You may notice red dye on the ingredients label for salmon at your local grocery store. That indicates a farm-raised fish, which cannot naturally feed on zooplankton to get its pinkish color. The processor knows buyers associate that color with salmon, so they add the color. Another thing wild fish get from their natural surroundings are high levels of Omega 3s from eating particular algae. Farmed fish are fed processed food that contains grains and animal meal, mostly fish meal.
Fish farms are similar to factory beef CAFOs (6/14), because they work the same way except they’re floating in the water. The farms are overpopulated, harmful to the environment in waste, lead to an overuse of antibiotics, and in addition cannot be contained leading to many issues surrounding escaped farmed fish and fish eggs mixing with native marine life. A lot of farmed fish in our grocery stores is imported from countries that have no limits or oversight to the amount of antibiotics and other drugs used, so again you do not know what you’re ingesting.
Fish farms are heavily dependent on wild fish catches to make the fish meal – up to five times more wild-caught fish is used for fish feed than directly for food. That means all of these smaller fish are caught, sometimes transported halfway around the world, to be used in farms to feed less fish. Not only is the supply of these smaller fish finite, but they’re a critical food supply for wild marine predators including commercially valuable fish.[1] Additionally, many more times the number of poor people in those fished regions could be fed from the large number of fish, say mackerel or anchovies, used to feed people who can pay for more expensive farmed fish, like salmon.
Jean-Michel Cousteau writes that current fish farming practices pose enormous risks to the surrounding environment. “Infectious diseases among farmed fish can spread not only among cultured animals, but can also spread to native populations, introducing non-native diseases into the environment or facilitating disease through unsanitary conditions in densely packed farmed fish. Furthermore, non-native or genetically modified fishes can escape pens and potentially outcompete native species, threatening local fish populations.”[2] Native populations can also suffer are if they breed with weaker, escaped farm fish and produce offspring that cannot survive, for example produce salmon that do not have the spawning tendencies of native salmon.
Innovative scientists at the University of Maryland’s Department of Marine Biotechnology and other university groups are working toward solutions to farmed fish issue, but as Cousteau says, “sustainability must remain a top priority and … requires the demand of the consumer. We are a part of the solution, and we can demand for a sustainable future.”
Speaking of fish, why don’t we eat some? Are you looking for uses for those fresh garden herbs? I was in that situation today and decided to make a marinade for fish that I had in the freezer.
Herb Marinade for Fish
4 Whiting Filets (or similar fish – probably enough for six)
½ C oil
3 T parsley
1 T chives
½ T dill
1 t paprika
Whisk all of the marinade ingredients together and pour brush over both sides of the filets. Pour any remainder over the top. Chill at least ½ hour and put filets on preheated grill. Grill 3-4 minutes on each side.
[1] #83 Rebecca Goldburg and Rosamond Naylor, “Future Seascapes, Fishing, and Fish Farming,” Frontiers in Ecology Environ 2005; 3(1); 21-28.
[2] “The Future of Sustainable Fish Farming,” Jean-Michel Cousteau, Ocean Futures Society, March 17, 2014.
