Driving home from work today, I caught a segment on Fresh Air on a topic that is close to my heart -- or rather, stomach. Terry Gross was talking to Daniel Pauly, a professor at the University of British Columbia, about the best fish to eat both for your health and the environment. I wanted to embed the video but apparently I'm so computer illiterate that I couldn't make it work (or I need a new computer). But here's the link to her interview on the NPR site: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120049590
I've blogged about this before so some of what he said was familiar: wild Atlantic salmon is best; eat fish low on the food chain like sardines and mackerel, etc. But I learned a few new tidbits, like the reason wild salmon is better for the environment than farmed salmon. He said salmon farms don't produce fish, they consume fish since salmon are carnivores and eat fish lower on the food chain. So in salmon farms they grind up fish to make food for the salmon, for a net loss of fish. The good news is that catfish and tilapia (which I like to eat) are herbivores so those are good farmed options, along with shellfish (oysters, mussels, clams).
I've blogged about this before so some of what he said was familiar: wild Atlantic salmon is best; eat fish low on the food chain like sardines and mackerel, etc. But I learned a few new tidbits, like the reason wild salmon is better for the environment than farmed salmon. He said salmon farms don't produce fish, they consume fish since salmon are carnivores and eat fish lower on the food chain. So in salmon farms they grind up fish to make food for the salmon, for a net loss of fish. The good news is that catfish and tilapia (which I like to eat) are herbivores so those are good farmed options, along with shellfish (oysters, mussels, clams).
He's concerned about overfishing and made the point that sushi and sashimi used to be only for special occasions but now some people eat it every day. He made the dramatic comparison that eating a tuna roll is as bad for the environment as driving a Hummer.
But the line that got me was: "I think we should act as citizens, not just as consumers." Now I kinda want to take a stab at eating those low-mercury, small fish that Europeans eat, but that have a stigma associated with them in this country like anchovies, sardines and herring. Anchovies make me think of greasy pizza and my only association with herring is the phrase "red herring" (which I learned from one of the best movies ever, Clue). And sardines, well ... canned sardines, need I say more? I'm embarrassed to say that I don't even know what these fish look like, even though I'm sure my eyes have passed over them in the fish counter. But I'm making a promise to myself that I'm going to try one of them. If Europeans like them, they can't be that bad. I'll let you know how it tastes.
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