Yesterday, in a move that should make quite an impact on fisheries, Whole Foods has paired up with both the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Blue Ocean Institute to institute a new wild-caught rating system much like the Seafood Watch Program that the Monterey Bay Aquarium started. No longer do shoppers have to look deep into their conscious to see if they've retained any of the litany of complicated information on sustainable fisheries. No longer do they have to hunt for their little Seafood Watch card shoved in their wallet or download it on their iPhone—risking total nerd status.
Green means great choice, yellow means it's a good to decent choice (but not great) and red means, Stop you environmentally thoughtless loser. Luckily the "red" fish—such a Pacific Alaskan cod—will be phased out of Whole Foods selection completely by Earth Day of 2013. (I'm not clear why it's going to take so long, but there you have it.)
Want to have a completely clear conscious? Follow the Monterey Bay Aquarium's "Best of the Best" list for this month:
Albacore Tuna (troll- or pole-caught, from the U.S. or British Columbia)
Freshwater Coho Salmon (farmed in tank systems, from the U.S.)
Oysters (farmed)
Pacific Sardines (wild-caught)
Rainbow Trout (farmed)
Salmon (wild-caught, from Alaska)