Ari's Planet

There's a shop outside the Auckland Fish Market where there are all sorts of interesting fish, some for as little as $8/kg. Many fisheries are badly managed and are unsustainable. I do not want to eat fish that are harvested in an unsustainable way or using methods that harm other marine life. The Marine Stewardship Council recently recertified Hoki as sustainably managed. Reading the page on the Hoki at the MSC, it says that Hoki are caught by bottom trawling, which tends to be a very destructive method. The Royal Forest and Bird Society says to avoid Hoki and that the Hoki fishery is not sustainable, "The main concerns with this fishery are: the bycatch of hundreds of NZ fur seals, albatrosses and petrels each year, plus bycatch of the globally threatened basking sharks and impacts on benthic communities." Is the MSC right or wrong? Why would the MSC be wrong? The society has a guide to fisheries that appears more conservative and perhaps is better than the MSC's single rating for the Hoki; at a minimum, the guide is more practical as it lists many fisheries.