Did you know tuna is the third most popular seafood in the U.S. — behind only shrimp and salmon? On average, we each eat over two pounds of canned tuna a year! There are a lot of tuna brands out there, and many of them are not sustainable. Here’s what you need to know to find an ocean-healthy product.

Terms to look for on canned tuna labels

The brands that source from sustainable and more environmentally-friendly fisheries want you to know, so their labels will have one of the below terms. These terms tell you the tuna was caught with fishing gears that have minimal to no incidental catch of other marine life (a.k.a., bycatch).

• pole-and-line-caught
• pole-caught
• troll-caught
• FAD-free
• free school
• school-caught

Pole-and-line and trolling line fishing gears typically have very little bycatch, and these sources generally rate higher against our Fisheries Standard.

The terms FAD-free, free school, and school-caught mean the tuna was caught with purse seines without using a fish aggregating device (FAD). A FAD is a natural or artificial floating object that lures tuna to an area, so catching them is much easier. Unfortunately, the FAD also attracts juvenile fish, sharks, and a lot of other marine life that end up as bycatch. The amount of bycatch is a lot less when FADs are not used.

Pro-tip: “Dolphin-safe” doesn’t mean the canned tuna is sustainable, so you’ll also want to look for the above terms on the label.

Learn more about bycatch

Canned tuna brands to look for

American Tuna, Fishing Vessel St. Jude, Ocean Naturals, Safe Catch, Wild Planet, and Whole Foods 365 are brands that offer Best Choice, Good Alternative, or certified canned tuna. Please note the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program doesn’t formally endorse specific brands, and other sustainable canned tuna products may be available at your local grocer.

Grocery stores that sell sustainable canned tuna

Whole Foods Market and MOM’S Organic Market have sustainable seafood policies that cover their canned tuna products. FishWise has partnered with many grocers – such as Aldi, Albertsons, and Hy-Vee – to help them source more sustainable seafood. Many other grocery stores likely sell sustainable canned tuna, so look for the above terms on the labels.

Canned tuna to avoid

If there’s no information about the fishing method, the tuna was probably caught with purse seines with FADs or drifting longlines. These fishing methods harvest most global tuna production, and they’re the worst offenders for bycatch.

Purse seines surround tuna with a large wall of netting that's closed like a drawstring purse to capture them. Drifting longlines can be up to 50 miles long and have thousands of baited hooks, so bycatch of turtles, seabirds, sharks, and many other vulnerable species can be very high.

Learn more about fishing and farming methods

Types of canned tuna

Skipjack tuna is the most prevalent species sold in cans in North America and is marketed as “chunk light” or “light” tuna. Albacore is also very popular and is marketed as “white” tuna. “Ahi” canned tuna is usually yellowfin tuna, but it may be bigeye tuna.

View our tuna buying guide and recommendations