The Easiest Way to Buy Sustainable Seafood (Including Wild Salmon!)

Shopping for sustainable seafood can feel confusing. But it doesn't have to be! Here's what you need to know now about sourcing seafood (like your favorite wild caught salmon), as well as my top choices for seafood delivery services.

Did you know that overfishing is one of the greatest ongoing risks to our oceans? The high demand for many of our favorite seafood meals has led to overfishing the top 10 species, the adoption of harmful fishing methods, as well as ruining a number of aquatic habitats.

Sadly, even animals that sit further up the food chain are feeling the negative impacts of overfishing. And while overfishing is undeniably bad, seafood that's sustainably caught is a great alternative protein for those that are looking to reduce their red meat consumption (or simply love enjoying seafood).

In fact, NOAA Fisheries claims that "sustainable seafood is the most environmentally efficient source of protein on the planet." With this in mind, it's more important than ever to do our part in supporting this industry and choose to purchase responsible seafood whenever and wherever possible.

Luckily, there are a couple of easy ways to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to make great purchasing decisions that benefit both your family and the environment.

Here's how to make shopping for seafood really simple.

This post contains affiliate links for your convenience. For more info, please read my disclosure here.

What is sustainable seafood?

This is such an important question. Many consumers think that the term 'sustainable seafood' means that the seafood is wild caught. This is just another unfortunate example of unclear labeling practices in the food industry. Here's Ocean Wise's definition of the term:

"Sustainable seafood can be defined as species that are caught or farmed in a way that ensures the long-term health and stability of that species, as well as the greater marine ecosystem."

In other words, sustainability has nothing to do with where your seafood is caught and everything to do with its long-term environmental impact. On the other hand, 'wild caught' means that your seafood was fished from its natural habitat.

Bottom line: if you want sustainable wild caught seafood you'll need to look for products with both of these labels.

Wild Caught vs Farm Raised Salmon

Generally speaking, wild fish are a healthier choice in a number of key ways when compared to their farm-raised counterparts. That said, wild caught and farm-raised fish both play an essential part in ensuring the long-term sustainability of seafood supplies.

But when it comes to choosing your salmon, I recommend choosing wild caught. The reason is simple: these two types of salmon are not created equally.

And I'm not alone in this recommendation. Seafood Watch also recommends that you pass on farm-raised salmon unless it meets very strict farming conditions.

Here are a couple of visual cues you can use to help tell the difference between farmed and wild salmon when you're out shopping:

Farm-raised	Wild caught
Soft pink-orange color	Typically more vibrant color than farm-raised
Smaller, often ragged tail fin (from getting nipped by other fish in their pen)	Fan-shaped tail fin

Of course, your best bet is to always shop at a grocer or fishmonger that you trust to correctly label their fish. Check out Seafood Watch's salmon recommendations to learn more about your best choices for purchasing sustainable salmon.

How to Buy Sustainable Seafood

It's also important to note that, in some cases, farm raised seafood might actually be more sustainable than its wild seafood. Some perfect examples of this are with mussels, scallops, oysters, and clams. It's cases like these that make shopping for seafood so tricky.

Even if you're armed with the right knowledge, sourcing the best seafood options can still be confusing. Luckily, there are a handful of helpful tools you can use to guide your shopping.

For example, the Monterey Bay Aquarium has built the Seafood Watch App to help you as you dine out or shop in a grocery store. Available on both iOS and Android, the app guides you through your best choices and good alternatives, as well as fish to avoid. Most importantly, the information they provide helps you ask the right questions when you're unsure about the labels you're seeing.

The Ocean Wise online guide is another great resource if you want to learn more about seafood sources. And their certification seal is a good symbol to look for when you're shopping for ocean-friendly products.

Here are my top 3 tips for buying high-quality seafood:

• Try a wide variety of seafood. Shopping beyond the top 10 seafood list helps ease overall demand for more popular species.
• Ask for sustainable options. It's important that our local grocers know that we're looking for sustainable seafood. By asking, we're indicating that this is a value that they should consider during sourcing decisions.
• Shop for seafood online. This is my favorite time-saving tip. I'm able to easily get the items I want when I shop with online delivery services that prioritize sustainability.

Where to Buy Seafood Online (Including Wild Salmon)

Here are my top choices for the best places to buy sustainable seafood and wild caught salmon online. What could be more easy and convenient than having your food shipped right to your doorstep!

Catch Sitka Seafoods

Catch Sitka is a family run seafood company that specializes in wild hook and line-caught seafood from Sitka, Alaska. Talk about fresh seafood! Their fish is all wild caught by the local Sitka fisher families who value sustainability. Then it's frozen and shipped from the dock to your front door.

Their seafood options include wild Alaskan salmon, halibut, rockfish, lingcod and spot prawns. They also offer smoked fish options including applewood smoked coho, keta and king salmon fillets. It comes in an assortment of seafood boxes so you can try several or stick to your favorites.

The Catch Sitka Seafood gift boxes are perfect any seafood lover. Everyone loves the smoked salmon so be sure to choose a gift box that includes a mix of different smoked and ready to cook fish (or a gift card so they can choose their own).

Thrive Market

My Thrive Market membership has helped me save over $1000 on organic groceries, so I really love that now I can add flash-frozen portions of seafood to my monthly orders. One less thing to think about - I love when grocery shopping is easy!

The Thrive Market sustainable seafood boxes are a top choice because they offer a variety of boxes that perfectly suit my tastes and dietary needs. I can safely enjoy every item that's packed in my box! And I feel good knowing that all of their seafood sources are accredited by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch and the Marine Stewardship Council.

My personal favorite? The Wild & Sustainable Box. It's perfect no matter whether you're keto or paleo! And I love the variety - shrimp, scallops, barramundi, cod, and salmon all in one box!

Want to give Thrive Market a try (and save big on your next grocery bill)? Use this link for a free gift with your first order.

ButcherBox

It's no secret that I'm a fan of ButcherBox's meat subscription boxes (read my full review here). They're so convenient and all of their meats are healthy and sustainable. ButcherBox is the online delivery service option for you if you love wild caught salmon, in addition to beef, pork, and chicken dinners.

The ButcherBox wild Alaskan sockeye salmon is absolutely delicious, as is the other wild caught cod and halibut they offer. Shellfish choices include Maine lobster tails (probably the best I've ever had!), scallops and shrimp.

I love having an assortment of whitefish and shellfish in the freezer to whip up quick seafood chowders. They're perfect for an easy dinner that's impressive enough for company.

Want to give ButcherBox a try? Use this link to get a deal on your first delivery.

Vital Choice

Vital Choice is a Seafood Watch partner. So you know you'll always be receiving sustainable products. Their seafood is flash-frozen, so your order is the next best option to eating fresh seafood right on the boat! It's so convenient to be able to add your items directly from your shipment box to the freezer.

You can place a one-time order for a la carte items or choose a curated monthly salmon box, fish box or seafood box. Either way you'll receive wild seafood like Pacific king salmon, wild Alaskan cod, albacore tuna medallions, ahi tuna poke, sockeye salmon fillets, nova lox, crab legs, shrimp, prawns, scallops, or calamari.

Vital Choice offers recurring subscription boxes that basically put your grocery shopping on autopilot. It's important to note that while all the plain fish and seafood are keto and paleo-friendly, you'll need to be sure to check your ingredients on items like the salmon dogs and burgers.

Want to give Vital Choice a try? Save 5% and get free shipping over $99! Use Code: 1VCAF5 at checkout.

Seafood and Salmon Recipes

Now that you're set with your sustainable seafood, all you need to do is start bookmarking recipes for your meal planning!

If you're looking for salmon recipes, try these:

• 20 Quick and Easy Salmon Recipes that are Paleo
• Easy Baked Salmon with Roasted Asparagus

And if you're looking for shrimp recipes, try these:

• 15 Easy Keto Shrimp Recipes
• Garlic Roasted Shrimp with Zucchini Pasta
• Easy Smoked Shrimp
• Shrimp and Arugula Salad
• Chimichurri Grilled Shrimp
• Easy Roasted Shrimp Cocktail

These online seafood delivery services and easy recipes will keep all the seafood lovers in your family happy.