This information was compiled for the Pacific NW, but much of it is
probably relevant to other areas of the country as well.......

Conservation and Health Considerations
Can Influence Seafood Choices

There's an old joke that goes, "I'm on a seafood diet. I see
food, and I eat it." Bad humor notwithstanding, virtually everyone
enjoys at least some of the vast cornucopia of seafoods that can be
purchased at a market, ordered at a restaurant, or harvested from the
deck of a recreational boat in the Pacific Northwest. It is absolutely
legal to consume fish and shellfish served by restaurants or to fish
for any species during the designated season, but there can be
conservation issues as well as personal health considerations
associated with the harvesting and consumption of certain seafood. The
Seattle Aquarium (in partnership with the Monterey Bay Aquarium) has
issued a guideline for Pacific Northwest diners and boaters that lists
species in three categories. The first category identifies seafood that
can be harvested and consumed in abundance.
The second lists other seafoods that are good choices but should be
purchased or harvested with some restraint. The third itemizes a group
that are best avoided because the stocks are currently overfished or
the food is farmed or gathered in a way that could harm other marine
life or the general environment.

Diners may want to consider limiting the consumption of choices
followed by an asterisk (*), due to concerns about mercury and other
contaminants.

Best and Healthiest Choices:

Abalone (farmed)
Bass, Striped (if farmed)
Catfish (farmed in the US)
Caviar, (farmed)
Clams, Oysters, Mussels (farmed)
Cod, Pacific (if caught on hook and line)
Crab, Dungeness or Canadian Snow
Halibut, Pacific
Lobster, Spiny (US)
Prawns, Spot (BC)
Pollock, Alaskan (if caught on hook and line)
Sablefish/ Black Cod (from AK or BC)
Salmon (wild, from sustainable AK stocks)
Sardines
Seabass, White
Shrimp, Pink
Sturgeon (farmed)
Tilapia (farmed)
Tuna, Albacore, Bigeye, or Yellowfin (pole or troll caught)

Second Choices:

Basa/Tra (farmed)
Clams, Oysters (wild caught)*
Cod, Pacific (trawl or long-line caught)
Crab, King (AK), Snow (US), imitation
Dogfish (BC)*
Lingcod
Lobster, Maine
Mahi Mahi, Dolphinfish, Dorado
Prawns, Spot (US)
Rockfish (hook and line caught)*
Sablefish/ Black Cod (from CA, OR, WA)
Salmon (wild caught in CA, OR, WA)
Sanddabs
Scallops, Bay or Sea
Shrimp
Sole
Squid
Sturgeon (wild caught from OR or WA)
Swordfish (US)*
Tuna, Albacore, Bigeye, Yellowfin (caught on longline)*
Tuna, canned light
Tuna, canned white/Albacore*


Better to Avoid:

Caviar (if imported or wild caught)
Chilean Seabass/ Toothfish*
Cod, Atlantic
Crab, King (imported)
Dogfish (US)*
Grenadier/ Pacific Roughy
Lobster, Spiny (imported from Caribbean)
Monkfish
Orange Roughy*
Rockfish (trawl caught)*
Salmon (farmed, including Atlantic)*
Shark*
Shrimp (imported)
Sturgeon (imported)*
Swordfish (imported)*
Tuna, Bluefin*