Starting this Earth Day — Sunday, April 22 — Whole Foods Market stores all over the country will no longer carry red-rated wild-caught fish in their seafood departments. This move, which comes one year ahead of their self-imposed deadline of Earth Day 2013, makes them the first national grocer to stop selling red-rated seafood.

One of my favorite things about the Green Chefs/Blue Ocean online course for chefs and culinary students is how we discuss innovations in different fishing methods. If there’s a catch method that has high bycatch, we also let folks know what gear modifications are being developed to reduce bycatch.

I got a call this morning from a woman in Indiana roaming the aisles of Target looking for ocean-friendly seafood.  She had a seafood app in one hand and a bag of shrimp in the other and she still had questions so she picked up the phone and gave me a call.