I still eat seafood. I LOVE seafood. I was discussing with a friend whether or not my continued intake of seafood was really me just rationalizing my love for it?

She thinks seafood is ok because it isn't raised in the horrific manner (her words) that other animals are. This didn't make me feel better. I know about fish farming. It isn't pretty or sustainable.

Because I am feeling guilty (and it is the right thing to do), I am going to provision my fish intake.

New Goal: Make more sustainable seafood choices

How Can I do that?

1. Stay low on the food chain

The fish I commonly like to eat, like tuna, swordfish, shark, and sea bass, bioaccumulate toxins and heavy metals like mercury. Cooking doesn't get rid of all that nastiness. Salmon harbors tons of persistent organic pollutants.

Better Choices: Sardines and Anchovies. Small fish don't have the problems that big ones do.

2. Shrimp and Salmon: Go Wild

It is probably commonn sense that usually wild-caught fish is the better choice. This is especially true in two of my favorite seafoods: salmon and shrimp.

As I wrote above, Salmon is loaded with nastiness, ESPECIALLY when farmed. They are full of persistent organic pollutants and some are highly carcinogenic. Salmon farmers also take little fish that WE should be eating and grind them up to feed the salmon. Also, Salmon farms have been proven to spread disease and parasites like sea lice to wild fish populations. EWWWWWW!

Shrimp - Cheap shrimp comes from turbid, pesticide-infested ponds somewhere in the developing world. Guaranteed, you are contributing to the misery of all humans by buying cheap shrimp.

3. OK farmed Choices

Wild is better, but there are some exceptable choices when discussing farmed seafood. Oysters and Mussels (bivalves) can be farmed with minimal ecological damage and low environmental health risks. Bivalves actually filter and clean their water! Some small freshwater fish are acceptable too. Tilapia and catfish can be farmed in closed-loop systems, so they don't pollute large tracts of ocean or escape and spread disease.

4. Eat less Seafood

I know...self explanatory! When buying wild fish, it can get pretty spendy. Eat is less and really enjoy when you do. This is going to be HARD for me.