Good Fish Guide
Your guide to sustainable seafood
You can play a key role in securing the future of our seas and marine wildlife by making more environmentally responsible choices when buying seafood.
Our seas face a wide range of threats - click to expand
Our seas face a wide range of threats. Climate change, pollution, habitat and biodiversity loss are all impacting our seas; plus 90% of global fish stocks are either fully or over-exploited. All these factors combined mean that urgent action is needed to restore the health of our seas. Fish farming (aquaculture) is rapidly expanding to meet increasing demand for seafood, but if this is done badly it can also damage the environment and exacerbate these other problems.
Use the Good Fish Guide to find out which fish are the most sustainable (Green rated), and which are the least sustainable (Red rated). Make the right choice and reduce your impact – every purchase matters! Find out more about our seafood work, including how we develop our seafood ratings, plus sustainable seafood recipes and more.
You searched for "mackerel"
Horse Mackerel, Scad
Trachurus trachurus
Horse mackerel is caught in directed (human consumption) and non-directed fisheries in and around UK waters. Generally, directed horse mackerel fisheries use methods that are relatively selective or 'clean' in terms of bycatch and … Read more non-damaging to the seabed. The non-directed bycatch fisheries tend to catch horse mackerel using other methods of fishing which can be more harmful. There are three stocks: Western horse mackerel, North Sea horse mackerel, and Southern horse mackerel. Not all of the stocks are doing well. The Western and North Sea stocks are being overfished and are subject to overfishing, so it pays to know where your horse mackerel has been caught.
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Capture method — Purse seine
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Atlantic Iberian waters. Southern stock.
Stock detail — 9a
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Capture method — Demersal otter trawl
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Atlantic Iberian waters. Southern stock.
Stock detail — 9a
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Capture method — Pelagic trawl
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Skagerrak and Kattegat, North Sea (Central and South), English Channel (East). North Sea stock.
Stock detail — 3a, 4b, 4c, 7d
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Capture method — Purse seine
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Norwegian Sea, North Sea (North), Celtic Seas, Cantabrian Sea, English Channel (South), Bay of Biscay. Western stock.
Stock detail — 8, 2a, 4a, 5b, 6a, 7a–c, 7e–k
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Capture method — Pelagic trawl
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Norwegian Sea, North Sea (North), Celtic Seas, Cantabrian Sea, English Channel (South), Bay of Biscay. Western stock.
Stock detail — 8, 2a, 4a, 5b, 6a, 7a–c, 7e–k
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Mackerel
Scomber scombrus
Handline-caught mackerel from the southwest of England remains the best choice thanks to its ring-fenced quota and low impact methods. The mackerel stock in the North-East Atlantic is in a good state and in general is caught by pelagic
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trawling and purse-seining - relatively low-impact and well-targeted fishing methods. There are some concerns about management however. Catches of the stock as a whole have not been in line with scientific advice since the 1980s. The EU (including the UK), Norway and the Faroe Islands work together to manage their catches through the Coastal States Arrangement), and mackerel is also caught by Russia, Greenland and Iceland. While all countries have endeavoured to work together to set quotas in the past, this is currently not happening and catches remain in excess of scientifically-recommended limits. The Coastal States Arrangement, including fish caught by the Mackerel Industry Northern Sustainability Alliance (MINSA), is a better choice, as these countries continue to work together.
In September 2019, all MSC certifications for mackerel were suspended, owing to management not keeping fishing pressure within sustainable levels.
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Capture method — Handline
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters
Stock detail — South West England
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Capture method — Handline
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Cornwall
Stock detail — 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h
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Capture method — Gill or fixed net
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Cornwall
Stock detail — 7e, 7f, 7g, 7h
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Capture method — Ring net
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Cornwall
Stock detail — 7e, 7f, 7g and h
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Capture method — Pelagic trawl, Purse seine
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters
Stock detail — Coastal States
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Capture method — Pelagic trawl, Purse seine
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters
Stock detail — Iceland
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Capture method — Pelagic trawl
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters
Stock detail — EU & Norway (MINSA)
Certification — Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) - Currently suspended
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Capture method — Purse seine
Capture area — North East Atlantic (FAO 27)
Stock area — Northeast Atlantic and adjacent waters
Stock detail — EU & Norway (MINSA)
Certification — Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) - Currently suspended
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