Top 3 Sustainable Seafood Apps

On a recent jaunt to Whole Foods I was delighted to see the company’s seafood was all labeled as either “best choice” “good alternative” or “avoid.” I’d never seen a seafood counter offer sustainability rankings let alone a system that put bright green (“best choice”) yellow (“good alternative”) and red (“avoid”) stickers next to the price.

It’s a project the company started in conjunction with the Blue Ocean Institute and though Whole Foods phased out swordfish and tuna from red-rated fisheries earlier this year, the company won’t phase out all red-rated fisheries until 2013. Still it’s a great start.

Overfishing has become a major concern in recent decades with some organizations like Oceana estimating that 80% of the world’s oceans are over-exploited.  When demand outpaces a fish’s ability to reproduce, fish populations decline without the ability to bounce back.

Another contribution to overfishing is bycatch—marine animals that are caught unintentionally in nets and bottom trawls.

The good news is that eating seafood can be sustainable and these three apps will help you figure out which types of seafood are ok to purchase or order when you’re dining out.

1)   Seafood Watch

The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch app is the best on the market. It uses your phone’s GPS to load the right regional guide for your location and even has a new feature called Project FishMap where you can find restaurants serving sustainable seafood in your area. The app includes a sushi guide, which lists fish names in Japanese and English and if you ever find seafood on the “avoid” list, the app will offer suggestions for sustainable alternatives. There’s a glossary to explain fishing terms like gillnetting, pelagic trawling and hydraulic dredging and all seafood is color-coded as “best choice” (green), “good alternative” (yellow) or “avoid” (red).

(Price: Free)

2) FishPhone

Brought to you by the organization that provides ratings for Whole Foods, the Blue Ocean Institute’s FishPhone app is top-notch. Like Seafood Watch, the guide includes a ranking system and suggestions on alternatives to over-fished species. Unlike Seafood Watch, this guide offers five categories instead of three: “relatively abundant” (green), “somewhat abundant” (light green), “somewhat problematic” (yellow), “low abundance” (orange) and “problematic” (red). It also offers recipes and wine pairings to complement select seafood. The guide doesn’t provide regional information about fish you’re likely to find in your local market or which restaurants have sustainable options. But overall it’s a great app with a sweet price tag.

(Price: Free)