Wild Caught vs Farm Raised: Getting to the Bottom of Fishing

There’s a lot of information and misconceptions out in the world about what is the “best” type of fish to purchase. Some may assume that wild caught fish, fish caught in its natural habitat, would be the best. Others say farmed fish is better because the environments are controlled and decrease the risk of depleting the ocean of species it needs to maintain its ecosystem. Well surprise- there are unsustainable ways to fish both wild caught and farmed fish so let’s break it down!

What are important factors to consider?

Fishing Methods

There are various ways to fish, such as line caught, netting, trawling and spearfishing. Some are less practical when considering feeding an entire country like the U.S. For example, you wouldn’t expect to feed a population of 328 million by spearfishing; the supply would be too low for the demand. On the other hand netting, using fishing nets to catch seafood/fish, is a commonly used fishing method and is more effective in meeting consumer demand, BUT can significantly harm other species via bycatch. Bycatch are fish or other species that are not intended to be caught during fishing. See this video by the Monterey Bay Aquarium for an example of catching bycatch via gill netting. It is important to ask your fish mongerer how your fish or seafood are being caught and what the fishermen are doing to decrease the harm on the environment and wildlife.

In regards to farmed fishing or aquaculture, you can find that fish are farmed in artificial ponds, pens, raceways, recirculating tracks, and more. Check out various types of farmed fishing explained here by Seafood Watch. Also, see my friend James’ company Omega Blue to learn about a business that is comprised of watermen and fishermen committed to sustainable open-ocean aquaculture. You can even go down to Baja Mexico to check out the farm!

Nutrition

A fish is only as healthy and nutritious as what it eats, so the saying goes…“you are what you eat”. According to Fish Labratory, feed costs for fish farmers represent up to 50% of production costs. This is a big one to look out for when you are purchasing farmed fish and a REALLY important question to ask is, “What do you feed your fish?”. I don’t know about you but I want to purchase fish that are sustainably caught in the wild OR from a sustainable fish farm where the fish are not fed antibiotics and/or GMO based fish feed. So what are some types of feed? Let’s see below!

Types of Food

Processed Feed: This feed often comes in the form of pellets, tablets, or flakes. What we need to know is that NOT ALL FEED ARE CREATED equal, just like in agricultural farming when feeding livestock. You might have read that there have been true horror stories of farmers feeding their cows expired candy, etc. Just like you wouldn’t want to eat livestock that has eaten crappy food, this same concept should be applied to when we think of what fish we want to consume.

“Clean feed, clean water, clean fish.”- James Arthur Smith

Live Fish food: Some examples of live organisms that are fed to fish include , “bloodworms, mealworms, blackworms, tubifex, glassworm, grindal worms, white worms, redworms, daphnia, gammarus, among many others” (www.fishlaboratory.com).

Fresh Food: Fresh foods are exactly what they sound like, these are foods that are not processed before being fed to fish, like lettuce, broccoli, scallop, clam and squid.There are some fish that are herbivorous and others that are carnivorous. Therefore it is important to understand what diet the fish you are consuming eats.

There is a lot more to cover like the impacts that each of these fishing methods have on the environment, types of barriers of creating more sustainable fishing options and much more! Thanks so much for taking the time to read this post! PS: if you are interested in supporting sustainable fishing with your bucks, follow Seatopia on instagram to soon buy directly as a consumer from Omegablue. Truly ocean-to-table!

Peace and love,