Good Fish Guide

Anchovy, Peruvian, anchovies

Engraulis ringens

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.

Bream, Black or porgy or seabream

Spondyliosoma cantharus

Black seabream are vulnerable to overfishing because they change sex during their lives, they aggregate to spawn (and therefore are easier to catch) and are very picky about where they lay eggs. Look up The Black Bream Project for further … Read more details. More management is needed to protect the species. If choosing Black seabream, choose it from the Sussex IFCA district, who have implemented better management.

Clam, Razor, clams

Ensis spp.

Razor clam populations around the UK are not well understood. They have slow growth rates and their populations take a long time to recover. Large-scale harvesting by dredging or electrofishing could cause population sizes to decline, as … Read more well as have wider environmental impacts. The only recommended choice is razor clams caught by hand-gathering. Avoid eating undersized animals (less than 10cm) and wild clams harvested during the spawning season (May - September).

Cockle, cockles

Cerastoderma edule

Best boiled then seasoned with malt vinegar and pepper, they are often pickled but also sold in a sealed packet to eat on the go. A traditional Welsh breakfast is cockles fried with bacon and served with laver bread. Cockles have … Read more distinctive rounded shells that are slightly heart shaped. It is a bivalve (two identical shells) belonging to the family Cardidae meaning 'heart-shaped'. They can jump by bending and straightening the foot - the end bit- which is often coloured red and called the 'red nose'.

Choose Marine Stewardship Council-certified cockles or from well-managed inshore fisheries such as the Wash. Avoid eating them during their breeding season from March to July.

Cod, Atlantic Cod

Gadus morhua

There are a many different Atlantic cod populations and whilst some are being well managed and are in a healthy state, many others are in a poor state, particularly around the UK. Many of the well managed fisheries are certified as … Read more sustainable by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) which can be identified in shops and on menus by a blue ecolabel with a white tick. Avoid eating cod from stocks which are depleted and where fishing is at unsustainable levels.

Crawfish

Palinurus elephas

Cuttlefish

Sepia officinalis

Choose cuttlefish from traps or hook & line fisheries as they are generally more selective fishing methods and less damaging than trawl fishing. If choosing cuttlefish caught using traps buy it from areas where cuttlefish fisheries protect … Read more cuttlefish eggs, e.g. Dorset (Poole, Christchurch) and Brittany. This is because cuttlefish often lay their eggs on traps which need to be protected. More management is required to protect cuttlefish.

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 have very low resilience to fishing and spawn only once, after which the females die. Therefore, many captured eels will be juveniles and not have had a chance to spawn. Avoid eating.

Eel, European (Caught at sea)

Anguilla anguilla

Avoid all European eel (farmed and wild caught). European eel populations are at an all time low: they are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and urgent action is needed to recover the stock. Scientists advise that all … Read more 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 improves. A European Eel Management Plan is in place, but is only partially reported on and many countries are not achieving conservation targets.

European eels are fished in all life stages, from juveniles (aka glass eels) to adults (silver eels), and those that are fished do not have the chance to breed. Even farming relies on catching juveniles from the wild and growing them in captivity (ranching), as they can't be bred in captivity, and therefore contributes to the depletion of wild stocks.

Eel, European (Farmed)

Anguilla anguilla

Avoid all European eel (farmed and wild caught). European eel populations are at an all time low: they are Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List and urgent action is needed to recover the stock. Scientists advise that all … Read more 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 improves. A European Eel Management Plan is in place, but is only partially reported on and many countries are not achieving conservation targets.

European eels are fished in all life stages, from juveniles (aka glass eels) to adults (silver eels), and those that are fished do not have the chance to breed. Even farming relies on catching juveniles from the wild and growing them in captivity (ranching), as they can't be bred in captivity, and therefore contributes to the depletion of wild stocks.

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.

Gurnard, Yellow or Tub

Triglia or Chelidonichthys lucerna

Quite a bony fish and should be bought with fins and skin removed. It's not got a strong flavour and so is often used in soups or stock or stuffed. Gurnards belong to a family of fish known as 'sea robins'. There are three common varieties … Read more - red, grey and yellow or tub. Red gurnard is most commonly used and is very easily mixed up with the tub gurnard, because the tub gurnard can be as brightly red as the red gurnard. They can be distinguished by their fins, the tub gurnard has stunningly coloured, brilliant blue fins. It lives on the seabed and stirs up food with its 'legs', narrow spiny fins adapted for the purpose.

More management is required to protect tub gurnards. We recommend to avoid eating Tub Gurnards.

Halibut, Atlantic (Caught at sea)

Hippoglossus hippoglossus

Atlantic halibut can grow up to 8ft long and 4ft wide and is the largest and longest lived of all flatfish. The species is heavily overfished and listed as an Endangered species so avoid eating. Levels of mercury can be very high in large … Read more halibut! 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.