Resources

Assessment methods

The species found on this website and the SeaChoice seafood card have all been assessed using an acclaimed science-based methodology developed by Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. Click here to view assessment methods for capture fisheries and aquaculture operations

SeaChoice, like Seafood Watch, defines sustainable seafood as fish or shellfish that are caught or farmed with consideration for the long-term viability of harvested populations and for the oceans’ ecological balance as a whole.

SeaChoice/Seafood Watch use five sustainability criteria corresponding to these guiding principles, to evaluate capture fisheries and aquaculture for the purpose of developing a seafood recommendation.

The five criteria for capture fisheries are:

• Inherent vulnerability to fishing pressure
• Status of wild stocks
• Nature and extent of discarded bycatch
• Effect of fishing practices on habitats and ecosystems
• Effectiveness of the management regime

The five criteria for aquaculture operations are:

• Use of marine resources
• Risk of escapes to wild stocks
• Risk of disease / parasite transfer to wild stocks
• Risk of pollution and habitat effects
• Management effectiveness

For capture fisheries and aquaculture operations, the evaluation methods use set rules for decisions and each criterion includes:

• Primary factors to evaluate and rank
• Secondary factors to evaluate and rank
• Evaluation guidelines to synthesize these factors
• A resulting colour rank for that criterion

Once a rank has been assigned to each criterion, an overall seafood recommendation is assigned, based on the ranks from each of the five criteria, as follows:

A species receives an overall recommendation of “Best Choice” if:

1. It has three or more green criteria and the remaining criteria are not red.

A species receives a recommendation of “Some Concerns” if:

1. Criteria “average” to yellow
2. There are four green criteria and one red criterion
3. Stock status and management criteria are both ranked yellow and the remaining criteria are not red

A species receives a recommendation of “Avoid” if:

1. It has a total of two or more red criteria
2. It has one or more critical conservation concerns.

Best Choice (Green): This species is currently fished/harvested sustainably and represents a best choice. Enjoy, while supporting responsible fishing and coastal livelihoods.

Some Concerns (Yellow): Seafood that should be consumed infrequently, or when a green choice is not available. There are conservation concerns with the current populations or practices in this fishery.

Avoid (Red): Do not purchase these fish for now. They come from sources that have a combination of problems-habitat damage, discard of unwanted species, poor management, low populations, can be easily harmed by fishing or may be listed by governments as Endangered.

SeaChoice prepares assessments for Canadian based capture fisheries and aquaculture operations. For seafood not covered by SeaChoice assessments, SeaChoice uses evaluations prepared by Seafood Watch.