Seafood Watch
Helping consumers and businesses make choices for a healthy ocean.
Overview
Choosing sustainable seafood is one of the easiest and most powerful ways you can protect the ocean. When you ask for sustainable seafood, businesses start to source it, driving market demand. Environmentally sustainable seafood production helps ensure healthy and resilient ecosystems and supports the wildlife and people who depend on them.
The Seafood Watch program helps consumers and businesses make those sustainable seafood choices. Seafood Watch uses science-based standards to assess the environmental sustainability of fisheries and fish farms worldwide.
Program highlights
- Our science-based assessments are a primary resource for understanding sustainable seafood around the world. Seafood Watch has recommendations for 76 percent of the seafood on the U.S. market and 42 percent of global seafood production, as of December 2025.
- We’ve created easy-to-use tools and programs—shop for sustainable seafood by using our seafood guides or find restaurants in our Best Choice Restaurant Program.
- We work with 14 major companies committed to serving environmentally responsible seafood by following our recommendations.
- Our researchers and data experts have built pioneering, interactive tools to monitor the environmental sustainability of seafood in the U.S. market, the global seafood trade, and major buyer sourcing practices.
Our goals and approach
Our goals
- Empower you with information. We assess the most popular seafood and share information on the status, challenges, and opportunities, so you know exactly what’s happening in our ocean and what you can do to protect it.
- Make shopping and dining out simple and provide tools that take the guesswork out of buying sustainable seafood.
- Build a community of ocean heroes, from home cooks to world-class chefs, who will use their buying power to support a healthy ocean.
- Partner with change-making businesses and help them develop and follow sustainable seafood policies that reward responsible practices.
How we work
- Our experts use our science-based standards to evaluate how fisheries and fish farms affect the environment.
- We use a simple rating system to turn complex data into clear recommendations following a traffic light system: green-rated seafood is a Best Choice, yellow-rated is a Good Alternative, and red-rated should be avoided.
- We share our ratings and third-party certifications with shoppers and major companies to help individuals make ocean-friendly choices and shift how businesses source seafood.
- By choosing sustainable seafood, you encourage major stores and restaurants to do the same, which improves fishing and farming practices worldwide.
Why it matters
Seafood provides essential nutrition and livelihoods to over three billion people worldwide, but seafood is a finite resource. The way seafood is caught and farmed matters, and destructive practices can harm the ocean and marine life. Choosing environmentally sustainable seafood helps ensure healthy and resilient ocean ecosystems and supports the wildlife and people who depend on them.
76%
of seafood on the U.S. market covered by Seafood Watch recommendations
42%
of global seafood production covered by Seafood Watch recommendations
1,500+
published ratings covering 300+ species across 55+ countries
240+
partnerships with aquariums, zoos, and other conservation organizations
14
partnerships with large retail, foodservice, meal kit, restaurant chains, and pet food companies
15,000+
locations covered by our partnerships
Who we work with
Major buyers
We partner with some of the largest restaurants, retailers, and seafood suppliers in the U.S. to promote sustainable seafood. Our network includes 14 major companies across retail, foodservice, meal kits, restaurant chains, and pet food, representing more than 15,000 locations.
Chefs and culinary leaders
We partner with well-known chefs and culinary leaders to spread the message of sustainable seafood. Our community of chefs act as seafood ambassadors by featuring sustainable options on their menus and teaching guests and followers along the way. Our Blue Ribbon Task Force—comprised of superstar chefs—works closely with the Aquarium’s policy teams to advocate for sustainability at the state and federal levels.
Discover how chefs and culinary leaders champion sustainable seafood
Conservation partners
You can also find Seafood Watch at your favorite local zoo or aquarium. Over 250 zoos, aquariums, science museums, and other mission-aligned conservation organizations from around the world partner with us to promote sustainable seafood through their exhibits and public events. Many of these partners also pledge to feed sustainable seafood to their exhibit animals too.
See how zoos, aquariums, and other conservation organizations promote sustainable seafood
Experts and advisors
Scientific and industry experts from around the world play a key role in developing and approving our standards.
Be a voice for the ocean
Sign up for our quarterly ocean action emails and get inspiring conservation stories, tips on living a sustainable lifestyle, and opportunities to take action to protect the ocean—delivered to your inbox.
Explore our other global programs
Change & impact
Reducing plastic pollution
From local action to global policy, see how we’re cutting plastic at the source.
Read more – Reducing plastic pollution
Change & impact
Policy & ocean protection
Our policy team works to engage the public and government leaders in promoting ocean conservation.
Read more – Policy & ocean protection
Change & impact
Global ocean conservation programs
We work across the globe to improve sustainability, protect human rights, and strengthen coastal communities.
Read more – Global ocean conservation programs