Safer, smarter fish

Worried about contaminated seafood? What about over-fishing? Our planet's oceans are more delicate than they look, and a lot of garbage from the land ends up damaging the water and fish in the seas. If we're not careful, we could be eating pollutants or catching more than the oceans can produce. Here are some tips for seafood shopping from the experts.

One of the biggest concerns is mercury in fish. It gets into the oceans from industrial runoff and builds up as methylmercury in fish and shellfish, then it can poison us if we eat too much contaminated fish, particularly raw fish (cooking can reduce the contaminates a little). Mercury is most harmful to children and pregnant women.

Environmental Defense created this useful chart to show what kind of fish is safe to eat, how many servings, and by what age and gender of person. The fish most people should avoid include bluefin tuna, wild striped bass, Bluefish, and American and European eel.

In addition, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends that pregnant women, nursing mothers, and young children do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish because of high methylmercury.

Also, the Food and Drug Administration notes that women who are considering getting pregnant should avoid these kinds of fish for at least a year before conceiving. It can take that long for methylmercury levels in a person's blood stream to drop significantly, and this would be dangerous to a developing fetus.

Wondering about the mercury levels of what you've eaten this week? Check out Got Mercury, a handy calculator where you put in your weight, select a type of seafood, and add how many ounces you've eaten. The site will then tell you approximately what your mercury exposure is right now.

While pollutants in our food are an immediate worry, the long-term problem of over-fishing hurts our food supply and the oceans. Many species of fish are being caught faster than they can reproduce. Other fish are caught in ways that accidentally kill non-food species.

The Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch is an excellent guide to making sustainable choices. Click "Seafood Search" to find a type of fish and learn where it's caught and how. Each fish gets a "Best Choice," "Good Alternative," or "Avoid" rating.

Download a printable pocket guide to keep with your grocery list and take to restaurants. The Sustainable Seafood Sources page is useful for finding places to buy earth-friendly fish.