Domestic Fisheries

SFF’s recommendations are taken from the most current metric-based fisheries information and verifiable data from leading authorities.  The most complete information comes from NMFS, which is a part of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).  This federal agency regulates all fish stocks in the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), which is the largest of any country in the world.  See a map of the US EEZ. The National Marine Fisheries Service has a legal mandate to end overfishing in US federal waters by next 2011.  In order measure the productive maintenance of our fisheries, the Fish Stock Sustainability Index (FSSI) is assigned by NMFS to over 200 commercially important domestic stocks, representing 90% of all commercial landings.

• See a comparison of seafood advisory programs
• View culinary substitutions for over-exploited species

Seafood by Species

• Alaska cod – Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska
• Alaska plaice – Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands
• Alaska pollock – Bering Sea/Aleutian Islands, Gulf of Alaska
• Atlantic Sea Scallops – New England and US Mid-Atlantic
• Albacore (tuna) – North Pacific
• Atlantic herring – Northwestern Atlantic Coast
• Atlantic mackerel – Gulf of Maine / Cape Hatteras
• Atlantic surfclam – US Mid-Atlantic Coast
• Arctic char – recirculating farmed sources
• Bigeye tuna – US Atlantic
• Bivalves – (Cultured species)
• Black sea bass – Mid-Atlantic (North Carolina to Maine)
• Bluefish – (US Atlantic)
• Catfish – (Cultured species)
• Cabezon – California
• Cobia – Gulf of Mexico
• Crab (Alaska Snow crab) – Alaska
• Mahi mahi – Pacific
• Dover sole – Pacific Coast
• Lingcod – Pacific Coast
• Longfin inshore squid – Georges Bank / Cape Hatteras
• Monkfish – Gulf of Maine / Georges Bank
• Northern anchovy – Northern Pacific Coast
• Ocean quahog – Atlantic Coast
• Opah – Pacific
• Opalescent inshore squid – Pacific Coast
• Pacific cod – Bering Sea / Aleutian Islands; Gulf of Alaska; Pacific Coast
• Pacific halibut – Gulf of Alaska/Bering Sea; British Columbia; West coast
• Pacific sanddab – Pacific Coast
• Pacific sardine – Pacific Coast
• Petrale sole – Pacific Coast
• Red king crab – Bristol Bay
• Red king crab – Norton Sound
• Sablefish – Pacific coast; Eastern Bering Sea / Aleutian Islands / Gulf of Alaska
• Salmon, Pacific species – Alaska
• Atlantic sea scallops – Northwestern Atlantic Coast
• Summer flounder – Mid-Atlantic Coast
• Swordfish – North Atlantic; North Pacific
• Tilapia – (Cultured species)
• Wahoo (Ono)  - Pacific
• Yellowfin tuna – Central Western Pacific