Seafood Guides
Love seafood AND our oceans! Get savvy to seafood sustainability with SeaChoice wallet guides
The SeaChoice program wants to help consumers and businesses use their love of seafood to support the most sustainable fisheries and aquaculture practices. The reason is simple: If we don’t treat our ocean and freshwater ecosystems right, we won’t have seafood or healthy oceans to enjoy in the future.
Scientists have estimated that if we keep fishing the same way we are today there will be no fish for commercial harvest by 2048! We need to change course, and that change starts with what we’re putting on our plates. Fortunately, savvy seafood eaters already have a lot of sustainable options to choose from. And SeaChoice, and our partner, Monterey Bay Aquarium, are busy doing the science homework on what is and isn’t sustainable.
Canada’s Sustainable Sushi Guide NEW!
The popularity of sushi is exploding and we can see why – it’s delicious – but many sushi restaurants offer species like Bluefin tuna and farmed salmon that are not sustainable. No need to despair, however! Download our new Canada’s Sustainable Sushi Guide and find out about the “best choice” options you can ask for instead. The wallet card will let you know what questions to ask about how and where your seafood was produced, and which items to pick often, enjoy on occasion, or flat out avoid.
Canada’s Sustainable Seafood Guide
Tried, tested, and true for all your seafood needs – Canada’s Sustainable Seafood Guide features sustainability rankings for the top seafood items eaten by Canadians. Since launching in 2006, more than 250,000 printed copies of this guide have been put into circulation across Canada. Science-based information in a user friendly format has been a hit with consumers, chefs, fishermen and businesses.
Download or order your wallet guide in English or French and join sustainable seafood eaters nationwide who are playing an active role in supporting healthy oceans.
Have a look at the guide:
Some seafoods are listed in more than one column. Look for the bolded term that shows where it is from or how it was caught. When you shop and dine, always ask:
- What type of seafood is this?
- Where was it fi shed or farmed?
- How was it caught or farmed?
Then check the listings on the card and the explanation of our traffic light colour codes.
- “Best Choice”: Best Choice items are well managed, abundant, and caught or farmed in environmentally sustainable ways.
- “Some Concerns”: Some Concerns seafood should be consumed infrequently, or when a green choice is not available. There are concerns with abundance, management, or impacts on other marine life or habitat.
- “Avoid”: Avoid seafood in this list for now. There come from farmed or wild sources with a combination of critical problems: habitat damage, lethal impacts on other species, critically low populations, or poor management.
Seafood that could contain harmful levels of toxins is marked by special symbols for mercury, PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides.
If you can’t find your favourites on this list – dig into our on-line database where you can find the sustainability rankings of over 150 seafood items.
Seafood Guide iPhone application NEW!
Canada's Seafood Guide is now available for free download at the iTunes store. Developed by The iPhone Experts, you can now use your iPhone or iPod Touch to help you make more sustainable choices when shopping for your seafood or eating out. Click on the icon below to access the App Store.
