SeaChoice is a program of Sustainable Seafood Canada that produces sustainable seafood advisory lists

Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification

Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification are programs aimed at increasing consumer awareness of the environmental impact and sustainability of their seafood purchasing choices....

. The program is designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources

Sustainable seafood

Sustainable seafood is seafood from either fished or farmed sources that can maintain or increase production in the future without jeopardizing the ecosystems from which it was acquired...

. It is best known for publishing consumer guides for responsible seafood purchasing. SeaChoice evaluates fisheries based on habitat/ecosystem impacts, stock status

Fish stock

Fish stocks are subpopulations of a particular species of fish, for which intrinsic parameters are the only significant factors in determining population dynamics, while extrinsic factors are considered to be insignificant.-The stock concept:All species have geographic limits to their...

, inherent vulnerability, bycatch

Bycatch

The term “bycatch” is usually used for fish caught unintentionally in a fishery while intending to catch other fish. It may however also indicate untargeted catch in other forms of animal harvesting or collecting...

, and management regimes.

Sustainable Seafood Canada is a Canadian coalition of environmental organizations working together to raise awareness and deliver solutions for sustainable fisheries. The organization consists of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, the David Suzuki Foundation

David Suzuki Foundation

The David Suzuki Foundation is an environmental organization based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada It is a non-profit organization that is incorporated in both Canada and the United States, and is funded by over 40,000 donors...

, the Ecological Action Centre, Living Oceans Society and British Columbia's chapter of the Sierra Club of Canada

Sierra Club of Canada

Sierra Club Canada is a Canadian, volunteer-based environmental organization. It is part of the environmental movement.The roots of Sierra Club Canada go back to 1963, when environmentalists in British Columbia affiliated themselves with the Sierra Club of the United States...

. SeaChoice collaborates with the Monterey Bay Aquarium

Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is located on the former site of a sardine cannery on Cannery Row of the Pacific Ocean shoreline in Monterey, California. It has an annual attendance of 1.8 million visitors. It holds thousands of plants and animals, representing 623 separate named species on display...

's Seafood Watch

Seafood Watch

Seafood Watch is one of the best known sustainable seafood advisory lists, and has influenced similar programs around the world. It is a program designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources...

 program.

Seafood list

SeaChoice recommends limited consumption of orange roughy

Orange roughy

The orange roughy, red roughy, or deep sea perch, Hoplostethus atlanticus, is a relatively large deep-sea fish belonging to the slimehead family . The Marine Conservation Society has categorized orange roughy as vulnerable to exploitation...

 due to elevated mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

 or PCB levels.
The group gives Canada-centric lists of recommendations for the best seafood choices, fish which have "some concerns" and fish to avoid. The "avoid" category is reserved for seafood which is overfished

Overfishing

Overfishing occurs when fishing activities reduce fish stocks below an acceptable level. This can occur in any body of water from a pond to the oceans....

 and/or fished or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. Health alerts for fish with high levels of contaminants (e.g. mercury

Mercury (element)

Mercury is a chemical element with the symbol Hg and atomic number 80. It is also known as quicksilver or hydrargyrum...

, dioxins

Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds

Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds are by-products of various industrial processes, and are commonly regarded as highly toxic compounds that are environmental pollutants and persistent organic pollutants . They include:...

, PCB

Polychlorinated biphenyl

Polychlorinated biphenyls are a class of organic compounds with 2 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl, which is a molecule composed of two benzene rings. The chemical formula for PCBs is C12H10-xClx...

s) are also noted, although they may appear in any category.

The SeaChoice website includes both regional and country-wide guides for Canada. The organization also produces a guide for sushi

Sushi

is a Japanese food consisting of cooked vinegared rice combined with other ingredients . Neta and forms of sushi presentation vary, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is shari...

. Pocket guides are also available from the organization.
Recommended seafood from SeaChoice includes Alaska pollock

Alaska pollock

Alaska pollock or walleye pollock is a North Pacific species of the cod family Gadidae. While related to the common Atlantic pollock species of the same family, the Alaska pollock is not a member of the same Pollachius genus.The Norwegian pollock , a rare fish of Norwegian waters, may actually be...

, longline Pacific cod

Pacific Cod

The Pacific cod, Gadus macrocephalus, is an important commercial food species. It is also known as gray cod, gray goo, gray wolf, grayest or grayfish. It has three separate dorsal fins, and the catfish-like whiskers on its lower jaw. In appearance, it is similar to the Atlantic Cod...

, land-based rainbow trout

Rainbow trout

The rainbow trout is a species of salmonid native to tributaries of the Pacific Ocean in Asia and North America. The steelhead is a sea run rainbow trout usually returning to freshwater to spawn after 2 to 3 years at sea. In other words, rainbow trout and steelhead trout are the same species....

, troll or pole-caught albacore tuna

Albacore

The albacore, Thunnus alalunga, is a type of tuna in the family Scombridae. This species is also called albacore fish, albacore tuna, albicore, longfin, albies, pigfish, tombo ahi, binnaga, Pacific albacore, German bonito , longfin tuna, longfin tunny, or even just tuna...

, United States spiny lobster

Spiny lobster

Spiny lobsters, also known as langouste or rock lobsters, are a family of about 45 species of achelate crustaceans, in the Decapoda Reptantia...

, farmed Arctic char

Arctic char

Arctic char or Arctic charr is both a freshwater and saltwater fish in the Salmonidae family, native to Arctic, sub-Arctic and alpine lakes and coastal waters. No other freshwater fish is found as far north. It is the only species of fish in Lake Hazen, on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic...

, Pacific herring

Pacific herring

The Pacific herring, Clupea pallasii, is a species of the herring family associated with the Pacific Ocean environment of North America and northeast Asia. This species is a silvery fish with unspined fins and a deeply forked caudal fin...

 and sardine

Sardine

Sardines, or pilchards, are several types of small, oily fish related to herrings, family Clupeidae. Sardines are named after the Mediterranean island of Sardinia, around which they were once abundant....

s.

Partnerships

In March 2010, SeaChoice announced an agreement with Federated Co-operatives

Federated Co-operatives

Federated Co-operatives Limited , is a co-operative federation, established in 1955, providing procurement and distribution to member co-operatives in Western Canada. Federated Co-operatives is owned by about 265 member co-operatives across the region...

, an organization representing over 250 co-operatives. The agreement includes a sustainability plan for seafood sales and procurement. SeaChoice has also partnered with Overwaitea Food Group

Overwaitea Food Group

Overwaitea Foods is a regional chain of supermarkets located in British Columbia, Canada. All are owned by the Jim Pattison Group.On March 8, 1915, Robert C. Kidd purchased a store at 746 Columbia Street in New Westminster, British Columbia...

, a supermarket chain in Western Canada. Bento Nouveau, Canada's largest sushi company, partnered with SeaChoice in June 2010.

See also

• Conservation status
  Conservation status
  The conservation status of a group of organisms indicates whether the group is still extant and how likely the group is to become extinct in the near future...
  
  
• Mercury in fish
  Mercury in fish
  Fish and shellfish concentrate mercury in their bodies, often in the form of methylmercury, a highly toxic organic compound of mercury. Fish products have been shown to contain varying amounts of heavy metals, particularly mercury and fat-soluble pollutants from water pollution...
  
  
• Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification
  Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification
  Sustainable seafood advisory lists and certification are programs aimed at increasing consumer awareness of the environmental impact and sustainability of their seafood purchasing choices....
  
  
• Seafood Choices Alliance
  Seafood Choices Alliance
  The Seafood Choices Alliance is a program of the nonprofit ocean conservation organization, SeaWeb. It was established in 2001 to bring together the disparate elements and diverse approaches in a growing "seafood choices" movement in the United States and expanded into Europe in 2005...
  
  

External links

• Official website
• Canada's Seafood Guide, a pocket guide from SeaChoice
• Canada's Sustainable Sushi Guide, a pocket guide from SeaChoice