Healthy Seafood is Sustainable Seafood

Emily Tripp

A new study reveals that healthy seafood comes from sustainable fish.  The findings are published in the August 2nd edition of the Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a publication of the Ecological Society of America.

“We used the database to look for patterns of similarity between ecological and health metrics, and found that in general, choosing healthy seafood also means that you are choosing sustainable seafood,” explained Leah Gerber, an associate professor and senior sustainability scientist at Arizona State University.

While it might seem logical that healthy seafood is sustainable seafood, Gerber and colleagues analysis is the first to combine sustainability rankings with specific health components, such as mercury and omega-3 fatty acid content.

“In general, larger longer-lived fish are more likely to have exposure to toxins due to the length of their lives and their place on the food chain,” said Gerber.  “So you might be best served to stay away from them – like Bluefin Tuna or Sturgeon.  Besides, these stocks have been depleted by fishing.”

You can read more about the study here: Healthy seafood comes from sustainable fish.

For help selecting sustainable seafood at grocery stores and restaurants, check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch recommendations or the NRDC’s Sustainable Seafood Guide.

Tuna at a fish auction in Hawaii. Photo Credit: NOAA.

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