Marine Stewardship Council educates consumers on sustainably sourced fish

In accordance with National Seafood Month, the Marine Stewardship Council released a new resource guide to help Americans find sustainable seafood products.

The digital MSC Blue Fish Guide is available on the council’s website to help educate consumers on how to choose sustainable products, featuring information on specific species, recipes and where to shop. Additionally, to help consumers find products, many come with an MSC Blue label to certify a product as sustainably sourced. Walmart, for example, proudly touts its sustainable own brand tuna with an MSC label.

Retailers like Albertsons have their own sustainable policies in-house to source responsibly as well, and in observance of the month, the retailer recently discussed how it caught some shrimp for its waterfront Bistro brand.

All month long the council will be posting educational content on its social media channels. The MSC says a third of fisheries worldwide are unsustainably managed, which can ultimately lead to overfishing, increased bycatch, and other negative impacts on the oceans. Seafood that is certified sustainable and carries the MSC blue fish logo, however, comes from healthy fish populations, keeping the marine environment intact, and is caught with oversight from regional and national management bodies. 

"The MSC Blue Fish Guide provides a trustworthy resource for Americans wanting to add more ocean-friendly seafood choices to their diets," said Brian Perkins, regional director for the Americas at the MSC Marine Stewardship Council. "The guide is easy to download or pull up on your phone so busy shoppers can reference it to make the best decision for their budget, taste preferences and the ocean. Navigating the waters becomes much easier when we can take shoppers on the ocean-to-plate journey, right in the palms of their hands."