We know that eating fish is healthy for us, but we also know that for those of us that are "ballers on a budget," it can get pretty pricey. So is it better to eat fish on a more regular basis by buying farmed fish or is it more important to break our budget to purchase only wild salmon?First of all, salmon farms make up about 80% of the salmon on the market. A practice that has been termed, "aquaculture," which has become a $78 billion industry and has grown 9% a year since 1975. Meaning that wild salmon only makes up around 20% of the fish you find at the market, which is an explanation of why it's so much more expensive. Salmon farms can raise up to a million fish at a time. So chances are the last time you bought salmon at the supermarket or ordered it at a restaurant it was farmed salmon. So what exactly is the difference between farmed vs. wild salmon?
Salmon farms jam-pack the fish into small areas, so instead of swimming long distances, or swimming up streams over rocks, and obstacles, they swim around in lazy circles, and get fed pellets, that fatten them up faster. They are what LA Times, calls the "couch potatoes" of the sea. The path that wild salmon take, swimming against stream, and in oceans and streams actually adds to the nutritional content of the salmon. Farmed fish may be fatter than the wild variety, but that doesn't mean that it has more nutritional benefits, like Omega-3 fatty acids. Wild salmon contains a much higher amount of the anti-inflammatory Omega-3, while farmed salmon contains only a small amount of Omega-3, along with other fats, that we would rather do without. Omega-6 fatty acid is one of the fats found in farmed fish, and may actually prevent the uptake of the Omega-3 fatty acids, since the two share the same receptor sites in the body. For a great chart on the difference in the amount of Omega-3 found in farmed vs. wild salmon, visit this website. Also, since farmed fish contains more fat than wild, you will find that they contain less protein.
The depletion of healthy fats is only one of the drawbacks of eating farmed salmon. If we were to look at the diet alone of farmed fish, we can get a better idea on what is actually going on. The pellets that are fed to farmed fish, are high in protein, but also in dioxins, PCBs, fire retardants, pesticides, antibiotics, copper sulfate, as well as canthaxanthin (a dye associated with retinal damage used to make gray farmed fish various shades of "wild" pink). Most of the things that are given to these fish is to help fend against the diseases that arise in these farms, such as sea lice, or the algae from the fish nets. Since salmon are not vegetarian the food pellets that they are fed contain ground up smaller fish, the accumulation of the toxins in these smaller fish can build up in the salmon. Although, wild salmon consume contaminated fish as well, they eat more of a variety so they don't get a such a build up of toxins.
According to an article in CBS news: the average dioxin level in farmed-raised salmon was as 11 times higher than that in wild salmon - 1.88 parts per billion compared with 0.17 ppb. For PCDs, the average was 36.6 ppb in farm-raised salmon and 4.75 in wild salmon. Eating more than a meal of farm-raised salmon per month, depending on its country of origin, could slightly increase the risk of getting cancer later in life, researchers conclude. They urge consumers to buy wild salmon and recommend that farmers change fish feed.
Not only is farmed fish not good for your diet it is also harmful to our environment. The diseases, parasites, pesticides, toxins, and antibiotics that are found in these farms can contaminate the waters around the farm; populating the wild salmon in the surrounding area.
Alright then, what do we eat? Wild salmon, hands down is the best choice! If you can't afford to eat wild salmon on a regular basis, save your money by buying smaller pieces, since you will still get more nutritional benefits and less toxins from that small piece than you would if you purchased a larger piece of farmed salmon. Also, canned salmon is a safe and cheaper choice. You will find that canned salmon is usually always wild since farmed salmon does not can as well.
For more interesting articles on the dangers of consuming farmed salmon, or the dangers to our environment, visit these websites:
Pura Vida!
Alica Ryan, NTP
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