Offering guests delicious seafood options involves more than just picking the freshest seafood. There’s a responsibility, as well, to make the right choices for healthy, sustainable oceans.

Getting information to make good selections is much simpler, thanks to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program. It advises businesses on which seafood items are best choices, which ones should be avoided and which ones would make good alternatives. A given is that you ensure you purchase seafood that’s been fished or farmed in a way that doesn’t hurt the environment.

Seafood Watch’s recommendations are supported by scientific, peer-reviewed information and ecosystem-based criteria. A lot is taken into consideration, such as the fishery, habitat, species, management and many other factors that affect each species. In-depth Seafood Watch Reports are developed and published online after thorough research and review. The Seafood Watch website also offers several other resources, including pocket guides for various regions of the country and applications for iPhones and other mobile devices.

As almost 85 percent of the world’s fisheries are fished to capacity or overfished, Seafood Watch’s ultimate goal is to ensure ocean ecosystems are sustained, providing wild and diverse sea life that will stay around through the distant future.

By choosing the right sources for your seafood, you have the power to improve the situation.