How to Choose Healthy, Eco-Friendly Seafood

By Rachel Mount

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Photo: Thinkstock

There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but finding one for dinner can make your head swim. Feel like salmon? U.S. tank-farmed freshwater coho salmon is environmentally sound, while Atlantic farmed varieties usually aren't. Wild-caught Alaskan varieties get great marks, but you can't trust that salmon simply marked "wild" truly is. Here's how to navigate.

1. Download a Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch pocket guide for best picks, fish to avoid, and good alternatives. Go to Mobile.SeafoodWatch.org for apps.

2. Text the word FISH and a species name to 30644; the Blue Ocean Institute will send a sustainability rating and better options.

3. Look for the Marine Stewardship Council label on wild-caught fish in stores and restaurants—it's the most rigorous certification there is.

Avoid These:

Chilean sea bass (overfished)
Orange roughy (overfished)
Bluefin tuna (overfished, high mercury levels)
Most farmed, imported shrimp (environmentally irresponsible farming)
Most open-net farmed salmon (environmentally irresponsible farming)

Choose these:

Tilapia, Central American farmed (Low in mercury and other contaminants, environmentally responsible farming)
Catfish, U.S. farmed (Low in mercury and other contaminants, environmentally responsible farming)
Rainbow trout, U.S. farmed (Low in mercury and other contaminants, environmentally responsible farming)
Crab: Dungeness, stone, or kona (Low in mercury and other contaminants, sustainable fishery)
Mussels (Low in mercury and other contaminants, environmentally responsible farming)
Bay scallops, China farmed (Low in mercury and other contaminants, environmentally responsible farming)
Fish caught with hook and line, traps, pots, or harpoon (Environmentally responsible farming)

Next: Got that? Here's what you need to know about buying meat

From the July 2010 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine