Global Aquaculture Alliance

Portsmouth, N.H.

Mission: Global Aquaculture Alliance promotes responsible aquaculture practices through education, advocacy and demonstration.

Best Aquaculture Practices, an arm of GAA, offers certification that producers follow best practices in four areas of sustainability—environment, social, food safety, and animal health and welfare—throughout the production chain.

Global G.A.P.

Portland, Ore.

Mission: A world that embraces and enables the role of responsibly farmed seafood in meeting global nutrition needs.

The Global G.A.P. aquaculture standard sets criteria for food safety, animal welfare, environmental and ecological care, worker safety and more.

The Global G.A.P. chain of custody standard provides transparency for producers and retailers to reassure consumers that the seafood is sustainable and the label is accurate. The website includes a sortable and searchable list of certified producers.

Marine Stewardship Council

Washington, D.C.

Mission: To use our ecolabel and fishery certification program to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by recognizing and rewarding sustainable fishing practices; influencing the choices people make when buying seafood; and working with our partners to transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis.

The blue Marine Stewardship Council label is applied only to wild fish or seafood from fisheries that have been certified to the MSC Fisheries Standard, a science-based set of requirements for sustainable fishing. The products are separated from non-certified fish or seafood throughout the supply chain. In addition, DNA testing is used to ensure that all products are correctly identified.

Producers and retailers could use the site's "Find a supplier" tool to find businesses with the Council's chain of custody certificates.

Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch

Monterey, Calif.

Mission: The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program helps consumers and businesses choose seafood that's fished or farmed in ways that support a healthy ocean, now and for future generations. Our recommendations indicate which seafood items are "Best Choices" or "Good Alternatives," and which ones you should avoid.

The Seafood Watch program offers downloadable guides to help consumers make good choices and information for retailers and restaurants looking to support sustainable seafood and fish. Seafood Watch also works with Global Seafood Rating Alliance to provide additional information on sustainable seafood.

Seafood Watch also recommends following the guidelines of the Aquaculture Stewardship Council, Naturland and the Global Aquaculture Alliance.

Ocean Disclosure Project

Honolulu

Mission: Ocean Disclosure Project provides a reporting framework for seafood-buying companies including retailers, suppliers, fish feed manufacturers and more, to voluntarily disclose their wild-caught seafood sourcing alongside information on the environmental performance of each source.

Producers and retailers submit to the organization a variety of information such as the number of fisheries they use; how many of those fisheries  are certified, in an improvement program, well-managed or managed; and the methods of fishing used. A map of each company's fisheries shows which products are fished by which company and where. Certifications are accepted from certain third-party organizations, including Aquaculture Stewardship Council (Netherlands), BIM Certified Quality Aquaculture (Ireland), Global GAP and Global Aquaculture Alliance.

Ocean Disclosure Project is affiliated with FishChoice.