This is Green Fish Blue Oceans, the podcast where stories about seafood are good for you and the oceans, live now on iTunes, (and while you’re there, please subscribe!) or listen here.
I’m Maureen C. Berry. This week in my A to Z series on Green Fish Blue Oceans, I’ll dish Arctic Char and Anchovies.
But before I jump into the species, I want to share with you where my scientific fish information and research comes from.

* Seafood Watch is a program of the Monterey Bay Aquarium, the gold star in ocean conservation and fisheries research. Seafood Watch helps consumers and businesses make choices for healthy oceans.
* NOAA Fisheries, an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce which conducts environmental research and offers FishWatch, the largest US fish science-based database.
* Additional resources include Barron’s The New Food Lover’s Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst and Ron Herbst
* The Connoisseur’s Guide to Fish & Seafood by Wendy Sweetser
* James Beard award-winning The Penguin Food Companion to Food by Alan Davidson
* In addition to copious trust-worthy online resources, I reference Marine Stewardship Council, an international organization that addresses problems associated with unsustainable fisheries, and offers a certification process, and FishChoice, a sustainable seafood sourcing tool.

Couple of thoughts here on this information. None of this information cited is a paid endorsement, nor is this podcast sponsored, FYI. Yet!
Now that all that is out of the way, onto the fish!
So what is Arctic Char?
Arctic Char is a delightful, flavorful, healthy for you fish. It resembles salmon in color, but a tad pinker and trout in terms of flesh. This unique species is both wild and farmed and sold fresh, frozen and canned.
In the wild, arctic char thrive in the icy polar salt waters and like salmon return to the rivers to spawn. Wild arctic char are available in remote Northern areas in the fall, but this species is not considered a viable wild commercial fish due to its geographic isolation. The good news is, this delectable tasting fish is farmed with success.
Arctic Char are raised in a land-based closed container with a recirculation system. So there is no chance for escapement in the wild (like an open net pen system in the ocean) and there is less disease associated with these methods.
Since Arctic Char is fished and farmed sustainably, Seafood Watch, the gold star in sustainable seafood recommendations, rates this fish green! Insert guitar riff for three secs. Wait! You know fish is rated, right? Maybe you’ve noticed over the years that some grocery stores use color coded labels, or maybe you use the Seafood Watch app (because it’s free you know for Android and iPhone). Seafood Watch offers three recommendations. Green for amazing, yellow for moderation and red for just don’t go there. Now the cool thing is, with science-based information and fisheries research, this recommendation list changes. Not often, so don’t get your panties in a wad, but something to be aware of.
Here are a few thoughts about why one species may be green today, but yellow or red the following year. Fish migrate, water temps change, oceans are on the rise. There’s acidification, overfishing, illegal fishing, and unsafe fishing methods—all these things are assessed and analyzed on an ongoing basis to ensure the health and safety of our oceans resources.
Now that you’ve got all that in your pocket, it’s time to shop and cook some Arctic Char.

* First things first,