Wild or Farm Raised Fish/Seafood

[DoctorShavegood]

I always look to buy wild seafood, but sometimes it's not available or way to expensive. Trout is always a farmed-raised fish that I will buy from HEB from time to time. All the rest like shrimp, oysters & salmon I'll buy wild.

We farm raise chickens, cattle and sheep, is seafood any different?

My knowledge of farm raised seafood is limited. What's your take on it?

 

[MrSpeedy]

I think it's very different. I splurged on wild salmon for a special occasion - it was almost $15 p/lb - and the taste was phenomenal. It was also a much darker color, due to the muscle being used more and more oxygen reaching it (this is what affects the taste, too). I've alos had local shrimp and oysters and there is no comparison to the farm raised stuff.

Similar to farm raised animals, there are concerns about antibiotics and viruses/bacteria contaminating the fish.

Like you said it can be very expensive, especially to buy day-to-day.

 

[malocchio]

I won't buy American farmed fish or Asiatic farmed fish ,just too many horror stories.A good fish market near me sells fish from ecologically sound farms in Scotland ,Norway and Finland.Those places are checked for contamination and water quality daily...Chile has a massive farming operation ,and has had severe problems with toxins.I have recently read they have spent millions to clean up and modernize their operations,we shall see...Overfishing of the oceans will soon leave us no choice but to farm fish species,plus the ocean is becoming a garbage dump for many nations industrial lines.

 

[doofus]

http://www.seafoodwatch.org/seafood-recommendations/consumer-guides

I think you will love this.

 

[Alacrity59]

To me it is like Battery raised chicken vs. free range, grass fed vs. grain fed cattle etc. I think there will always be something a bit special about the wild sourced product.

 

[oc_in_fw]

I won't buy American farmed fish or Asiatic farmed fish ,just too many horror stories.A good fish market near me sells fish from ecologically sound farms in Scotland ,Norway and Finland.Those places are checked for contamination and water quality daily...Chile has a massive farming operation ,and has had severe problems with toxins.I have recently read they have spent millions to clean up and modernize their operations,we shall see...Overfishing of the oceans will soon leave us no choice but to farm fish species,plus the ocean is becoming a garbage dump for many nations industrial lines.

Overfishing is part of the reason that China is flexing its muscles in the South China sea. Luckily, their blue water navy is pretty weak.

 

[Windy City]

If I may say so, I make a killer planked salmon on the smoker. It's been the absolute favorite of my son since before he's been able to speak. I can get farm raised Salmon from Scotland from a local fishmonger. It tastes phenomenal. I sometimes worry that because it's farm raised that there may be issues. As it's more of a special treat due to the cost, I shrug it off.

 

[martym]

Growing up we caught and ate fish from the pond at the ranch, the Laguna Madre, local canals, local arroyos, and the Rio Grande River. Today, I buy from the local HEB and I get what's available; wild caught or farm raised. When at the ranch I will still eat from the pond and I still eat speckled trout and reds from the Laguna Madre but no I no longer eat from The canals, arroyos, and the Rio Grande. Too much pollution. Hell, it was surely polluted when I was young but it was all we had.

 

[thematthatter]

Before my uncle passed away he ran a catfish farm. It was acres and acres of 4 foot deep water with catfish in it. Each pond had a different size fish in it and he would feed them with his farm truck with a hopper on the back. Even in 2005 it was pretty scientific operation, the O2 levels on the water was monitored and when it got too low he would turn on aerators. He would monitor how much food he fed each pond and adjust feed levels to prevent the food from just floating around and rotting. When it came time to harvest they dragged a net across the pond and scooped up all the fish and it was sold to the restaurant market. He also sold fish by the lb to anyone who wanted to fish out of it. There was so much fish and they were conditioned to floating food that as soon as you threw your hook into the water there was a swarm of fish attacking it.
Catfish farming has the cheapest cost per lb of food per lb of meat raised in the industry, and the fish out of there had a clean taste.

 

[djh]

I was raised a long way from the coast and although we ate fish regularly, it was local caught (freshwater fish) and fresh. In later years I have lived both in Tokyo and Sydney and in both cities I partook of far too much fresh fish and shellfish. Seeing the current state of the oceans, I now eat much less fish than I have done in the past and I am careful about its source.

Although farming will no doubt be the future of the fish industry, nothing beats fresh line-caught fish or shellfish which one has been able to catch/gather themselves. A 20 pound tuna, filleted on the boat and eaten with lime juice for brunch is quite special.

 

[BSAGuy]

Wild preferred, but farmed is OK for us.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Our ranch down in South Texas had a 2 acre tank. My granddad stocked it with large mouth bass, catfish, bluegill, perch, minnows and some type of shad. Sometimes he would feed them but for the most part he let things just go natural. The fish always tasted great especially those Bluegill....yummy fish.

 

[Edcculus]

From what I've heard, some farm raised can stop have quality problems. It's getting much better, but not quite there.

Conversely, I recently heard a podcast with the Long Now Foundation that talked about how eating wild fish has changed the ocean forever, and we are now operating on borrowed time. He suggested that unless you can 100% verify that it's coming from a verified sustainable fishery, you should not eat any wild fish.

2 differing opinions. I don't really know what's right, although I do think wild generally tastes better.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Our ranch down in South Texas had a 2 acre tank. My granddad stocked it with large mouth bass, catfish, bluegill, perch, minnows and some type of shad. Sometimes he would feed them but for the most part he let things just go natural. The fish always tasted great especially those Bluegill....yummy fish.

Pound for pound, blue gills are a tougher fish to land than bass, and taste better.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

Recently I watched the cooking show "Simply Ming." Tsai Ming traveled to Norway where he visited a salmon farm. Truly and amazing operation. Their holding pen was larger than 3 football fields and sat in a deep water fjord. The pen held 750,000 fish. They fed them a diet of fish meal and fish oil. After seeing the quality of the fish they cooked using the their own farmed-raised salmon, I have no problem buy their product...which is available in my local supermarket.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Recently I watched the cooking show "Simply Ming." Tsai Ming traveled to Norway where he visited a salmon farm. Truly and amazing operation. Their holding pen was larger than 3 football fields and sat in a deep water fjord. The pen held 750,000 fish. They fed them a diet of fish meal and fish oil. After seeing the quality of the fish they cooked using the their own farmed-raised salmon, I have no problem buy their product...which is available in my local supermarket.

I hear they make a killer Norwegian Blue, also.

 

[DoctorShavegood]

I hear they make a killer Norwegian Blue, also.

Ha, ha...The Norwegian Blue did exist but they are stiff.

 

[oc_in_fw]

Ha, ha...The Norwegian Blue did exist but they are stiff.

It is pining

 

[oldtree]

salmon from scotland because of radiation from japan on pacific salmon

 

[CurtisB81]

If I have choice, I'm buying local (I'm in nc) rised / hooked or at lest rised in USA..I know it's not cheapest at whole pay check or other food stores like them..But I like supporting USA or nc farmers / producers.Its still cheaper then eating out..Catfish and rainbow trout are my favorite fish....Btw its going, fish farming going to one way to a lot of people..If I win the NC lottery, I set up a Aquiapoucs farm just to kill time and to feed myself, friends, and pay for itself..