Data Tool Instructions

The Sustainable Seafood Data Tool was built using Tableau, a software package designed to visually represent complex data. Tableau has a distinct functionality that can take some getting used to. Tableau offers a series of instructional videos (account required) which you may find useful. This page offers tips to help you navigate this specific tool.

Global Production view

When the tool loads, it defaults to the Global Production view. This view uses donut charts to present an overview of the world’s seafood production at two levels of detail:

An inner ring illustrating the share of production that:

  • Has already been certified or rated by Collaboration member organizations or is in a FIP or AIP, as well as
  • The share that has not been certified or rated and is not in a FIP or AIP

An outer ring providing more specific detail, describing the proportion of total production that is:

  • Certified by ASC, Fair Trade USA, or MSC
  • Rated by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch program
  • In a FIP or AIP
  • Under assessment by MSC
  • Under audit by ASC
  • Not yet assessed by any Collaboration member organization

The legend to the right of the donut chart identifies the color-coded segments representing each sustainability status. Within the donut chart itself, when hovering over any segment, a tooltip will display the tonnage for that sustainability status. This includes the ASC, Fair Trade USA, and MSC segments, all of which are shaded in blue.

Clicking a segment will wash out other segments in the chart, but will not display any additional information. If you click on a segment a second time, the chart will return to its original appearance.

The donut chart defaults to all production methods (wild and farmed), all regions, countries, and sustainability statuses. To sharpen your focus, you can filter the global view using the dropdown menus above the donut chart. To display wild-capture shrimp production, for example:

  • Choose the Commodity filter, then uncheck All, then check Shrimp & prawn
  • Choose the Wild/Farmed filter, then select Wild

Note that the tool uses smart filters that limit narrower filter options based on the user’s selection of values for broader filters. In the wild shrimp example, selecting the Commodity filter’s Shrimp & prawn value narrows the options available under the Common Name filter to those pertaining to shrimp and prawn.

You can also type into active filter feeds to narrow your options faster. If, for example, you’re looking for the scientific name Sparidae, click on Scientific Name and type “spa” to narrow your options, then check Sparidae.

Target 75 view

The Target 75 view loads bar charts displaying summary information about all 12 T75 sectors. To take a closer look, click on the sector name, and the tool expands, displaying bar charts summarizing each of the species within the sector, sorted alphabetically by common name. For example, clicking Large Shrimp loads bar charts for dozens of large shrimp species, revealing that whiteleg shrimp account for more than half the world’s shrimp production and are mostly rated Avoid. Hover over any bar within the chart, and a tooltip displays the corresponding volume. Click the sector name again to collapse the species-level display.

Filters work the same way in the T75 View as they do in the Global Production view. But, because T75 volumes are sourced only from the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership, there is no Organization filter in this view.

Improvement profiles

Seafood businesses are encouraged to use the tool not only to understand the sustainability of seafood production, but also to contribute to continued progress. To help, we are preparing commodity-specific profiles, outlining the Collaboration’s sustainability improvement priorities and recommending specific interventions businesses can support to accelerate progress on that commodity.