Out of the 11 most commonly eaten fish species in Australia, five are unsustainable, according to a report in The Guardian.
The Australian Marine Conservation Society's sustainable seafood guide advises that imported prawns, squid and octopus, blue grenadier, snapper and shark, which is sold as flake, should not be eaten.
The guide also indicates that salmon is Australian's favourite fish, followed by imported prawns and Australian prawns.
The sustainability guide rates fish by a traffic light system according to how abundant they are the impact of fishing equipment on the marine environment, management of fisheries and whether any other creature are harmed or killed in the fishing process. Of the five most at risk fish indicated above, three of them have a red status. Red fish should not be eaten at all.
On the other hand, fish which obtained a green light included barrramundi, yellow fin bream and Australian farmed prawns.
One of the most worrying species on the red list is shark, as 25 per of shark species are threatened by extinction. However, shark is extremely popular with Australians; a large proportion of fish for fish and chips is actually shark being sold as flake.
There is an increasing tendency amongst Australians to eat farmed fish, and while that solves many problem associated with wild fishing, it also has problems of its own. However Tooni Mahto, marine campaigns officer at AMCS said that transparency is improving due to the fact more people care about where their seafood comes from.
Mahto added, "Australians need to look at their choice of seafood now, if we are to provide the next generation with the fantastic choice of fish we currently have."
Many countries now operate a sustainable fish list so citizens can determine what fish they wish to eat. Supermarkets are also stepping up to the mark, for example earlier this month in the UK Asda published a list of where and how all the wild fish it sells are obtained.
© 2014 European Supermarket Magazine by Nicole Gernon
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