How to Be a Conscious Eater

affect wild fish and their habitats. Examples of species

routinely raised in this way in the United States are

Arctic char, catfish, cobia, tilapia, and trout, according

to Seafood Watch.

In judging a given food choice, you always have to ask, “As

opposed to what?” If you’re considering not eating farmed fish

because you’re worried about the dye or other environmen-

tal issues, but then you go and eat a burger instead, that’s not

exactly a smart swap.

WHAT TO DO

In the case of salmon, eat wild only, and either consider it

a special-occasion treat, since it costs a pretty penny when

fresh, or look for affordable ways to enjoy it more regularly,

from frozen to canned. Skip the farmed stuff.

If you do pick farmed salmon, check Seafood Watch for not

only the best method and type of salmon but the country

of origin; according to Oceana, Chile’s salmon farms use an

enormous quantity of antibiotics, whereas those in Norway

use hardly any.

Eat the feed. Small fish like anchovies and herring are

used to feed farmed fish like tuna. Instead, eat those little

guys. As with eating plant-based foods in place of animals

they’ve been fed to, eating the feed signals to the market

that “feed” is also valuable human food.

For farmed fish and seafood, again, go lower on the food

chain (think shellfish). The carbon footprint of mussels, for

example, is thirty times less than that of beef.

Opt for fish species that do well onshore, such as Arctic

char, catfish, cobia, tilapia, and trout.

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