Not all fish are created equal — even when they look identical sitting on that bed of ice at the supermarket. The salmon fillet on the left might be a solid, healthy choice. The one right next to it? It could be loaded with contaminants, raised in terrible conditions, and contributing to the collapse of an entire ecosystem. Same display case, wildly different stories. And unless you know what to look for, you’d never know the difference.
That imported shrimp in your freezer? Yeah, about that
Shrimp is the most consumed seafood in the United States. Most of us have a bag of it in the freezer right now. But here’s the thing — the vast majority of what we eat is imported and farm-raised, and the farming practices behind it are genuinely alarming. Shrimp ponds, many of them located in South Asia, are often built by destroying mangroves and coastal vegetation. Those plants aren’t just scenery. They protect shorelines from erosion and serve as a buffer during typhoons and tsunamis. Tear them out, and coastal communities lose a critical line of defense.
The ponds themselves get so polluted with chemicals and waste that they’re frequently abandoned and rebuilt somewhere else, destroying entire regions in the process. A food additive called 4-hexylresorcinol, used to prevent shrimp discoloration, has been linked to hormone disruption in some studies. And nearly all the pesticides used in overseas shrimp production are banned for use in American shrimp farms. If you want shrimp, go for U.S.-caught options — Gulf shrimp, Key West Pinks, or Rock Shrimp are all solid alternatives.
The catfish that isn’t actually catfish
American catfish — the stuff farmed domestically or wild-caught from places like the Chesapeake Bay — is perfectly fine. Good, even. The problem starts when you pick up a package labeled swai, basa, or tra. These are all names for pangasius, a related species from Vietnam and China that can’t legally be called “catfish” in the U.S. because that label is reserved for domestic species. But it absolutely gets passed off as catfish on restaurant menus, and most people have no idea they’re eating something different.
Nearly 90% of the catfish imported to the U.S. comes from Vietnam, where antibiotics banned in America are widely used. A 2016 study found that 70 to 80 percent of pangasius samples were contaminated with Vibrio bacteria — the same stuff responsible for most shellfish poisoning. These fish are raised swimming in waste and sludge, routinely treated with pesticides and disinfectants. If you see swai on a restaurant menu, treat it as a red flag about how seriously that place takes its sourcing.
Farmed salmon has a branding problem
Most salmon labeled “Atlantic” in stores is farmed. Not wild-caught from some pristine Atlantic coastline — farmed in pens that can be ridden with pesticides, bacteria, parasites, and concentrated fish waste. Studies have shown that farmed salmon tends to carry higher levels of PCBs, industrial pollutants linked to insulin resistance, obesity, cancer, and stroke. They’re also treated with antibiotics and are higher in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids than their wild cousins.
Americans eat a lot of salmon — it’s one of our go-to “healthy” choices. And wild-caught Alaskan salmon genuinely is healthy. Chinook, Sockeye, Coho — those are great picks, especially when they carry MSC certification. But the farmed stuff? That’s a different animal. Literally. The gap between wild-caught Pacific salmon and farmed Atlantic salmon is one of the biggest quality differences you’ll find at any seafood counter. If the label just says “Atlantic salmon” without specifying wild-caught, assume it’s farmed and keep moving.
Orange roughy shouldn’t even be on shelves
Orange roughy has been so catastrophically overfished that many restaurant chains still refuse to serve it. Here’s why: this fish can live to be 150 years old and doesn’t reach sexual maturity until at least 20. That means populations take decades — maybe longer — to recover from overfishing. Scientists originally called it “slimehead,” which is honestly a more accurate name, but seafood marketers rebranded it to something that would sell better. It worked too well.
And the mercury problem is severe. Because orange roughy lives so long and is a deep-water predator, it accumulates significant amounts of mercury in its tissues over its lifespan. The FDA lists it among the highest-mercury species. Even if you spot it at the store with a “sustainably harvested” sticker, experts say to skip it. Yellow snapper or domestic catfish can give you a similar texture in recipes without the environmental baggage or health risks.
The Atlantic cod collapse is still happening
Cod literally changed the world. Mark Kurlansky wrote an entire book about it — how it fed the New World, fueled early colonization, and built the economies of New England and Atlantic Canada. For centuries, fishermen thought the supply was endless. Then in the early 1990s, the population collapsed. Just — gone. The species ended up listed as one step above endangered on international conservation lists, and scientists say the North Atlantic food web has fundamentally changed because of it.
The stocks are slowly rebuilding, but they’re not there yet. Fred Decker, a trained chef from Canada’s East Coast and descendant of a long line of fishermen, has written about how generations of his own family fished cod — including himself, briefly, in the late 1970s. He won’t buy Atlantic cod today, even from small-scale responsible fisheries, because every fish taken still diminishes the remaining gene pool. For your fish and chips fix, Pacific cod is a strong alternative. Haddock works great too.
Tilapia is fine, sort of, but read the label
Tilapia went from relative obscurity to one of the most widely available and cheapest fish at the supermarket in about two decades. The FDA calls it one of the best fish to eat based on its low mercury levels. But that recommendation is narrow. Tilapia is low in omega-3 fatty acids — the main reason most of us eat fish in the first place — and high in inflammatory omega-6s. A 2008 Wake Forest University study found that the shift toward eating more farmed fish like tilapia was actually leading to more inflammatory diets.
The bigger issue is sourcing. Tilapia farmed in China should be avoided because of environmental concerns and questionable farming practices. Fish from the U.S., Canada, the Netherlands, Ecuador, and Peru tend to be better options. Look for certifications from organizations like the Aquaculture Stewardship Council or Best Aquaculture Practices. Without those labels, you’re essentially trusting the supply chain to police itself — which, historically, hasn’t worked out great.
King crab labels are basically fiction
Here’s where things get tricky. Alaskan king crab legs can only legally carry that name if they’re harvested from Alaska. Simple enough. But widespread mislabeling means Russian-caught king crab frequently shows up in the U.S. market disguised as Alaskan product. Before 2022, about 75 percent of king crab sold in the U.S. was imported from Russia, where unsustainable fishing practices are the norm. The U.S. banned Russian seafood imports that year as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, but the mislabeling problem hasn’t magically disappeared.
Seafood Watch now recommends domestic king crab from Alaska or imports from Norway as your safest bets. If a label says both “imported” and “Alaskan,” that’s a contradiction — and a sign something shady is going on. This is one of those situations where asking your fishmonger direct questions about sourcing can actually make a difference. If they can’t tell you where the crab came from, that’s your answer. Move on to something traceable.
Eel, sharks, and the mercury club
Most Americans encounter eel in sushi restaurants. It seems exotic, maybe a little adventurous. But eel populations have been overharvested around the world, and the fish readily absorbs and stores harmful chemicals like PCBs and flame retardants. In New Jersey, river eels are so contaminated that adults are advised to eat no more than one per year. One. Per year. Eels are also critically important to freshwater ecosystems — in the Delaware River, they help spread mussel populations that act as natural water filters. Removing them has consequences that ripple outward.
Sharks, skates, and rays belong in the same conversation. They’re apex predators, which means mercury accumulates in their tissues at high concentrations. But the ecosystem damage from overfishing them is arguably worse. With fewer sharks around, species like cownose rays and jellyfish have exploded in number, and those creatures are eating through scallop and fish populations that coastal communities depend on economically. Tilefish from the Gulf of Mexico, another predator, had the highest mercury levels found in any fish species over two decades of FDA testing. If it’s big and lives a long time, be cautious.
How to actually buy better fish without overthinking it
All of this can feel overwhelming, I know. There are certifications and country-of-origin labels and species names that sound like they were made up specifically to confuse you. But it doesn’t have to be complicated. A few simple rules cover most situations: choose domestic over imported when you can. Look for wild-caught over farmed, with some exceptions (farmed shellfish like oysters and clams are actually great choices). Pay attention to certification logos — Marine Stewardship Council, Aquaculture Stewardship Council, and Best Aquaculture Practices are the ones you’ll see most often.
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch program has a free app and website where you can look up any fish and see whether it’s recommended, a decent alternative, or something to avoid. It takes about ten seconds. The American Heart Association still recommends eating fish twice a week, and that’s solid advice — you just want to make sure you’re picking the right ones. Wild Alaskan salmon, Pacific cod, domestic catfish, U.S. shrimp, farmed shellfish — these are all safe, sustainable, and easy to find.
Next time you’re standing at the seafood counter, flip the package over, read where it’s from, and look for a certification logo — that one habit will steer you away from the worst options and toward the ones that are actually good for you.
