Removing the Guesswork Out of Sustainable Sushi

Unagi, hamachi, ebi, sake, shiromaguro, ahi....What do these names mean? If you are salivating just reading this, you know these popular Japanese sushi terms for eel (fresh water), yellowtail, shrimp, salmon, albacore tuna, and yellowfin tuna, respectively. The American appetite for sushi abounds. But which of these choices are sustainable to consume and which should be avoided? Which restaurants serve sustainable sushi? If you're retrieving your Seafood WATCH mobile phone app (or your pocket guide), kudos to you.

Dragon Roll

Frequenting a sushi restaurant is an artful and unique dining experience. Ornate sushi boats, deft Itamaes (sushi chefs), hand-thrown cups of hot green tea and colorful and dazzling plates of sushi delight all senses. Great care is taken in the creation of each dish. Even the names of dishes are artfully crafted, i.e. the "Dragon," the "Spider," the "Rainbow" and "Alaska" and serve to ontologize their presentation.

It comes as no surprise then that a discerning eye for the sustainability of these incredible edibles oftentimes is veiled by a sense of guilty pleasure. And even if you muster the courage to ask your Itamae for the details of your maguro sashimi, your Itamae will often only be able to verify the species, cut, and grade of the fish.

Seawatch Logo, Yellowfin Tuna


While a quick glance at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium's Seafood WATCH sushi guide steers consumers clear of unagi and hamachi sushi, other items, namely tuna, can be very difficult to ascertain for sustainability. The complexity arises in the way items are listed on the menu. Menu offerings do not always specify type of fish and exclude how the fish was harvested. Notably, the five species of tuna used for sushi, aka maguro, (yellowfin, bigeye, bluefin, albacore, and skipjack) are each harvested in different parts of the world and vary greatly in the way their stocks are managed. Most threatened of them all is wild bluefin tuna, quintessentially referred to as toro - the belly of the fish. Bluefin stocks are over 90% depleted from 1950's levels and should be avoided entirely. And unfortunately, only higher-end sushi restaurants offer their customers 'sustainably' (controversial) farmed Kindai maguro. Albacore ("white tuna" or shiromaguro), if harvested properly, is a good alternative to bluefin. The best option includes albacore harvested from the U.S. or Canadian Pacific via troll or pole-and-lines, though albacore harvested from Hawaii using a longline is a good alternative.

Project FishMap iPhone App

With all of this complexity, how do you find sushi bars that offer sustainably harvested fish? Enter Project FishMap, the latest addition to the Seafood WATCH iPhone app. Project FishMap, in the words of Humberto Kam is a "crowdsourced effort to help people find ocean-friendly seafood, no matter where they live." People can tag restaurants and markets across the United States when they find ocean-friendly seafood. With Project FishMap, now not only can you search mobilely for sustainable sushi bars near you, you can also easily contribute content to the growing database of sustainable seafood restaurants and markets.

Salmon Nigiri

If no sustainable sushi bars exist in your area, have no fear! Also new to Seafood WATCH sushi guide: recommended alternatives to items on the “Avoid” list, and highlights of “Super Green” seafood that is heart-healthy, low in contaminants, and caught or farmed in ways that are good for the oceans. Also, from their website you can explore new flavors, like arctic char (iwana) and geoduck(mirugai), from the "Green List" that you've never tried before. Before indulging in your next hedonistic sushi delight, consider informing yourself about the fish you will inevitably be allured by.

The Spotted Owl: a Flagship species Sailing a Sinking Ship

If you've been following the debate about the recovery plan for the spotted owl, a species whose population is declining by 4% per year, you've heard the outcry over potentially shooting the invasive barred owl in the name of the Endangered Species Act. The US population of the barred owl is so widespread, however, that attempts to cull this species to save the spotted owl from their rapid decline will most likely serve no purpose other than to anger environmentalists.

Here's an interesting thought: What if we don't shoot the barred owl? What if we wait for the US WFS to complete its ten year study of barred owl management? With the current rate of decline, that would mean that in 6 years, 40% fewer spotted owls would remain compared to 2008 levels. Though I am uncertain, the species might be extinct by then. The result of inaction? Environmentalists will be happy because barred owls were spared. But perhaps more riveting, is that loggers, so too, will be happy - as soon as the spotted owl goes extinct, so will the need to maintain the habitat conservation plan.