Yesterday the New York Times, Tara Parker-Pope of the blog Well, linked to a piece on shopping for sustainable seafood over at True/Slant written by Seattle food writer Kim O’Donnel.

Before diving into some of the distortions we found, it is important to rember recommendations on sustainable seafood are often confusing and contradictory. What’s worse, many of the groups involved in writing and producing these guides consumers are inundated with fail to take into account all of the environmental, economic and social factors involved in determining whether or not the harvesting of certain species can be rated as sustainable.

Now, lets look at some specifics. As part of the section on species of fish she recommends, O’Donnel writes that small albacore tuna from the Pacific Northwest and British Columbia are a good choice. And indeed, the fisheries in this area are recognized as well managed. However, harvesting smaller albacore necessarily means harvesting younger albacore, which can have a negative effect on the future of the stock.

In the “don’t eat” category, O’Donnel tells her readers to avoid yellowfin, bluefin and big eye tuna. Lets start with bluefinis the Mediterranean stock in sad shape? You be it is. Such bad shape that NFI has joined in pressing for a moratorium on blue fin fishing in the Mediterranean. But readers ought to know that bluefin isn’t exactly a common site on most American dinner tables. It’s an expensive sushi delicacy, and the average American only eats about the weight of a few paper clips worth of bluefin per year. American palates are hardly the ones harvesting the last of the bluefin. In terms of yellowfin and bigeye much more context is needed than is provided by the broad brush she paints these stocks with. The latest statistics from the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation, a group dedicated to tuna sustainability, shows that combined only 2 of eight yellowfin and bigeye stocks world wide are in an overfished state.

The blog also takes aim at imported farmed shrimp because, “environmental standards are inconsistent and unregulated.” Not so fast. Perhaps O’Donnel is unfamiliar with the Global Aquaculture Alliance, an international, non-profit dedicated to advancing environmentally and socially responsible aquaculture that certifies more than 200,000 metric tons of shrimp a year. Thats more than 200,000 metric tons of consistent and regulated.

Finally, if you really want an unbiased look at fish and sustainability, NFI suggests you spend a few minutes with FishWatch, produced by the National Marine Fisheries Service.