The Fish List (www.thefishlist.org) is a website provided by Environmental Defense, Blue Ocean and the Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. The website claims to offer consumers “a fast, easy-to-use tool that helps you make the best possible seafood choices.” Each participating organization has its own online version of consumer seafood information. Since shoppers don’t access the Internet while at the fish counter or while ordering in restaurants, the primary tool The Fish List and others offer are downloadable “buyers guides.”
Dr. Barry Costa-Pierce, University of Rhode Island fisheries professor and a panelist at the Seafood Summit, also consults to the Monterrey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program. By his own admission the information that determines whether a fishery or aquaculture operation is sustainable is rarely black and white, or red and green. He says, “I don’t think it can be simplified down to a card that you can take to a restaurant. Make informed decisions that work for you, and promote that you’re proud to be part of sustainability.”