For more details about each recommendation visit the Seafood Watch website-Browse All
Seafood section, www.seafoodwatch.org
New or Revised Seafood Watch
Recommendations
Effective July 2008
Changes to most regional and national recommendations:
• Herring, Atlantic/Sardines moved from Best Choice to Good Alternative. Recent studies
have suggested that trawling for herring is having an impact on the health of the sea floor and
not leaving enough fish for marine mammals, seabirds and other fishes that depend on them
for food.
• Marlin, Striped moved from Good Alternative to Avoid and now appears on all pocket
guide versions, along with blue marlin. A recent stock assessment shows that the striped
marlin population in the Pacific has declined dramatically.
• Scallops, Sea (mid-Atlantic) moved from Avoid to Good Alternative. Now all populations
of sea scallops—including those from the mid-Atlantic region which have undergone
overfishing in the past—are considered healthy and abundant.
West Coast recommendation changes:
• Salmon, Wild-caught from CA and OR was removed from the Good Alternative
recommendation. Due to exceptionally low populations of Chinook and Coho salmon, the
Pacific Fishery Management Council closed the commercial salmon fisheries in California
and Oregon for the 2008 fishing season.
Central US recommendation changes:
• Recommendations covering several Great Lakes species were added to the Central US
regional pocket guide. This research was done in collaboration with the Shedd Aquarium’s
Rite Bite program in order to provide recommendations for several popular species of Great
Lakes fish found in the marketplace.
Hawaii recommendation changes:
• Marlin, Blue/Nairagi (imported) was added as Avoid. This was done to differentiate from
the blue marlin caught in the Hawaiian fishery, which is recommended as a Good
Alternative.
New contaminant advisories:
• Salmon, Wild-caught from WA was issued a consumption advisory by Environmental
Defense Fund due to elevated levels of PCBs. For more information, please see its website,
www.environmentaldefensefund.org.



Cardinal Joe