How to: Choose your Fish Wisely
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 06. 1.06
We covered this here and Tim covered it here well over a year ago, but the New York Times just covered the waterfront again, discussing what fish you can eat without worrying, except about those who will comment that we should not eat any fish at all. For those who do, the worry is about whether the fish is caught sustainably, and health- whether is is contaminated with toxins like mercury and PCB's. Chilean Sea Bass comes off as an eco-worst; Mackerel, which a couple of decades ago nobody touched, is now an acceptable delicacy. The Times refers to the great sites at the Monterey Aquarium and Oceans Alive, but prepares their own list, available below the fold. ::New York Times
the Times also has some interesting recipes, like this for "Broiled Boston Mackerel with Spring Herb Salad and Sugar Snap Peas" here
These fish can be eaten once a week by adults, according to an assessment of contaminant levels by Environmental Defense. Those marked with an asterisk can be eaten more than once a week.
WILD
*ANCHOVIES
ARCTIC CHAR, color added
*ATLANTIC BUTTERFISH
*BLACK COD (Sable, Butterfish on West Coast)
*BLACK SEA BASS Younger children no more than four times a month
*HADDOCK
*HAKE (white, silver and red)
HAKE (Chilean, Cape and Argentine)
*HALIBUT (Pacific only) Older children 3 times a month, younger children twice
*HERRING
*MACKEREL (Atlantic or Boston only)
MAHI-MAHI Younger children 3 times a month
*PACIFIC COD
*PACIFIC SAND DAB (yellowtail flounder)
*PACIFIC WHITING
*PLAICE
PORGIES
*SALMON (Pacific)
*SARDINES
*SHAD
SMELT
*SOLE (gray, petrale, rex, yellowfin)
SOLE (Dover; English or lemon, older children 3 times a month, younger children twice)
WHITEFISH
FARMED
CARP
CATFISH (domestic)
STRIPED BASS (rockfish)
*TILAPIA
*TROUT (rainbow); TROUT (steelhead)
SHELLFISH
*CLAMS (northern quahogs)
CLAMS (Atlantic surf, butter, Manila, ocean quahog, Pacific geoduck, Pacific littleneck and soft-shell)
*CRAB (Dungeness, snow) Dungeness: younger children once a week
CRAB (Florida stone, Jonah, king)
*CRAYFISH (United States)
*LOBSTER (American) Children 2 to 4 times a month
*MUSSELS (farmed blue; wild blue, children 2 to 3 times a month)
MUSSELS (New Zealand green, Mediterranean)
OYSTERS (farmed Eastern and Pacific)
*SCALLOPS (bay; Northeast, Canadian sea)
*SHRIMP (wild American pink, white, brown)
SHRIMP (spot prawns and northern shrimp)
*SQUID
*SPINY LOBSTER (Caribbean, United States, and Australia)
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Speaking of "Chilean Sea Bass" aka Patagonia Toothfish, I just finished reading the book Hooked: Pirates, Poaching, and the Perfect Fish, which chronicles the decline of this fish and other species worldwide. While the writing isn't all that exciting, the story is important and needs to be told and understood.
I seriously have to stop eating atlantic salmon? SERIOUSLY?
ARGGHHHHH!!!
Look at this message about where has all the tuna gone?
http://weblog.greenpeace.org/oceandefenders/archive/2006/05/video_blog_tunatastic.html
We are told in Sweden not to eat a lot of tuna due to mercury levels, but I have been told that the tuna lobby in the U.S was so powerful so they are not on a U.S list, is this true? Anybody knows?
While we are at it, don't forget World Ocean Day on June 8th.
http://oceans.greenpeace.org/en/ocean-defenders/world-ocean-day-2006
Seagull, we regularly get reminders in the U.S. to not eat tuna more than once a week because of the mercury levels. There's no conspiracy to hide that information as far as I can tell.
A fish farm in Scotland recently started producing organically FARMED Cod. They don't seem to have their own website but this retailer provides quite a bit of information: http://www.graigfarm.co.uk/fishcod.htm
Unfortunately organic in aquaculture is meaningless. Organic fish feed often contains a higher percentage of fishmeal (the part of the feed made from wild caught fish) than conventional feed, which essentially pulls the rug out from under the food chain. The fish are still farmed in open net pens where their wastes flow into the ocean, diseases are spread to wild fish and fish can escape from the pens and invade the local population. Look for farmed fish that are raised on land and don't need a lot of fishmeal (US catfish, char, trout, tilapia).
Organic aquaculture is not necessarily an oxymoron. Carp are a species that feed at different trophic levels and can therefore be farmed for consumption in a natural environment. No supplementary feeds and very little discharge to the environment. What effluent discharge there is can be recycled thru' reedbeds or used to fertilise crops. Salmonid aquaculture relies on fish meal feed and highly energy intensive operation.