Sustainable Seafood } how to source mindfully
It’s easy to dismiss the plight of edible sea creatures – after all, they seem to have it good! Frolicking in the vast, open expanses of ocean until they’re caught, hook, line & sinker (not a drift net in sight). These wholesome images splash in the shallows of our marine imagination, yet the reality is much more grim. There are a bevy of issues surrounding our choice to eat seafood – I’ve outlined the most pressing below.
Toxins in seafood
Environmental pollution from human activity is responsible for the toxins contaminating seafood. These include heavy metals such as mercury and lead and chemicals like dioxins and pesticides. Usually entering the marine environment from industrial agriculture, they’re most concentrated in animals high up the food chain such as sharks and swordfish. Food Standards Australia and New Zealand also recommend avoiding Orange Roughy and Catfish for this reason.
Farmed salmon… the battery hens of the sea
Atlantic or Tasmanian salmon is one of the most commonly eaten fish, yet also the most likely to be farmed. With cruel production methods and little consideration for the animal, dubbing them ‘the battery hens of the sea’ is dismally apt.
Salmon are carnivorous, feeding off microalgae and small fish. Farmed salmon on the other hand are fed fish meal, wheat byproducts, soybean and feather meal. Failing to eat their natural diet, they’re low in the famous Omega-3’s as a nutritional consequence. 50% of world fish oil production is actually fed to farmed salmon to raise their levels of omega 3! They are also fed carotenoids so that their flesh colour matches wild salmon – a clever party trick.
The other concern is their level of antibiotics. Industry figures show that from 2006 to 2008 almost 18 tonnes of the antibiotics Oxytetracycline and Amoxicillin were fed to Tasmanian salmon. No insignificant amount.
In the wild, diseases and parasites are normally at low levels and mostly kept in check by natural predation. In crowded nets and pens however, they’re increasingly susceptible to disease epidemics.
Farmed salmon is high in contaminants. A 2004 study, reported in Science, analysed farmed and wild salmon for organochlorine contaminants and found they were markedly higher in farmed salmon. Add to this genetic modification in order to produce faster growing fish and the unappetizing package is complete.
It is a cruel game for the salmon and for us, the consumer. Choose to eat wild sockeye salmon such as The Canadian Way and boycott the factory-farmed mess!
The Canadian Way – a better choice
The Canadian Way is a source of 100% WILD and sustainable (Ocean Wise Certified) Canadian salmon. It is classed as ‘cold water seafood’ meaning richer oils and tastier fish. Their sockeye salmon Mercury level this season was .005ppm (virtually none) with a 10:1 Omega 3 to Omega 6 ratio – incomparable nutritional statistics.
What is sustainable seafood?
It encompasses fish and shellfish caught with minimal impact on marine populations and environments. (To find out more visit your Marine Conservation Society website for a sustainable seafood guide).
Canned fish
According to Greenpeace, most tuna sold in Australia is still caught using destructive fishing methods that obliterate tuna stocks and kill other marine life, such as dolphins. Ceasing these practices immediately is imperative to restore the health of our oceans.
Apart from the source & preparation of such fish, consider the additives infused in your tuna. Rancid oils, refined salts and artificial flavours and preservatives feature heavily in canned, processed fish products. Also consider the canning process, which applies heat, destroying the natural, healthful fish oils. The lining of the can – usually BPA – disrupts the hormonal system and adds to our toxic load.
Greenpeace have a canned tuna guide on their website which lists the best (based on sustainability) fishing method used, and comprehensive labeling and support for marine reserves. These considerations can be applied to all canned fish.
A note on omegas & nutrition
Omega 3 is not only found in fish (which they obtain from algae and other small fish), but also in seaweed, flaxseeds and pastured, grass-fed animals. It is formed in the chloroplasts of green leaves and algae that are then ingested by livestock or marine life.
Avoid precooked frozen fish as they’re typically full of processed ingredients and lack the nutrient density of fresh & home-cooked seafood.
Fresh is always best or consider making your own preserved fish (as found in the I Am Food Recipe Book).
