What's new

If sustainability is a top priority when you're shopping at the fish counter, wild-caught seafood can be fraught with ethical complications.

One major reason why: bycatch, or the untargeted marine life captured accidentally by fishermen and, often, discarded dead in heaps. It's one of the most problematic aspects of industrial fishing.

Not every fishery is alike, of course, and practices vary by region. And lately, the federal government has been strengthening its own stance against the most wasteful fisheries, especially those that use gill nets, trawl nets and long lines.

In September, the National Marine Fisheries Service granted $2.4 million to enterprising fishermen who are working to modify their gear to spare the lives of sharks, sea birds, whales and turtles. And earlier in the month, the same agency imposed a new law that will close the current California swordfish fishery if just one sperm whale becomes entangled in a gill net — something that has happened multiple times in the recent past.

For environmental groups like Oceana, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Turtle Island Restoration Network — all of which fought for the new law — this equals progress.

Even if you've already sworn off eating taboo items like bluefin tuna, Chilean sea bass and shark, you may still be contributing to the global bycatch tally. Following are a few seafood items to approach cautiously the next time you're thinking fish for dinner:

Enlarge image i