Page 127 - How to Be a Conscious Eater - Making Food Choices That Are Good for You

affect wild fish and their habitats. Examples of species
routinely raised in this way in the United States are
Arctic char, catfish, cobia, tilapia, and trout, according
to Seafood Watch.
In judging a given food choice, you always have to ask, “As
opposed to what?” If you’re considering not eating farmed fish
because you’re worried about the dye or other environmen-
tal issues, but then you go and eat a burger instead, that’s not
exactly a smart swap.

WHAT TO DO
In the case of salmon, eat wild only, and either consider it
a special-occasion treat, since it costs a pretty penny when
fresh, or look for affordable ways to enjoy it more regularly,
from frozen to canned. Skip the farmed stuff.

If you do pick farmed salmon, check Seafood Watch for not
only the best method and type of salmon but the country
of origin; according to Oceana, Chile’s salmon farms use an
enormous quantity of antibiotics, whereas those in Norway
use hardly any.
Eat the feed. Small fish like anchovies and herring are
used to feed farmed fish like tuna. Instead, eat those little
guys. As with eating plant-based foods in place of animals
they’ve been fed to, eating the feed signals to the market
that “feed” is also valuable human food.
For farmed fish and seafood, again, go lower on the food
chain (think shellfish). The carbon footprint of mussels, for
example, is thirty times less than that of beef.
Opt for fish species that do well onshore, such as Arctic
char, catfish, cobia, tilapia, and trout.

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