Our Standard and Assessments
Ocean Wise Seafood Standard - Simple but rigorous
Our system is simple. Seafood options are Ocean Wise Recommended...or they aren't.
Ocean Wise Seafood uses a simple binary system to tell consumers and seafood partners whether or not an option meets our standard. There’s a lot more detail behind these assessments, but by looking for the Ocean Wise Seafood symbol you can easily tell what is a sustainable seafood choice.
A rigorous assessment based on the best science available
Ocean Wise uses sustainability assessments from several credible sources when developing our seafood ratings.
Each rating is informed by a large quantity of data that allows Ocean Wise to evaluate the impacts of a seafood’s production on aquatic organisms and ecosystems. This data feeds into our sustainability assessments, peer-reviewed publications that assess the environmental performance of a fishery or aquaculture operation against our Standard.
Our assessments consider four key criteria:
Our Scoring Methodology and Rating System is our guide for assessing a seafood option's ecological sustainability.
Ocean Wise's Rapid Assessment Standard (RAPSTA) is a unique assessment methodology that removes barriers to entry for many small and Indigenous fisheries.
Ocean Wise relies on Seafood Watch's rigorous Standard to assess fisheries and aquaculture programs.
Eco-certifications provide a third-party accredited assessment of a fishery against a given Standard. Ocean Wise recognizes several eco-certifications within our own standard
