Re: It's Time For Kids to Get Involved

Hi Joseph.

 That is a great question. I used to think that farmed fish was good to buy as well, until I really started doing my research. Little did I know, how wrong I was. If I may, I would like to share an aritle with you from Time magazine. Although it was written in November of 2002, the facts are still the same. There are very few regulations placed on fish farms, especially those in China and other countries. 

You can read the entire article at http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101021125-391523,00.html 

Here are a few exerpts that I think are important to note:

"The farm-grown harvest is cheap, predictable and year-round. "A fillet
of farmed salmon in your supermarket is fresher than a wild fish netted
at sea that can take five to six days to get to harbor "

"Moreover, each farm-grown salmon means, in theory, one less fish
taken from wild stocks that have been declining for decades.
(Farm-raised fish now make up most of the fresh salmon sold in U.S.
supermarkets.)

But the story isn't that simple. Salmon farming can be a dirty
business. According to Otto Langer, 56, a biologist who worked 30 years
for Canada's Department of Fisheries, a large salmon farm may pour as
much liquid waste into the sea as a small city. Add to that the plagues
of destructive sea lice that thrive in densely packed salmon pens and
the schools of farm-grown fish that inevitably escape to the open sea,
where they spread diseases and compete for food and breeding grounds
with wild stocks.

Because salmon are voracious eaters of smaller species, it takes
several pounds of wild fish, ground up into meal, to yield 1 lb. of
farmed salmon — an exchange that depletes the world supply of protein.
The diet of farmed salmon lacks the small, pink-colored krill that
their wild cousins eat, so the flesh of farmed fish is gray; a
synthetic version of astaxanthin, a naturally occurring pigment, is
added to the feed."

 "Because salmon are voracious eaters of smaller species, it takes
several pounds of wild fish, ground up into meal, to yield 1 lb. of
farmed salmon — an exchange that depletes the world supply of protein.
The diet of farmed salmon lacks the small, pink-colored krill that
their wild cousins eat, so the flesh of farmed fish is gray; a
synthetic version of astaxanthin, a naturally occurring pigment, is
added to the feed."

"It has been several decades since there were enough fish in the sea to
meet, on a sustainable basis, the growing worldwide demand for seafood
— which accounts for 16% of global animal-protein intake, up from 14%
in the early 1960s. About half the world's wild fisheries have been
exhausted by overfishing. In the North Atlantic, one of the most
depleted oceans, populations of popular fish (cod, flounder, haddock,
hake and tuna) are just one-sixth of what they were a century ago. A
European Union panel last week backed calls for a total ban on the
fishing of cod in the North Atlantic and a moratorium on the fishing of
haddock and whiting there."  Now, just a week ago, the european commission placed a ban on fishing BlueFin Tuna.

In the end, Joseph, what really matters is research. What I reccommend diong is takeing a visit to this website: www.msc.org.

The Marine Stewardship Council is an independent, global, non-profit organisation whose role
is to recognise, via a certification programme, well-managed fisheries
and to harness consumer preference for seafood products bearing the MSC
label of approval.

MSC has put into place, some strigint guidelines to certify fishereis around the world. When you see fish at the grocery store with their logo on it, you will know you are getting the right type of fish.

for now, we are at the mercy of our governments around the world to start regulating the fisheries. Until that happens, we, as the consumer, must take the initiative  to educate ourselves and those around us.

That is why I think it is so important for us, as parents to get our children involved. They are going to inherit this planet from us. I would hate to leave my daughter oceans with out fish! 

SAVING THE OCEANS, ONE FISH AT A TIME!

darci@nofishinmydish.com

WWW.NOFISHINMYDISH.COM