Seafood Watch 2013

These days we need to pay more attention to what fishes to eat and what not.  Not only fishes could be contaminated with toxic compounds such as mercury, lead, PCB, or pesticide.  A recent seafood alert also warns us the potential cesium radioactivity in bluefin tuna that arrives California coast^[1]:

The bluefin spawn off Japan, and many migrate across the Pacific Ocean. Tissue samples taken from 15 bluefin caught in August, five months after the meltdowns at Fukushima Daiichi, all contained reactor byproducts cesium-134 and cesium-137 at levels that produced radiation about 3% higher than natural background sources.

Based on a seafood guide published by Monterey Bay Aquarium, fishes are classified into three categories:

• Best Choices
• Well managed, caught or farmed in environmentally responsible ways.
• Good Alternatives
• Some concerns with how they are caught or farmed.
• Avoid
• Overfished, or strong concerns with how they are caught or farmed.

For a full list of recommendations please visit Monterey Bay online or download their application.  If you are pregnant, you should also read Mayo Clinic's guidelines.^[5]

BEST CHOICES	GOOD ALTERNATIVES	AVOID
Abalone Arctic Char (farmed) Bass: Striped (US hook & line,farmed) Catfish (US) Clams, Mussels, Oysters Cod: Pacific (US) Crab: Dungeness Halibut: Pacific (US) Lobster: Spiny (CA, FL & Mexico) Rockfish: Black (US hook & line) Sablefish/Black Cod (AK & Canada) Salmon (AK) Sardines: Pacific (Canada &US) Scallops (farmed) Seabass: White (US hook & line) Shrimp: Pink (OR) Tilapia (Ecuador &US) Trout: Rainbow (US farmed) Tuna:Albacore/White canned (Canada &US troll, pole) Tuna: Skipjack/Light canned (US troll, pole) Tuna: Yellowfin (US troll, pole)	Basa/Pangasius/Swai Cod: Pacific (US trawl) Crab: King (US) Flounders, Soles (US Pacific) Halibut: California Lingcod Lobster:American Mahi Mahi(US) Pollock:Alaska (US) Prawn: Spot(US wild) Sablefish/Black Cod (CA, OR & WA) Salmon (CA, OR & WA wild) Scallops (wild) Shrimp (Canada &US wild) Squid (US) Swordfish (US) Tilapia (China & Taiwan) Tuna:Albacore/White canned (US longline) Tuna:Skipjack/Light canned (imported troll, pole and US longline) Tuna: Yellowfin (imported troll, pole and US longline)	Abalone (China & Japan) Caviar, Sturgeon (imported wild) Cod: Pacific (Japan & Russia) Crab: Red King (Russia) Halibut: California (gillnet) Lobster: Spiny (Brazil) Mahi Mahi(imported) Orange Roughy Rockfish/Pacific Snapper(AK bottom trawl) Salmon:Atlantic (farmed) Sharks Shrimp (imported) Squid (imported) Swordfish (imported) Tuna:Albacore/White canned (except Canada &US troll, pole and US longline) Tuna: Bluefin Tuna: Skipjack/Light canned (excepttroll, pole andUS longline) Tuna: Yellowfin (except troll, pole and US longline)

References:

1. California Fish Contaminated with Fukushima Radiation
2. Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch 2013
3. Farm raised vs. wild caught salmon (Dr. Mercola)
4. Farming the Seas (PBS)
5. Pregnancy and fish: What's safe to eat?
6. There Aren’t Plenty of Fish in the Sea
7. Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) and Their Impacts on Human Health: A Review