sustainable, farm-raised fish

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Emerald

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May 8, 2019, 4:56:05 AM5/8/19
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Someone wrote to me today asking shere to find the sustainable, farm-raised fish recommended in the May Meat Challenge.

Here is my reply:

I have researched seafood companies that I recommend.  You can find them listed in our Shopper's Guide in our website.  There is one company I will be adding soon: Henry & Lisa's.  I especially suggest their shrimp if you eat that (available frozen at Oliver's) and their sardines (available several places including Oliver's & Whole Foods).  Their other fish are all from Pacific Ocean sources, which I do not eat due to radiation from Fukushima, which is still leaking. 
There is a serious concern about shrimp, especially from Southeast Asia where much of it is from slave ships.  Southeast Asian men are kidnapped and forced to work in deplorable conditions on large shrimping ships.  This is known because sometimes one escapes and reveals this terrible travesty.  The stores that buy this shrimp are Whole Foods, Safeway, and many others.  This has become a huge industry and so common that there is an entire organization devoted to tracking and exposing this practice. 
Other shrimp comes from the Gulf of Mexico which is so polluted from oil spills.  I do eat some fish but only from Iceland, Norway, and Scotland with some from Maine and other East Coast locations.  I get Changing Seas smoked salmon at Whole Foods, Duck Trap smoked trout at Olivers, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's sells the same product for cheaper with their own label.  These are both companies that raise clean farm-raised fish.  Loche Duart is a fish company that sells to some restaurants including Fork Roadhouse on Bodega Hwy. west of Sebastopol.  I took my BFF for salmon dinner there for her birthday.  They also serve Stemple meats.  I had the black bean burger and it was excellent with a side of vegan parsnip pureed soup that was awesome.  They feature organic and sustainable foods - pricey but my burger was reasonable.
I have vetted the fish from Whole Foods so when I buy fresh fish I get it there.  I haven't vetted the fish at Oliver's yet, where I prefer to shop, but that is coming.  I only buy fresh fish when I cook for guests.  When I cook for myself I cook vegan.  I do love the Changing Seas smoked salmon and an occasional can of sardines on Wasa crackers.  I also love canned kippers from Maine and Maritime Canada.  And, I occasionally eat the whitefish salad sold at Oliver's - but that is a treat that I have not vetted.
If you are watching for Atlantic salmon instead of Pacific salmon, be aware that Atlantic salmon is also raised in Oregon now.  I found out about that when many thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped their nets and created a major concern by local indigenous fisheries raising local Coho salmon which is much smaller.  There was a fear that the larger Atlantic salmon could wipe out the Coho.  There is so much to know about and care about.  When I get salmon it is always from the Atlantic Arctic where the water is cleaner and I make sure that my farm-raised salmon is not raised using terrible toxins. 
Go to our website to see our shopper's guide: http://OccupySonomaCounty.org.
I hope this helps.
Love,
Emerald

Jenny Rockwell

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May 8, 2019, 4:19:18 PM5/8/19
to Earth Action Campaign, Emerald
Thank you so much for this info!
Jenny Rockwell

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Emerald

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May 14, 2019, 5:17:42 AM5/14/19
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More from this discussion about eating fish:

I have started the process of learning how to buy fish at Oliver's where I shop regularly.  Their green/yellow/red labeling is somewhat misleading so I will have to learn how they do their rating and decide which of their fish products I might eat.  For example, they put a green label on halibut which I know is one of the highest for mercury.  This is true for all larger fish because the little fish eat the tiny fish, and the medium fish eat the little ones, and so on so that by the time a fish is big it has eaten a lot of small and medium fish, accumulating all of that mercury.  Best to eat smaller fish from cleaner waters such as anchovies and sardines, herring, tilapia and cod.  Salmon doesn't usually have mercury because salmon eat algae and don't eat other fish.  But if they are in heavy mercury waters they absorb it anyway.  Highest fish for mercury are halibut, tuna, swordfish, and any of the other large fish.
Concerns about shellfish and catfish are because they are bottom feeders.  The worst crap in the oceans is on the bottom.  I do eat some shellfish from the northeast Atlantic but only occasionally.
Pollution is pervasive throughout all oceans, including the Arctic, making it a much better choice to eat clean farm-raised fish.  If humans are going to continue eating fish we really should be raising it rather than taking fish away from ocean wildlife.  There are fisheries that are raising fish in tanks and not in the ocean and are not using toxic chemicals.  Some of those companies are listed in our shopper's guide.  But there is a trend in this direction and as new fisheries pop up most of them have websites and email to ask them questions.  Also, pay attention to how you feel after eating something.  Does it have a weird chemically taste?  Some people are sensitive enough to notice these things.  This is when we want our "canary" friends to tell us what they notice.  And, for me, I find that I stop thinking about wanting to eat fish when I take the time to cook up my collard greens, kale, broccoli, beets, and black beans.  When I am getting enough plant nutrition I don't need to eat fish, even though I enjoy it.  Eating animal products is a nutrition short-cut instead of eating the foods that the animals are smart enough to eat.
Love,
Emerald

On Wednesday, May 8, 2019 at 8:19:18 PM UTC, Jenny Rockwell wrote:
Thank you so much for this info!
Jenny Rockwell

On Wednesday, May 8, 2019, 1:56:10 AM PDT, Emerald <Emerald@occupysonomacounty.org> wrote:


Someone wrote to me today asking where to find the sustainable, farm-raised fish recommended in the May Meat Challenge.

Here is my reply:

I have researched seafood companies that I recommend.  You can find them listed in our Shopper's Guide in our website.  There is one company I will be adding soon: Henry & Lisa's.  I especially suggest their shrimp if you eat that (available frozen at Oliver's) and their sardines (available several places including Oliver's & Whole Foods).  Their other fish are all from Pacific Ocean sources, which I do not eat due to radiation from Fukushima, which is still leaking. 
There is a serious concern about shrimp, especially from Southeast Asia where much of it is from slave ships.  Southeast Asian men are kidnapped and forced to work in deplorable conditions on large shrimping ships.  This is known because sometimes one escapes and reveals this terrible travesty.  The stores that buy this shrimp are Whole Foods, Safeway, and many others.  This has become a huge industry and so common that there is an entire organization devoted to tracking and exposing this practice. 
Other shrimp comes from the Gulf of Mexico which is so polluted from oil spills.  I do eat some fish but only from Iceland, Norway, and Scotland with some from Maine and other East Coast locations.  I get Changing Seas smoked salmon at Whole Foods, Duck Trap smoked trout at Olivers, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's sells the same product for cheaper with their own label.  These are both companies that raise clean farm-raised fish.  Loche Duart is a fish company that sells to some restaurants including Fork Roadhouse on Bodega Hwy. west of Sebastopol.  I took my BFF for salmon dinner there for her birthday.  They also serve Stemple meats.  I had the black bean burger and it was excellent with a side of vegan parsnip pureed soup that was awesome.  They feature organic and sustainable foods - pricey but my burger was reasonable.
I have vetted the fish from Whole Foods so when I buy fresh fish I get it there.  I haven't vetted the fish at Oliver's yet, where I prefer to shop, but that is coming.  I only buy fresh fish when I cook for guests.  When I cook for myself I cook vegan.  I do love the Changing Seas smoked salmon and an occasional can of sardines on Wasa crackers.  I also love canned kippers from Maine and Maritime Canada.  And, I occasionally eat the whitefish salad sold at Oliver's - but that is a treat that I have not vetted.
If you are watching for Atlantic salmon instead of Pacific salmon, be aware that Atlantic salmon is also raised in Oregon now.  I found out about that when many thousands of Atlantic salmon escaped their nets and created a major concern by local indigenous fisheries raising local Coho salmon which is much smaller.  There was a fear that the larger Atlantic salmon could wipe out the Coho.  There is so much to know about and care about.  When I get salmon it is always from the Atlantic Arctic where the water is cleaner and I make sure that my farm-raised salmon is not raised using terrible toxins. 
Go to our website to see our shopper's guide: http://OccupySonomaCounty.org.
I hope this helps.
Love,
Emerald

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Emerald

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May 16, 2019, 2:19:32 AM5/16/19
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I received a reply to my original post here that Pacific Ocean and local fish is not as dangerous as I stated.  I asked them to share their letter to me on here but we are all so busy so I am doing it myself to encourage discussion and to have full transparency.  I am also including my response to them below:

letter to me:
Concerning radiation in Pacific caught seafood:  

Ken Buesseler at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute tracks the radioactivity from Fukushima at ourradioactiveocean.org.  Fukushima Response sends him samples from Bodega Head.  We have sent him 9 samples.  The latest on 5/17/18 measured about 3.5 Becquereles/cubic meter of Cesium 137. By contrast, the levels in the Baltic Sea are 40 Bq/m3 due to Chernobyl. In the Irish Sea they are 61 Bq/m3 due to spills from the Sellafield reprocessing facility at Seacastle, U.K.   By comparison, the EPA drinking water standard for cesium-137 is 7,400 Bq/m3.

I do not knowingly eat fish from Japan (or any other food stuff from Japan).  I do not worry about locval sea food.

my reply:

Thank you for writing to me about this.  I have seen conflicting reports.  I'm gonna go with my gut instincts to refrain from eating anything from an ocean with a major nuke accident leaking into it.  I'm sure that you are correct that other oceans are worse.  I also don't eat from the Gulf of Mexico.  And that standard you quoted from the EPA just proves once more how useless they are.
I avoid dairy for ethical reasons but when I do eat dairy I get it from the midwest.  I never eat west coast dairy because cesium accumulates in milk.
I do not hold myself out to be an authority on this subject, and prefer to encourage open discussion so that people can make their own choices.
If I am getting my fish from Norway, is that close enough to Chernobyl that I should stop eating it? 
Is denial a good strategy because sometimes that is my favorite plan.  :)
Love,
Emerald

Larry Harper

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May 16, 2019, 10:03:46 AM5/16/19
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Thank you, Emerald, for posting my comments on radioactivity in the Pacific and even making excuses for my not getting it done.

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Larry Harper

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