Farmed Salmon: Should You Avoid It?

Wild salmon is expensive.  Here in Sonoma County, there is a ban on fishing it this year in an effort to restore the salmon population.  I’m still eating wild salmon, even if I have to buy it frozen (I’m actually surprised how good frozen salmon is these days). 

I think the extra cost is worth it for both environmental and health reasons.  Here are some of the problems with farmed salmon listed at seafoodwatch.org:

• Salmon are typically farmed in open net pens or cages, which allow the waste from the fish to pass freely into the surrounding environment.  This pollutes the wild habitat.
• Farmed fish can escape and compete with wild fish for natural resources.  They can also interbreed which compromises the hardiness of the wild population.
• There are generally more diseases in the dense farm population.  Diseases and parasites can spread to wild fish swimming past net pens.

Farmed salmon are fed  fishmeal which is higher in PCB’s (by up to 16 times!)  than the natural diet of wild salmon.  PCB’s are polychlorinated biphenyls which build up in the environment and can cause harmful health effects.  With either type of salmon, you can reduce the PCB levels by trimming off the skin and visible fat. 

If you have tried wild salmon, you probably noticed a big difference in taste.  Wild salmon has a unique flavor that you just don’t find in the farmed variety.  If cost is a problem, try canned salmon since it is usually made from wild salmon.

As for me, I plan to keep eating my salmon wild even if it means buying it frozen.  What about you?

Find more nutrition information on my website:  http://healthyhabitscoach.com .
Eat well!

Note: I started to add this as a followup to a comment, but couldn’t insert the link, so I’m adding it here as a late addition (11/10/08)

Penny brings up an interesting point that I must admit concerns me. How do we keep up with an increased demand for salmon? Farming might be necessary just to keep up with the demand. Since “you are what you eat” applies to fish as well as us, what the fish is fed makes a difference. It also makes a difference if they require hormones or antibiotics to help them survive crowded conditions. I suspect that farming can be done in ways that are environmentally and health friendly. As consumers, we need to be asking the questions that get at that. And the fish farmers need to provide us with honest information about their practices.

But we can’t just assume its all good.  Here is an article titled “Global Assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed Salmon” published in Science magazine.