Dial F for Fish

I've stood in front of a fish counter at my local grocery store many times and wondered what I should choose. Is this fish over-harvested? What about mercury levels? Is this a safely farm-raised fish or should I avoid it? So many environmental factors weighing in on the decision. Usually, I feel good about the information that my favorite store, New Seasons, provides but sometimes I choose to avoid fish altogether because I'm just not sure.

Well, there a new nifty tool for folks who run into this and it's called the Blue Ocean Fishphone. It's a handy cellphone tool that allows you to text a number with the name of your fish and you'll receive an immediate response. Tonight, I texted their #: 30644 with "Fish Chinook Salmon" and received the following response in two parts:

"farmed salmon (RED) significant environmental concerns; US west coast (YELLOW) some evn concerns; Alaska (GREEN) very few env concerns. MSC certified as Sustainable."

You could argue that folks should stop eating Chinook salmon all together under the current circumstances so that Alaska doesn't become over-fished as well. However, the Marine Stewardship Council considers sustainability of the fishing industry too. We'll have to see how it plays out and in the meantime use the FishPhone to help us vote with our dollars.