On the Rebound: Monterey Bay Aquarium removes 21 species of fish from its watch list

Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch list of fish to avoid when dining out just got a little shorter: Twenty-one species of bottom dwellers known as groundfish have recovered in sufficient enough numbers along the West Coast to be considered “Good Alternatives” or “Best Choices.” Affected species include grenadier, rockfish, sablefish and skate, among others.

The news marks the culmination of a 14-year turnaround for West Coast groundfish populations, which were commercially overfished so badly by the year 2000, it was declared an economic disaster by the federal government. Both strictly enforced catch quotas and governmental closing of some vulnerable habitat helped the groundfish to recover.