Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a bill earlier this month to Congress called the Fair Trade in Seafood Act that would help the U.S. reduce its subsidy contributions that support aggressive and destructive overfishing methods.

Eight ocean conservation organizations have joined forces to launch a social media campaign titled "Be Happy," in order to promote the importance of choosing sustainable seafood.

At this year's Boston Seafood Show, which opened on March 20th, worldwide organic farming advocate Naturland is urging the fishing industry to consider more eco-friendly fishing techniques.

Hans Hohenester, chairman of the Naturland board of directors, says current fishing practices are unnatural, unsustainable, and contaminate waters with harmful chemicals and antibiotics.

That's why Naturland has impressive standards and strict procedures for ensuring organic and sustainable production.

British organic chef, cookbook author and activist Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall takes viewers on a series of sustainability-minded fishing trips this month on Sundance Channel’s The River Cottage Treatment: Gone Fishing!, which premiers tomorrow night. 

Here’s the three-part episode guide (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT):

March 2: “Channel Islands” 

Fearnley-Whittingstall sails to the Channel Islands, between Britain and France, to fish out—and cook up— deliciously sustainable alternatives to the United Kingdom’s imperiled seafood mainstays: cod and haddock. 

Joined by local anglers at various spots, he catches and dines on an array of underrated and sometimes obscure fish, including pouting, gurnard and garfish. 

But the open sea isn’t the only place to source marine goodies. On the island of Alderney, Fearnley-Whittingstall discovers the fine, eco-conscious eating available from seaside rock pools.

March 9: “Hebrides” 

Fearnley-Whittingstall heads to Scotland’s Hebrides Islands, where the sea and food it provides have shaped life for generations. 

On the sparsely inhabited island of Rona, he goes fishing with Caretaker Bill, who has run out of his frozen fish reserves and is awaiting the annual return of the area’s mackerel. After a close look at the woeful state of Scotland’s iconic fish, the wild salmon, Fearnley-Whittingstall tries out a traditional Scandinavian cooking method on salmon raised without chemicals by a local farmer. 

He later box-fishes for langoustines with two brothers; bargains more work-for-food with their father, who cultivates mussels; dives for scallops and razor clams with local enthusiasts; and visits a fish-and-chips shop on the Isle of Skye, frying up batches of beer-battered pollock for a clientele accustomed to the increasingly scarce haddock.

March 16: “The West Country” 

Fearnley-Whittingstall wraps up his fishing adventure in the West Country, in England’s southwest. 

In Cornwall, he joins a family of fishermen to lay gill nets for the local sardines known as pilchards, which have rebounded from a near-total population collapse. 

Further inland, he sees symbiotic farming in practice on neighboring organic farms—one grows watercress; the other, rainbow trout—and prepares a sumptuous lunch using both bounties. 

At a hub of England’s commercial fishing industry in Devon, Fearnley-Whittingstall ventures out on a beam trawler with a skipper who has devised methods to make his catch more selective and less harmful to fish and the ocean floor. 

He brings a load of cow manure to his final stop: a fledgling organic fish farm in Devon, where a couple is raising a species beloved in Asia and largely dismissed in Britain: carp. After returning home to River Cottage, Fearnley-Whittingstall and the River Cottage Canteen chef host the U.K.’s first public tasting of farmed organic carp with a two-course meal. 

Photo courtesy of Sundance Channel

The Monterey Bay Aquarium has launched a national campaign that asks top U.S. chefs and well-known foodies to take a Save Our Seafood pledge.

In signing the pledge, chefs agree to stop using fish and seafood on the aquarium’s Seafood Watch “Avoid” list.

Let’s support restaurants whose chefs have signed on, including:

• Rick Bayless (Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, Chicago)
• Susan Spicer (Bayona, New Orleans)
• Rick Moonen (rm seafood, Las Vegas)
• Michelle Bernstein (Michy’s, Miami)
• Suzanne Goin (Lucques, Los Angeles)
• Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (Border Grill and Ciudad, Los Angeles)
• Michel Nischan (The Dressing Room, Westport, CT)

For a full list of chefs and foodies who have signed the pledge, click here.

Chefs who are interested in signing on can call (877) 229-9990 (toll-free) or e-mail the aquarium.

Suggested Reading

• Good News About Our Sustainable Seafood Supply
• Which Fish Is Fit to Eat?
• Border Grill and Ciudad: Serving It Up Bold, Spicy and Organic

Turning the Tide: The State of Seafood, a new report from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, reveals that international efforts to protect the ocean’s ecosystem and our sustainable seafood supply are paying off.

Chalk it up to “a growing consensus on how best to manage fisheries and fish-farming operations, and new commitments by consumers, major buyers and the fishing community,” the report notes.

“Ocean life is still in decline, and we clearly need to take urgent action to turn things around,” says Julie Packard, the aquarium’s executive director. “The good news is that we know what it will take and that key players are working more closely than ever to solve the problems. I’m confident that we can and will create a future with healthy oceans.”

Recent improvements in seafood management include: 

• A scientific study that unified marine ecologists and fisheries management scientists on a set of principles for restoring ocean ecosystems and commercial fish populations
• Significant new commitments from major seafood buyers—including retailers like Walmart and North America’s largest food-service companies—to shift to sustainable seafood offerings
• Growth in the supply of sustainable seafood certified by reputable international organizations, notably the Marine Stewardship Council
• Policies adopted by governments around the world to better manage fisheries and fish-farming; reduce the rate at which wildlife is caught and killed accidentally in fishing gear; and protect critical ocean habitat vital to maintaining healthy ocean ecosystems

Turning the Tide: The State of Seafood includes a Super Green list of wild and farmed seafood choices, prepared collaboratively with the Environmental Defense Fund and the Harvard School of Public Health. The aquarium will update the list every 2 years.

Click here to download a sustainable seafood guide for your area.