This site provides a search tool to help locate BAP-certified operations.
Vancouver Aquarium Oceanwise
Ocean Wise is a Vancouver Aquarium conservation program created to educate and empower consumers about the issues surrounding sustainable seafood. This site provides tools that help buyers make seafood purchasing decisions.
James Beard Foundation’s Smart Catch
Smart Catch is a sustainable seafood program created by chefs for chefs with the purpose of increasing the sustainability of the seafood supply chain. The program provides training and support to chefs so they can serve seafood fished or farmed in environmentally-responsible ways. The site provides a list of restaurants that participate in the Smart Catch program.
Marine Stewardship Council
The MSC operates a global seafood certification program where wild capture fisheries can become certified as sustainable according to the MSC standards for sustainable fishing and suppliers can receive chain of custody certification for seafood traceability standards. The site describes the MSC standards and certification processes.
Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch
Seafood Watch provides comprehensive seafood sustainability recommendations for the major seafood species consumed in the United States. The Seafood Watch site provides a search tool that easily serves up sustainability information about these species.
Seafood Nutrition Partnership
This site is a clearinghouse for the latest scientific and nutritional information about the benefits of eating more seafood.
