Sustainable Seafood: Salmon

Last week Target announced that they would no longer be selling farmed salmon in any stores nationwide. Their press release stated:

"All salmon sold under Target owned brands will now be wild-caught Alaskan salmon. Additionally, sushi featuring farm-raised salmon will complete its transition to wild-caught salmon by the end of 2010. In consultation with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Target is taking this important step to ensure that its salmon offerings are sourced in a sustainable way that helps to preserve abundance, species health and doesn’t harm local habitats."

As well as being a more environmentally-friendly move, Target's wild-only policy is also one that will benefit the health of their customers (or at least the ones who purchase salmon).

Farmed salmon bring about several issues starting with what they eat. While he focuses more on cattle and chickens in Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan briefly mentions that on some fish farms, they're trying to teach fish to eat corn because it's cheaper and more accessible feed. Salmon are carnivores. And when fish don't eat their natural diet, their Omega-3 levels (the good fat) are lower.

They also need to be fed antibiotics when farmed, partially due to being in a condensed space with so many other fish where disease can rapidly spread. A 2009 report in the New York Times actually cited that Chile (the largest supplier of farmed salmon to the U.S.) gives hundreds of times more antibiotics to their fish than Norway (the world's leading farmed salmon supplier).

Farmed salmon is dyed to look as pink as their wild kin. Wild salmon get their color from eating krill and tiny shellfish. To top it off several studies have found PCB contaminants in farmed salmon to be up to ten times that of wild salmon. And you could gather, fish penned in a small area don't build up or use much muscle so that affects their flavor as well. They're just fatty (bad fatty).

Salmon (wild) is high in protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D. Omega-3s help reduce inflammation and are heart-healthy.You can read more about what Omega-3s are and what they can do here (World's Healthiest Foods) or here (WebMD).

For a long time I didn't like eating fish. I especially didn't like the way they smelled. I can't remember what finally inspired me to give it a go, but I tried salmon. And it was good. I've found many people who don't like several other types of fish still like salmon. It can be baked or grilled and seasoned many different ways. It shouldn't be too difficult to find a way of preparing it that fits your dietary preferences.

The full Target press can be found here.
The article about Chilean-farmed salmon antibiotic levels can be found here.