Green is Universal | 6/11 Tip: Tuna tip

tip of the day

Want tuna that is safer for both you and the environment? Look at the label.

the bite

Due to its place near the top of the sea-food chain (setting aside the mercury debate for the moment), tuna isn’t always the best fish choice. But if you need a tuna fix (and we all do, occasionally) look for troll-caught (ie: line-caught) albacore, bigeye or yellowfin tuna.

the benefits

Troll-caught tuna tend to be found in different waters than those caught en masse with nets, and have higher levels of heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids and lower levels of potentially dangerous mercury than their conventionally-caught counterparts.
Fishers who provide troll-caught tuna take little “bycatch” of unwanted fish or other animals.
Trolling for tuna doesn’t decimate the population like net-catching does. Our worldwide demand for tuna has increased from less than 0.6 million metric tons in 1950 to more than 5.5 M metric tons in 1998 [PDF].

personally speaking

We love the benefits of troll-caught tuna for both our health and marine populations, but it is expensive and hard to find. So, we mainly just save up our “bad-eating” points for a good spicy tuna roll every so often.

wanna try?

Buy canned or fresh troll-caught tuna online or in stores.

Mary Lu Seafoods is a good online source for canned eco-friendly tuna.
Albatuna.com provides a list of markets on the west coast who offer troll-caught tuna.
Whole Foods – They almost always have troll-caught fish options.

6/11 Tip: Tuna tip

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