Seafood Watch is a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium designed to raise consumer awareness about the importance of buying seafood from sustainable sources. Seafood is sustainable when it comes from a source (whether fished or farmed) that can exist into the long-term without compromising species’ survival or the integrity of the surrounding ecosystem. Today, nearly 70 percent of the world’s fisheries are fully fished or overfished. Increased consumer demand for popular seafood is depleting fish stocks around the world and harming the health of the oceans.

The Seafood Watch guide recommends which seafood to buy or avoid, helping consumers to become advocates for environmentally friendly seafood. The guides reflect what is sold in the regional market and the current published guide is for the West Coast. The next guides for publication will be for Hawaii, the Southern states, the Northeast, Great Lake states, and the Midwest.

To create each guide, the Aquarium establishs partnerships with regional zoos and aquariums. The staff does most of the research, collecting government reports, journal articles, and making personal contact with fishery and fish farm experts to create a Seafood Report. After a thorough review process, the information is run through criteria for sustainability and a recommendation is developed. The Monterey Bay Aquarium regional partners assist with choosing the species to be researched and distribute the pocket guides to their guests.

Download the latest version of the Seafood Watch pocket guide at http://www.mbayaq.org/cr/cr_seafoodwatch/sfw_regional.asp. If you want to order printed copies of the card, please contact the Aquarium by phone (831.647. 6873) or by using the email forms available on http://www.mbayaq.org/sg/sg_fb_mailroom.asp. Cards are cost-free. Please indicate the number of cards desired and where to mail them.

So, download the card, print it out, and fold it up and keep it in your wallet or purse. And take it out the next time you go to the market, a restaurant, or when you plan a catered event. Choose a fish from the Best Chocies or Caution lists.

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California Biodiversity News: Volume 10, Number 2
Spring/Summer 2003
For more information on the California Biodiversity Council, please contact:
Lauren McNees, Communications Coordinator
CA Biodiversity Council
1416 Ninth Street, Suite 1311
Sacramento, CA 95814

Email: lauren.mcnees@fire.ca.gov