Good Fish Guide

Anchovy, Peruvian, anchovies

Engraulis ringens

As an oily fish, their strong flavour is used to add a kick to many dishes and sauces, including Worcestershire Sauce, and they are widely used in Mediterranean cooking. Anchovy fillets are generally packed in oil or salt and sold in jars … Read more or tins. Often used as a topping for pizza, caesar salads or just on toast. Also in paste or rolled and accompanied with other foods such as olives. Anchovy can also be processed into fish meal. They are small green fish with a silver stripe that gives them a bluish hue. A relative of the herring, they are a short-lived, schooling fish feeding on small fry (recently hatched fish) and plankton at the bottom of the food-chain.

Anchovy populations fluctuate largely because of environmental variability. It is important that their populations are maintained at an appropriate level because anchovy are a very important part of the food chain. Their catches need to be appropriate to maintain an ecosystem balance. Due to the last El Nino, anchovy populations are low and therefore a suite of management measures have been implemented to ensure anchovy populations can rebuild. However, there needs to be more transparency in stock assessments and quotas need to be made more appropriate for predators of anchovy.

Bass, seabass (Caught at sea)

Dicentrarchus labrax

The combination of slow growth, late maturity, spawning aggregation, and strong summer site fidelity increase the vulnerability of seabass to over-exploitation and localised depletion. The spawning stock biomass for the stock, Central and … Read more South North Sea, Irish Sea, English Channel, Bristol Channel, Celtic Sea, is now at it's lowest observed level and scientists advice that there should be zero catch (commercial and recreational) in 2018. Avoid eating wild-caught seabass from this area. For other sea bass stocks their state relative to reference points is unknown. Information on abundance and exploitation is unavailable and total catch (commercial and recreational) is also unknown and therefore the sustainability of the fisheries is unclear.

Bream, Gilthead

Sparus auratus

Clam, Razor, clams

Ensis spp.

Clams are versatile shellfish which you should only eat if they are from farmed sources (e.g. Manila or American hardshell clams) or harvested from the wild (e.g. carpet or razor clams) using sustainable manual methods such as hand … Read more gathering. Avoid eating clams that have been harvested using illegal methods such as by electrical fishing. They can be eaten raw, boiled, baked or fried and are most popularly made into clam chowder - a brothy soup, containing potatoes and other vegetables, and often cream. Clams, like many fish, were served in restaurants on Fridays to provide an option for Catholics who abstained from eating meat on this day, as well as during important Christian periods such as Lent.

In Scotland, razor clams are also known as spoots, a reference to the jets of water they produce when rapidly burrowing into sand when exposed at low tides.

Widely distributed in intertidal waters throughout UK and temperate waters.The commercial rearing or farming of razor clams is well established in some areas of Spain, and its commercial potential is now being developed in the UK and Ireland. Avoid eating clams harvested using illegal methods such as electrical fishing. Choose clams harvested in the wild by sustainable methods such as hand-gathering only. Avoid eating undersized animals (less than 10cm) and wild clams harvested during the spawning season (May - September).

Cod, Atlantic Cod

Gadus morhua

The most popular cuts are steaks and fillets which can be poached, grilled or baked. It's easy and quick to cook and is traditionally served with parsley sauce and lemon wedges and of course, chips. Cod roe and milt or sperm is also eaten. … Read more Cod belongs to a family of fish known as gadoids, which includes species such as haddock, pollack, pouting and ling. The fish is brown to green with spots on the dorsal side with a distinctive lateral line, and a small 'bib' or barbel under its chin which is used to look for food.Cod produce millions of eggs in winter and spring in February to April.

There is a long term management plan in place for the recovery of the stock in the combined sea area Skagerrak, North Sea, eastern Channel and as a result it has experienced a gradual improvement in it's status over the last few years with continued increases in stock abundance reported in all areas apart from the south of the area. Although fishing mortality on the stock continues to decrease it is currently still too high.
The Scottish Fisheries Sustainable Accreditation Group (SFSAG) North Sea cod fishery was certified as a responsibly managed fishery against the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard in July 2017. The Norwegian NE Arctic offshore cod fishery, the Barents Sea demersal trawl cod fishery within the Norwegian and Russian EEZs and in international waters and the longline, handline and Danish seine fishery for cod in Iceland's EEZ are also certified as sustainable fisheries by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Danish and Swedish fisheries in the Eastern Baltic were also certified to the MSC standard as environmentally responsible fisheries in April and June 2011 respectively but are currently suspended.

Avoid eating cod from stocks which are depleted and where fishing is at unsustainable levels. To help reduce the impact of fishing on fish stocks where fishing mortality is too high, the marine environment, and other marine species, choose line-caught cod where available. Longlining can result in seabird bycatch so ask for fish caught using 'seabird-friendly' methods. See Fishing methods guide for more information

Crawfish

Palinurus elephas

Devil fish, Giant Devil ray

Mobula mobular

Sharks and rays are found in all the worlds oceans, from the poles to the tropics to shallow water coral reefs to water over 3,000m deep. Sharks, skates and rays are fish but unlike bony fish (teleosts), they have a cartilaginous … Read more skeletons. There are four main types of cartilaginous fish; sharks, skates and rays (collectively called elasmobranchs) and chimaeras (found in deep water).

Reproduction in sharks and rays is a very slow process as they generally have a late age of sexual maturity, produce few young and have a long gestation period. Shark eggs may develop in one of three different ways: Eggs are held within a leathery case (Oviparity), known as a mermaids purse e.g. catshark; embryos develop within the mother and are nourished by the egg (Ovoviparity) e.g. basking shark; Embryos develop within the mother and are provided with nutrients from a placenta (Viviparity) e.g. smoothhound.

World-wide sharks are being removed from our seas at an alarming rate. Yet, they are slow growing, long-lived and have low reproduction rates so it is difficult for their populations to recover. Finning is perhaps the most damaging and distasteful of all shark fisheries. The process is cruel and wasteful, involving the removal and retention of fins, while the rest of the shark, is discarded, often still alive, to drown or be eaten. Fins are consumed principally in the Far East but Europe and the USA are sizeable markets for shark fin. A single basking shark fin can fetch up to 250,000 USD. Blue sharks and other oceanic species are the preferred species taken.

Classified as Endangered by the IUCN. They have been heavily exploited and their populations take a very long time to repair (because they grow slowly, mature at a late age and produce very few young). Because of this, they are automatically a red-rated species.

Eel, Conger

Conger conger

Conger eels are very susceptible to fishing pressure. Avoid eating.

Eel, European (Caught at sea)

Anguilla anguilla

Eels are exploited in all life stages and those that are fished do not have the chance to breed. European eel populations are at an all time low. Their status remains critical and urgent action is needed to recover the stock. Scientists … Read more advise that all anthropogenic mortality (habitat alteration, barriers to passage, pollution, recreational and commercial fishing) must be reduced to "as close to zero as possible", until the stock status is proven to improve. European eel is listed under CITES Appendix II. This listing implies that international trade in eel requires special permission and is complementary to conservation actions developed in the EU management plan.

European eel is not farmed like other aquaculture species, the process comprises of catching of juvenile eels from the wild and growing them in captivity. This form of aquaculture is called ranching. European eel is assessed as Critically Endangered in the wild and is a IUCN Red List species. Eel ranching contributes to depletion of endangered wild stocks and does not provide a farmed alternative to reduce pressure on wild stocks. Eel are carnivorous species requiring high protein diets including fishmeal and fish oil which cannot be assured as being sourced from a sustainable supply. Eels cannot currently be bred in captivity so all farmed eel is grown from wild caught glass eels. Avoid all European eel (farmed and wild caught).

Eel, European (Farmed)

Anguilla anguilla

Eels are exploited in all life stages and those that are fished do not have the chance to breed. European eel populations are at an all time low. Their status remains critical and urgent action is needed to recover the stock. Scientists … Read more advise that all anthropogenic mortality (habitat alteration, barriers to passage, pollution, recreational and commercial fishing) must be reduced to "as close to zero as possible", until the stock status is proven to improve. European eel is listed under CITES Appendix II. This listing implies that international trade in eel requires special permission and is complementary to conservation actions developed in the EU management plan. European eel is not farmed like other aquaculture species, the process comprises of catching of juvenile eels from the wild and growing them in captivity. This form of aquaculture is called ranching. European eel is assessed as Critically Endangered in the wild and is a IUCN Red List species. Eel ranching contributes to depletion of endangered wild stocks and does not provide a farmed alternative to reduce pressure on wild stocks. Eel are carnivorous species requiring high protein diets including fishmeal and fish oil which cannot be assured as being sourced from a sustainable supply. Eels cannot currently be bred in captivity so all farmed eel is grown from wild caught glass eels. Avoid all European eel (farmed and wild caught).

Grouper

Epinephelus spp.

The combination of facts for grouper are that they are: largely overfished; assessed as vulnerable to highly vulnerable to overfishing; not managed; and often caught with fishing methods detrimental to their vulnerable reef habitat, makes … Read more the species in general a fish to avoid. Some species in some areas may be fished sustainably, but MCS is currently unaware of any. Many species of grouper are now farmed, the sustainability of their production will inevitably vary. Only if the fish being farmed are bred from captive stock and do not rely on harvesting of juveniles in the wild, and responsible farming practices are used, including management of feed resources, can farmed grouper be considered more sustainable than wild-caught fish.

Guitarfish

Rhinobatos rhinobatos

Sharks and rays are found in all the worlds oceans, from the poles to the tropics to shallow water coral reefs to water over 3,000m deep. The Bull Shark (Carcharhinus leucas) is unusual as it is able to enter fresh water river systems … Read more where it gives birth. Sharks, skates and rays are fish, but they can be distinguished from bony fish (teleosts) by their cartilaginous skeletons. There are four main types of cartilaginous fish; sharks, skates and rays, collectively called elasmobranchs, and the rarely encountered chimaeras, a more distant relative only found in deep water. They are also distinguished from bony fish by the way they breed. Reproduction in sharks and rays is a very slow process as they have a late age of sexual maturity, produce few young and have a long gestation period. No maternal care is provided to shark pups, instead they are well-developed and ready to hunt when born in order to maximise their chance of survival. All shark eggs are fertilised internally but may develop in one of three different ways: Eggs are held within a leathery case (Oviparity), known as a mermaids purse, e.g. catshark; Embryos develop within the mother and are nourished by the egg (Ovoviparity) e.g. basking shark; Embryos develop within the mother and are provided with nutrients from a placenta (Viviparity) e.g. smoothhound. World-wide sharks are being removed from our seas at an alarming rate. Sharks are slow growing, long-lived with low reproduction. Finning is perhaps the most damaging and distasteful of all shark fisheries. The process is cruel and wasteful, involving the removal and retention of fins, while the rest of the shark, is discarded, often still alive, to drown or be eaten. Finning takes place all over the world (including Europe) to feed the continual and increasing demand for sharkfin soup. Fins are consumed principally in the Far East but Europe and the USA are sizeable markets for shark fin. Fins may fetch over 30 per kilo and a single basking shark tail fin can fetch up to 5,250 in Hong Kong. Blue sharks and other oceanic species are the preferred species taken.

Guitarfish are listed by IUCN as Endangered. It's biology and inshore habitat make it highly susceptible to population depletion. Because of this, they are automatically a red-rated species.

Haddock

Melanogrammus aeglefinus

Haddock from the Northeast Arctic and Iceland are at healthy or sustainable levels and being fished sustainably. Fisheries in these areas are certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard as environmentally responsible … Read more fisheries and provide better choices for haddock. Haddock, however, also occur in mixed fisheries with other fish such as cod, which are depleted in some areas. When buying longline-caught haddock, ask for fish caught using 'seabird-friendly' methods. To learn more about how fish are caught see our Fishing methods guide. Avoid eating immature fish, below 30 cm, and during their main breeding season in March and April.

Halibut, Atlantic (Caught at sea)

Hippoglossus hippoglossus

Halibut is mild, sweet tasting and really versatile - think about baking, poaching, frying, grilling or sauteing . But don't leave it hanging around, it'll dry out very quickly as it doesn't contain very much oil. Atlantic halibut can grow … Read more up to 8ft long and 4ft wide, is the largest and longest lived of all flatfish, is heavily overfished and listed as an Endangered species so avoid eating! Farmed Atlantic or wild-caught Pacific halibut from the Northeast Pacific and Northwest Atlantic and certified to the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) standard for responsible fishing are more sustainable options.

Atlantic halibut is a highly vulnerable species, and has been heavily overfished throughout its range. Its stock status is unknown as there is not enough information about the species. Nor is there robust management to protect the species. Norway employs better management for the species. Atlantic halibut was assessed as Endangered by the IUCN. Avoid eating wild caught Atlantic halibut unless certified by MSC.

Herring or sild

Clupea harengus

You can pickle Herring as rollmops, smoke or cook them fresh. They are high in omega 3 which makes them really nutritious. Herring belongs to the same family of fish as sprat and pilchard and young herrings processed as sardine in Norway … Read more are called sild. Small, silvery and streamlined with a single dorsal fin, they move around together in huge schools very near the surface. In Old Norse language 'herring' actually means 'army'! Very important in the Scottish diet where they have been caught off the coast for centuries and referred to as the Silver Darlings.

The largest single fishery is for Atlantic herring which is fished throughout much of the north Atlantic. Herring is a resilient species and is caught using fishing methods that are relatively selective or 'clean' in terms of bycatch and non-damaging to the seabed. This generally makes the fish a good sustainable choice. The best choices for herring are fish from Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified fisheries and from the Central Baltic.