Roughly 196 million tons of fish were harvested in 2020, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. The organization also notes that the number of overfished stocks worldwide has tripled in the last century. All of this overfishing has led to the decline of entire species, like Atlantic cod.

Enter the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch.

Seafood Watch and other initiatives offer free guides that give consumers an overview of the world of fish and seafood, helping people to figure out the most sustainable fish available to them. With the help of Life Kit's Clare Marie Schneider, we figure out how to make informed decisions about what we eating – whether that's at a restaurant or the local supermarket.

Have questions or comments for us to consider for a future episode? Email us at shortwave@npr.org — we'd love to hear from you!

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This episode was produced by Clare Marie Schneider. It was edited by Rebecca Ramirez. Rebecca and Clare Marie checked the facts. The audio engineers were Becky Brown and Maggie Luthar.