What kind of seafood is sustainable?

Fish and seafood can be a more environmentally friendly protein choice than other animal food such as beef, pork and chicken. But you have to choose carefully.

Not all fish are sustainable. And it is more complicated than opting for certain species above others, because the durability and nutritional value of fish is influenced by a large number of factors.

So we asked the experts to train ourselves in seafood. This is what they had to say.

Think small

From both a health point of view and an environmental perspective, “the smaller, the better,” said Sebastian Heilpern, a sustainability scientist at Cornell University.

Small fish are usually a particularly good source of omega-3 fatty acid (there are also vegetable sources, such as nuts) and essential nutrients such as iron and zinc. When you eat small fish, you usually also eat pieces of skeleton, which increases your calcium recording. And smaller fish are reproducing quickly, so they are generally more abundant and less vulnerable to changes in the environment.

Larger fish, on the other hand, generally accumulate more contamination such as mercury and lead. That’s because they are usually predators. They eat much smaller fish. So, moderate quantities of contaminants with those small fish can accumulate to harmful levels in the larger fish.

So go for sardines and anchovies. “They are real, really nutritious food sources,” said Dr. Heilpern, “and they are usually quite productive and able to resist all that exploitation that people put on it.”

An exception to the “small” rule is grown shrimp, according to Kathryn Fiorella, an environmental scientist and epidemiologist at Cornell.

Shrimp include the range of sustainability Much wider than other smaller fish and seafood. Some varieties – such as Whiteeleg in certain types of ponds in the United States, Ecuador, Honduras and Thailand – meet good environmental standards. But others – raised in different types of ponds in places such as China, India and Mexico – not.

The problem is that detailed information is usually not available to consumers. So: “I really don’t try to eat shrimp,” said Dr. Fiorella.

Molluscs are also good

Bi -lappies such as oysters, Sint -Jakobs shells and mussels are very Nutritious and abundant in Omega-3, B-12 and iron.

And when they are grown, “consuming molluscs probably have an advantage for the ecosystem,” said Dr. Fiorella. They do not have to be fed by farmers, noticed them, and they remove pollutants such as nitrogen and phosphorus from water and convert them into substances that are not harmful. They also consume phytoplankton, which can help to limit harmful algae blooms. And they grow in reefs, Offer structures that help anger of species To thrive.

Rankings from 2021 confirmed that cultivated two -light are one of the most environmentally friendly sustainable foods General.

Wanted in the wild, however, Bivalven are not nearly as good for the environment, because the methods used to harvest them are often destructive. So read the label.

Grown fish? It is complicated.

Today, More than half of the worldwide fish have been grown. This type of production causes the tendency to cause fewer emissions of planet -warming carbon than fish fishing. But it is sometimes done in dense circumstances where disease can easily spread and contamination and antibiotics can escape in rivers and oceans.

Plus, unlike molluscs, farmers often have to feed their fish with more fish.

“A lot of time, if you eat a kilogram of salmon, a little more than a kilogram of wild fish is needed to produce it,” said Alice Moore, who manages the Good fish guide at the Marine Conservation SocietyA British non -profit organization. Feed made from grains and vegetables generally does not give enough fish from the nutrients they need.

Catching fish in the wild avoids these problems, but fishermen can broadcast a lot of carbon and can damage ecosystems. The lower trawling can, for example, destroy the seabed and increase the fuel consumption of a ship.

Fishing water column, under the surface and above the bottom, avoids that. But it often wipes the wrong species and reproduces females and fish that are too small.

Scratching and lobsters are trapped in falls, so there is more precision, no by -catch and no drag. But Some types of equipment can entitle endangered whalesWith fatal consequences.

“It’s a minefield,” said Moore about sorting out the pros and cons of cultivated and wild caught fish.

The guide of her team can be used to look for the sustainability of fishing in the supermarket, just like the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch guide.

Strive for variation

Just eating a wider range of seafood can go a long way. In the United States, only 10 species make almost 80 percent of the seafood consumedWith shrimp, salmon, canned tuna, tilapia and alaska pollock at the top of the charts. That explains a lot of pressure on just a few species, and that can make it less resilient, more vulnerable to diseases and vermin, and more likely to be deestabilized by climate and environmental changes.

And not every species has it all from a food position. So, so, Variation ensures a larger range of nutrients.

“If you had salmon last week, grab that look Sardines,” said Dr. Heilpern. “Mix it.”