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Seafood Watch - Seafood Guide
Chilean Seabass
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Chilean Seabass
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Patagonian Toothfish, Antarctic Toothfish, Black Hake, Icefish
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Antarctic
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Wild-caught
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Chilean Seabass
Chilean seabass is severely overfished and is rated “Avoid.” In addition, most Chilean seabass in the U.S. market come from boats that are fishing illegally and using unmodified bottom longlines. This unmodified fishing gear hooks and drowns thousands of seabirds each year, most notably endangered albatross.
Health Alert
Environmental Defense Fund has issued a health advisory for Chilean seabass due to high levels of mercury.
Summary
Slow-growing fish that reproduce late in life, Chilean seabass are naturally vulnerable to overfishing. The fishing methods used to catch these deep water fish cause more problems: bottom trawling can damage seafloor habitat, and miles of baited longline gear can fatally hook and drown endangered albatross and other seabirds. Since Chilean seabass live in remote Antarctic waters, law enforcement is difficult and large numbers of boats fish these waters illegally, without proper permits or gear. As a result, most Chilean seabass is fished unsustainably and should be avoided.
However, a small fishery exists that has made improvements in their fishing gear - to reduce seabird bycatch, and in their management plan - to end overfishing. In March 2004, the South Georgia Patagonian Toothfish Longline Fishery was certified as sustainable to the standard of the
Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) .
Since only a small portion of the Chilean seabass available in the U.S. is MSC certified, consumers must be very careful. Each location that sells MSC products, including all restaurants and grocery stores, are required to have the MSC "Chain of Custody" certification. Legitimate purveyors should be able to produce this document when asked and, without this proof, consumers should assume the fish in not certified and shouldn’t make the purchase.
Recipe Alternatives
Striped bass, Pacific halibut and sablefish (black cod) are your "Best Choices." Mahi mahi is also a "Good Alternative."
Scientific Reports About Our Ratings
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