Seafood Watch

Seafood Watch Standards

Seafood Watch defines sustainable seafood as seafood from sources, whether fished or farmed, that can maintain or increase production without jeopardizing the structure and function of affected ecosystems. In keeping with this definition, Seafood Watch refers to the following guiding principles to illustrate the qualities that fisheries and aquaculture operations must possess to be considered sustainable. These objectives inform the performance criteria and scoring methodology used to assess fisheries and aquaculture operations.  

Fisheries Guiding Principles

Sustainable wild capture fisheries:

1. Follow the principles of ecosystem-based fisheries management;
2. Ensure all affected stocks are healthy and abundant; 
3. Fish all affected stocks at sustainable levels; 
4. Minimize bycatch;
5. Have no more than a negligible impact on any threatened, endangered or protected species;
6. Are managed to sustain long-term productivity of all affected species;
7. Avoid negative impacts on the structure, function or associated biological communities of marine habitats where fishing occurs;
8. Maintain the trophic role of all marine life;
9. Do not result in harmful ecological changes such as reduction of dependent predator populations, trophic cascades, or phase shifts;
10. Ensure that any enhancement activities and fishing activities on enhanced stocks do not negatively affect the diversity, abundance or genetic integrity of wild stocks.

Aquaculture Guiding Principles

Sustainable aquaculture farms and collective industries:

1. Have robust and up-to-date information on production practices and their impacts (or lack of impacts) publicly available;
2. Prevent effluent discharges from exceeding, or contributing to exceeding, the carrying capacity of receiving waters at the local or regional level;  
3. Are located at sites, scales and intensities that maintain the functionality of ecologically valuable habitats;
4. Limit the type, frequency of use, total use, or discharge of chemicals to levels representing a low risk of impact to non-target organisms;
5. Source sustainable feed ingredients and converting them efficiently with net edible nutrition gains;
6. Prevent population-level impacts to wild species or other ecosystem-level impacts from farm escapes;
7. Prevent population-level impacts to wild species through the amplification and retransmission, or increased virulence of pathogens or parasites;
8. Use eggs, larvae, or juvenile fish produced from farm-raised broodstocks thereby avoiding the need for wild capture;
9. Prevent population-level impacts to predators or other species of wildlife attracted to farm sites;
10. Avoid the potential for the accidental introduction of non-native species or pathogens during the shipment of live animals.

Criteria & Methodology 

Seafood Recommendations

Final Score for Wild Fisheries = geometric mean of the four scores (Criterion 1-4).

Final Score for Aquaculture = geometric mean of the eight scores (Criterion 1-8).

Symbol	Seafood Rating	Seafood Rating Summary	Seafood Watch Rating
sfw_bc-18.png	Best Choice	Species is abundant, well managed and caught or farmed in environmentally friendly ways.	Wild Fisheries: Final score > 3.2 and no individual criterion scores of "Red" or "Critical" Aquaculture: Final score between 6.666 and 10, and no Red criteria, and no Critical scores
GA-18.png	Good Alternative	Species is still a good option, but there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed - or with the health of their habitat due to other human impacts.	Wild Fisheries: Final score > 2.2 and neither Management factor scores (3.1 & 3.2) are Red (<= 2.2) and no more than one criterion score of Red and no Critical scores, and doesn't meet criteria for "Best Choice."  Aquaculture: Final score between 3.333 and 6.666, and/or one Red criterion, and no Critical scores
SFS - Eco Recognized.png	Eco-Certification Recognized	Products come from certifications have been benchmarked against the Seafood Watch criteria for farmed and wild seafood as equivalent to at least a Seafood Watch 'Good Alternative' recommendation.	Wild Fisheries: Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) where current Seafood Watch ratings don't exist Aquaculture: Species dependent: for tra/swai (pangasius/catfish)- Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) 2-star, 3-star, and 4-star; for whiteleg shrimp- Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) and Best Aquaculture Practices (BAP) 2-star, 3-star, and 4-star; and Naturland
SustainabilityRatingsIcons copy-18.png	Avoid	Species may be overfished, there may be unacceptably high levels of bycatch, and/or the fish is caught or farmed in ways that have deleterious impacts on affected ecosystems.	Wild Fisheries: Final Score <=2.2, or one/both Management factor scores (3.1 & 3.2) are Red (<= 2.2), or two or more criteria score Red, or one or more Critical criteria scores. Aquaculture: Final score between 0 and 3.333, or more than one Red criterion, or one or more Critical scores

Because effective management is an essential component of sustainable fisheries, Seafood Watch issues an Avoid recommendation for any fishery scoring Red for Management (Criterion 3).

Eco-Certification

The following certifications have been benchmarked against the Seafood Watch criteria for farmed and wild seafood as equivalent to at least a Seafood Watch 'Good Alternative' recommendation.