Fishing boat coming into Poole Harbour Belinda Fewings

Help us make the Good Fish Guide even better

3 minute read

jc headshot.png

Jack Clarke, Sustainable Seafood Advocate

31 Aug 2021

When it comes to sustainable seafood, every purchase matters. We're on a mission to help people make informed decisions about the fish on their plate.

Whether you're completely new to the guide or a regular user, your feedback is invaluable to us. By making our Good Fish Guide as user-friendly as possible, we hope more people will use it to make sustainable choices and support a healthy ocean for generations to come.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on our Guide, not seen it? Explore it here.

And if you access the Good Fish Guide (mcsuk.org/goodfishguide/) on your mobile you can save it to your home screen and access it whether you're out and about (perhaps in a supermarket or restaurant), it's been designed to work even when you have no internet connection. We've created a quick guide to help you do that here.

Ready to tell us what you think? Click on the link below to access our survey - it takes around 7 minutes to complete - but your answers will make a big difference to  our work.

Why is our Good Fish Guide so important?

Did you know that 80% of the seafood we eat in the UK comes from just five species: cod, haddock, salmon, tuna and prawns? Did you also know that 90% of world fish stocks are fully or over-exploited from fishing?

With added pressure from climate change and pollution, we’re moving into dangerous waters when it comes to the future. We need to change how we fish, farm and purchase seafood to help protect our seas.

Our Good Fish Guide is designed to make choosing sustainable seafood simple. Because if the demand for sustainability grows, fishing practices will improve and our ocean can recover.

Fishmonger in Hastings Peter Richardson

Credit: Peter Richardson

How does it work?

There are more than 600 sustainability ratings on the Good Fish Guide, covering around 130 species. Every one is carefully researched and rigorously reviewed, ensuring the guide is accurate, transparent and credible.

The guide uses the best scientific advice available to create a traffic light system of ratings so you know what the best choices are – and which fish to avoid:

  • Red – Fish to avoid
  • Amber – Consider your choices carefully
  • Green – Great choice!
CTA Spider Crab M 960.png

Ratings are calculated using criteria such as whether a species is endangered, the environmental impacts of fishing methods, fish welfare and by-catch. Find out more by downloading our Introduction to seafood ratings.

Why we need your help

The Good Fish Guide has been running for 20 years and is already used by thousands of people. Three years ago we launched a helpful guide as an easy way to access seafood sustainability advice when you're out and about (perhaps in a supermarket or restaurant) – or even when you have no internet connection.

Add the Good Fish Guide to your home screen for sustainability at your fingertips

Together we can make a difference

Now we want to make the Good Fish Guide even better – that's where you come in.

Follow the simple steps below to help us reach more people and tell them about the role sustainable fishing can play in protecting out ocean.

Step one

Visit or download the Good Fish Guide – Our short survey will ask you some quick questions about the Good Fish Guide, so we'd like you to have a quick look at it first.

If you've been using the old version of the guide, we'd like to hear your thoughts of that version too.

CTA Starfish Shellfish M 960.png

Not sure which version you use? Our new guide (released in 2021) uses these stunning illustrations by artist Jack Tite.

new app images.jpg

Step two

Take our short survey – designed to be engaging and take just 7 minutes (tops!) our survey will help us to understand what you like about our guide, and how we can make it better.

Plus we've added some questions where you can let us know how important sustainable seafood is to you.

Just a few minutes from you will make a big difference to us.

Step three

Tell people about the @GoodFishGuideUK on social media, and don't forget to tag @mcsuk.

Anything we can do to improve the Good Fish Guide will help us continue our vital work.