The Ratings

Fisheries experts who assess seafood species for GoodFish: Australia’s Sustainable seafood guide utilise the best publicly available research to determine their sustainability. Their research is displayed in a simple traffic light system to guide help you make your choice.

A Better Choice can be made by choosing green. Species in this group are not currently overfished. They are generally resilient to fishing pressure at current levels, have a history of stable catches and are caught or farmed using techniques that have a lower environmental impact. Some green-listed species may still have conservation concerns, but have been assessed to be a better seafood choice.

Eat Less of the species listed as amber. Wild caught amber options may be fished from populations that are slightly below resilient levels. If there is bycatch of threatened species, it is not to a level of serious concern, and not likely preventing their recovery. There may be impacts to sensitive habitats and ecosystems, but not to a level where there is a known serious threat to their resilience or highly vulnerable ecosystems are put at risk. Management is based on sound scientific practice, though there may be weaknesses or information gaps.

Farmed seafood options in this group may not employ highly efficient use of wild fishery resources in their feeding practices, or source a minor proportion of wild fish used in feed from fisheries that are not themselves highly sustainable. There may be infrequent impacts to populations of wildlife and vulnerable species, but these are effectively being reduced or are not preventing their recovery. There may be some impacts to the receiving environment from the location of the aquaculture operation or its downstream effects, but the affected environments are not highly sensitive and serious pollution does not occur.

Say No to all species listed in red. Wild-caught species in this group may be overfished, or their capture involves significant bycatch of threatened or protected species. Farmed species include those produced by methods that place significant stress on our coasts and oceans.