How to Be a Conscious Eater

Depleting wild fish stocks for feed. Producing fish feed is extremely

inefficient. It takes more than 15 pounds of wild fish to produce

1 pound of farmed tuna. This practice ravages stocks of certain

“forage fish” (anchovies, herring, menhaden) to make fish meal

and fish oil to feed the fish whose wild stocks you’re suppos-

edly offsetting by enhancing the total supply. Not a great trade.

Environmental impact. Spillage or intentional discharge of the

toxic chemicals used for the aforementioned crowded net

pens or ponds, not to mention waste, can damage surrounding

waters and the life within them.

STILL, BEFORE WE EXILE THE FOOD CATEGORY ENTIRELY,

HERE’S AN IMPORTANT CAVEAT:

Not all food that comes from aquaculture (the business of fish farming)

is the same.

Bivalves —mussels, clams, scallops, and oysters—are

farmed more responsibly. They’re not carnivores, so

they don’t require wild fish. Moreover, because shellfish

are filter feeders, water quality is often improved as a

result of their taking up residence.

Farmed fish systems that use recirculated, treated water

for fish in tanks (on land) generally don’t negatively

IT TAKES MORE THAN

15 POUNDS OF WILD FISH

TO PRODUCE 1 POUND

OF FARMED TUNA.

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