Saturday Short Subjects: “There are only so many fish in the sea…

Your choices matter.”

This sums up the raison d'etre of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch® Program, a frequent subject of my blogposts. 

The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® Program encourages consumers and businesses to purchase seafood that is fished or farmed in ways that do not harm the environment. Their science-based recommendations indicate which seafood items are “Best Choices,” which ones are “Good Alternatives,” and which ones you should  “Avoid.”

The information is compiled into consumer-friendly guides — one for the US as a whole, and others specific to each region of the country. There is also a guide for Sushi. Each guide offers a carefully selected, carry-it-with-you, subset of choices from the program’s full list of recommendations. You  can access the complete list online here, where you can also search for the ratings for a particular fish. You can also access the recommendations by using the free mobile app available here. 

The guides are frequently updated. The Seafood Watch Program®’s Community Outreach director, Ryan Bigelow, announced yesterday that the newest versions of the guides are now available for download here.

Here’s your chance to be among the first to have them.

Remember, your choices do matter. Together we can make a difference.

Why Saturday Short Subjects? Some readers may recall  being dropped at the movie theater for the Saturday matinee — two action-packed feature films with a series of short subjects (cartoons or short movies, sometimes a serial cliffhanger) sandwiched in between. Often the short subjects were the most memorable, and enjoyable, part of the morning. That explains the name. The reason behind these particular posts is that we are all short on time. My Short Subject posts should not take me as long to write or you as long to read (or try).

Meatless Monday: A Meet-Up in Monterey

Two seal watchers observed on our walk to meet Ryan. 

Two weeks ago my husband and I were in Monterey, California, where we had the opportunity to a real-life meet-up with one of my longtime online acquaintances, Ryan Bigelow, Outreach Manager of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch Program. Fish is a choice for many observers of Meatless Monday, so this seems an excellent moment to tell you a bit about our visit with Ryan.

We covered many topics while sitting outside near Fishermen’s Wharf under bright blue skies. We learned more about his role with Seafood Watch, his work with large companies to guide them in making better fish purchases, the criteria Seafood Watch uses to determine its ratings, the need for consumers to read labels carefully no matter where they make their purchases, and why sometimes food miles is not always as important as how the fish are caught or raised…

He also gave us lots of tips on how to spend our 5 days in Monterey. We began with an afternoon at the Monterey Bay Aquarium where we learned about the ecosystem of the Bay, explored the kelp forest, experienced jellyfish, found about the secret lives of seahorses, and discovered how sardines are cooked in their cans. All along the way we had many opportunities to take action to improve the health of the oceans. A favorite exhibit was the interactive diner where a menu selection elicits an entertaining video response on why the choice was a good (or bad) one. 

Jellies

We had a wonderful afternoon and a great week. More on our Monterey adventures in the days to come. 

In the meantime, check out the latest news and tools from Seafood Watch here. Be sure to download the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch Pocket Guide which is right for you. Never underestimate the impact of your seafood choices.  

Happy Monday! Always remember your potential to make the world a better place.

I often blog on food or food issues on Monday in support of Meatless Monday, one of several programs developed in the Healthy Monday project, founded in 2003 in association with Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications. Meatless Monday’s goal is “to help reduce meat consumption 15% in order to improve personal health and the health of our planet.”