Canada’s Gindara Sablefish given Seafood Watch’s “Best Choice” nod

Gindara Sablefish has been awarded a “Best Choice” rating by the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch sustainability program, making it Canada’s only saltwater finfish farm to receive the rating.

The Best Choice rating granted to Gindara defines it as “well-managed and caught or farmed in ways that cause little harm to habitats or other wildlife.” Gindara Sablefish raises its product in cooperation with the Kyuquot-Checleseht First Nation tribe in Kyuquot Sound, British Columbia. Sablefish is another term for black cod, known in Japan as “Gindara.”

“Sustainability is a critical issue, and we must ensure our wild and farmed sources of seafood do not reduce the balance of nature. With a Best Choice endorsement, chefs, restaurants, retailers, and consumers can be confident that Gindara Sablefish is a sustainable, and delicious source of seafood, with minimal impact on its environment,” Gindara Head of Marketing Don Read said of the rating.

“As pioneers of sablefish aquaculture, I am extremely proud of our team at the farm and hatchery who have conducted all the research, development, and daily work that goes into producing this sustainable fish,” Gindara Sablefish President Terry Brooks, who has been working to farm sablefish for more than two decades, said.  

The fish is processed locally to avoid greenhouse gas emissions, which would be significantly higher if was processed internationally. The company has also committed to implementing sustainable packaging by next year.

Gindara Sablefish Sustainability Director Claire Li noted that the rating process performed by Seafood Watch is thorough and includes detailed analysis of operation, as well as peer review and data verification with indecent sources.

“We have always prioritized our ocean ecosystem in which we operate and have strived to keep it as healthy as possible,” she said. “This rating validates our efforts to care for our oceans, and we are proud to share this.”

The program breaks seafood down into three categories: Best Choice, Good Alternative, and Avoid. Each of the categories is paired with a color: green for Best Choice, yellow for Good Alternative, and red for Avoid.