GoodFish celebrates sustainable seafood by connecting responsible fishers and farmers with conscious Australians like you.

Australia is lucky to have access to a wide range of sustainably caught and farmed seafood. Unfortunately fisheries are not yet perfect, and we are increasingly being faced with the harm caused to our ocean ecosystems in bringing some of this seafood to our plates. The complexity of these ecosystems means knowing what’s best to buy can be confusing. GoodFish does the hard work for you by providing an independent guide to truly sustainable seafood.

GoodFish: Australia’s Sustainable Seafood Guide was created in response to public demand. It is a comprehensive assessment of the sustainability of over 160 seafood choices available at Australian fishmongers, supermarkets and restaurants covering  90% of what is available at market. By working with the public, chefs and food business, we are growing this number day-by-day.

 

Sustainability Guide vs Sustainability Certification
The Guide is not a certification scheme of individual seafood species or fisheries. AMCS does not charge a fee for its service, it is an independent not-for-profit charity, funded by the Australian public and charitable foundations with an ambition to inspire continuous improvement.

 

How do we assess? 

AMCS utilised an independently reviewed criteria set to assess the sustainability of wild capture fisheries and farmed seafood. The criteria are utilise the best  publicly available research, data and information about individual species and fisheries. These methods are regularly reviewed against other relevant organisations, institutions and government agencies. AMCS ensures that its criteria reflect the widely accepted view of fisheries managers, scientists and other assessment bodies of best practice wild fishery and aquaculture sustainability.

Assessments are undertaken by fisheries experts at AMCS and external consultants. AMCS consults with external experts, and requests additional input from fishery management professionals, industry, fisheries and aquaculture scientists, marine biologists and conservation experts. This formal review phase ensures that AMCS is accessing the latest information in fisheries and aquaculture conservation.

We regularly liaise with representatives from fishing and aquaculture industries to help inform these assessments, especially regarding fisheries with critical conservation issues.

GoodFish applies an ‘environment first’ approach based on global best practice. A whole-of-ecosystem approach is taken using science-based, precautionary principles to assess the true sustainability of wild fisheries and aquaculture farms. Regular contact with experts is maintained to reflect any advances or otherwise in fisheries management.

We encourage fisheries management bodies and representatives of fisheries and the aquaculture industry to provide newly published and released data to our fisheries experts.

Wild-caught fisheries

Australia’s wild fisheries are inherently complex. Many fisheries catch multiple different species using different types of fishing gear. A single species can also be caught in different fisheries managed by different states (including the Territory) and also by the Commonwealth.

In assessing the sustainability of wild capture fisheries, we take an ecosystem-based approach. This means we consider all the potential impacts a fishery can have on our marine environment. We consider stock status, impacts of a fishery on the target species, on threatened, endangered and protected species, discarded species, bycatch, byproduct, as well impacts on habitats and the quality of fisheries management.

Food miles, which relate in particular to imported seafood, are not considered in our assessments at this stage, although we note that international seafood guides are increasingly considering the carbon footprint of imported seafood.

Farmed seafood

In assessing the sustainability of farmed seafood, we take a holistic view of the farming process and consider how much wild caught fish is used in fish feed, the quality of management, and the impacts of farming operations on the ocean’s threatened, endangered and protected species as well as on surrounding marine or terrestrial habitats. The human health aspects of farmed seafood are not currently considered.

For more detail on the assessment criteria, see here.

If you have more information that you deem valuable to our process, contact us here amcs@amcs.org.au.