The fish you skip can matter more than the fish you choose. Avoiding species like bluefin tuna, orange roughy, swordfish, and Chilean sea bass protects you from heavy metals while giving fragile populations a chance to recover. Steering clear of imported shrimp, poorly farmed salmon, tilapia, and Vietnamese catfish reduces demand for antibiotics, pollution, and abusive labor practices that quietly fuel the “cheap seafood” illusion.

But this isn’t about guilt; it’s about leverage. When you reach for wild Alaskan salmon instead of farmed Atlantic, Pacific cod instead of Atlantic, or U.S. wild shrimp instead of mystery imports, you reward the fisheries doing it right. Add in smaller, low-mercury options like sardines, anchovies, mussels, and responsibly farmed trout, and your plate becomes a quiet act of resistance. One order won’t change the ocean—but millions of tiny choices, including yours, absolutely will.