Species in the Red: Greenpeace list of fish species you should not eat

Greenpeace, to its credit, is finally moving to take the overfishing crisis seriously.  It has publish a "red list" of endangered fish species that should no longer be consumed. 

Treehugger:

Five different criteria were used by Greenpeace to identify species in the ‘red’: first, the status of the fish, whether they are threatened or endangered; second, whether destructive fishing methods are used (such as bottom trawling); third, whether harvesting the fish has negative impact on non-target species through by-catch; fourth, whether fish are caught illegally by unregulated fishing operations (or “pirate fishing”); and fifth, whether the fishery involved negatively impacts on local communities which depend on fishing for their livelihoods.

In addition to the ‘red list’, Greenpeace is also encouraging the designation of 40% of oceans as “no-take” zones (instead of the current 1%) in order to allow fish stocks to recover.

 Here's the Greenpeace list of 22 "in the red" species:

Alaska Pollock

Atlantic Cod or Scrod

Atlantic Halibut (US and Canadian)

Atlantic Salmon (wild and farmed)

Atlantic Sea Scallop

Bluefin tuna

Big Eye Tuna

Chilean Sea Bass (also sold as Patagonia Toothfish)

Greenland Halibut (also sold as Black halibut, Atlantic turbot or Arrowhead flounder)

Grouper (imported to the U.S.)

Hoki (also known as Blue Grenadier)

Monkfish

Ocean Quahog

Orange Roughy

Red Snapper

Redfish (also sold as Ocean Perch)

Sharks

Skates and Rays

South Atlantic Albacore Tuna

Swordfish

Tropical Shrimp (wild and farmed)

Yellowfin Tuna

My question: Why would anyone want to eat some of these fish anyway?  Many of the species on the list contain too many pollutants such as PCBs and mercury (tuna, swordfish) and others have substandard taste and nutritional value because of how they are produced (farmed salmon and tropical shrimp).


It's time for environmental groups to step up campaigns against restaurant chains, distributors, and grocery stores that stock these species.  Distributors of these foods can be targeted.  In regards to the urgent need to step-up this campaign, Greenpeace is off to a late start, but a promising one.