Tope

Location refers to two things:

1. Where the fish population or stock lives, e.g., North Sea, or South Pacific.
2. Who is managing the fishery. If it says “All areas”, this means that our scoring for management covers the same area as the fish stock.

A global system is used to split the ocean into different zones, areas, and subdivisions. Each zone is indicated by a number and/or letter. By law, this must be shown on all unprocessed seafood sold in the EU and UK, alongside the fishing method used to catch it. Look for these details on the packet to match your seafood to our ratings.

Hook & line (longline)

Longlining uses a long fishing line with baited hooks. There can be hundreds of hooks on one line. The type and size of the hook, the bait used, and the position of the longline (at the surface, mid-water, or on the sea floor) vary depending on what fishers are trying to catch.

Net (gill or fixed)

Gillnetting uses a net, suspended in the water, that is anchored to the seabed. It is kept vertical by buoys, to create a wall of netting that fish swim into and become entangled. The mesh size and length of time the nets are left at sea varies, depending on where they are fishing and what they are targeting.