You may have noticed a new addition swimming around the Eat Well Guide...

Introducing Sustainable Seafood Listings from Food & Water Watch!

The Eat Well Guide, originally created by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), was originally published by Sustainable Table as an alternative to industrially-raised animal products. Over the years the Eat Well Guide has expanded to include produce, vegetarian listings and much more. With help from our friends at Food & Water Watch, we are now dipping our toe into the sometimes murky world of sustainable seafood.

As the Eat Well Guide strives to help you make informed choices about produce, meats and dairy, we want you to be informed when it comes to choosing the right seafood. Unfortunately, the majority of fish we consume is imported, often "farmed" employing ecologically disastrous methods, or overfished -- many species are being depleting at alarming rates. According to Food & Water Watch:

Offshore aquaculture involves raising high-value fish, such as cobia and cod, in large, often crowded, cages between three and 200 miles from shore. Fish waste, excess fish feed, and chemicals flush straight into the open ocean. These ocean feed lots could threaten human health, wild fish populations, the marine environment, and the economies of local fishing communities.

Knowing which species of fish to buy can be quite confusing. As offshore domestic fish farming becomes more and more common, it is important to know the issues that surround this new technology. Farmed salmon can decimate the wild species by introducing new diseases to the population.

On the flip side, certain farmed fish are sustainably produced with plant-based feed and re-circulated water systems (tilapia, for example). Fish farming operations far from the shores are proving to be successful and environmentally friendly. At the Growing Power urban farm in Milwaukee, aquaponics (growing fish and plants together in a re-circulated filtration system) operations are successfully raising tilapia and yellow perch in a clean and sustainable manner. You can read more about their operation here.

To help clear the confusion, our friends at Food and Water Watch have supplemented our ongoing effort to collect information about places where you can purchase sustainable seafood. They have provided the Eat Well Guide an additional list of wholesale markets that sell sustainably caught seafood. To find these markets listed go to the advanced search page and check the box for "sustainable seafood" under products.

These detailed listings of seafood outlets include information about the types of fish and shellfish, as well as the specific manner in which they were harvested. Food and Water Watch's list of sustainable seafood markets includes locales in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Texas, Virginia and Washington.

If you know of a place that is missing, please submit it through our suggest a listing form. We are looking for any and all wholesale markets, plus stores and restaurants that offer sustainably-caught or raised seafood and our goal is to include listings throughout the United States and Canada.

You can learn more by downloading Food and Water Watch's Smart Seafood Guide. Print this guide and bring it with you when you shop so that you know which species of fish to avoid and have recommendations for alternatives.

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