Page 121 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

for example, can reduce bycatch and seafloor damage. These
are some of the reasons why Seafood Watch’s rating system
includes the type of gear involved. The better options are hook-
and-line tools, which allow fishermen to more rapidly release
bycatch rather than kill them.

Illegal fishing. An estimated one-fifth of fish and seafood caught
worldwide is illegal, unreported, or unregulated. These seedy
practices can result in both depletion of species and damage to
marine ecosystems.

WHAT’S A CONSCIOUS EATER TO DO?
Use the Seafood Watch tools for both grocery and restau-
rant decisions in order to focus on sustainability. Ideally,
cross-reference their guides with two handy consumer tools
for mercury levels and omega-3 content. The Environmental
Working Group (EWG)’s Consumer Guide to Seafood has an inter-
active tool to personalize a seafood list to your unique
profile, as well as a simple cheat sheet of their “best bets,”
meaning those fish are very high in omega-3s and low in
mercury and come from sustainable sources. Their best
bets are salmon and sardines, mussels and Atlantic mack-
erel, and rainbow trout. Their “avoid” list consists of king
mackerel, marlin, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, and
tilefish (six of the same ones to avoid for mercury alone).
The Environmental Defense Fund’s “Seafood Selector” lets you fil-
ter by just eco-friendly or eco-friendly + healthy, and then
to sort by “best choices” down to “worst choices.” They also
provide a sushi-specific guide. Their best choices are wild
Alaskan salmon, albacore tuna, and Pacific sardines from
the United States and Canada, canned salmon, and sable-
fish (also called black cod).

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