 For several years, doctors, dieticians and food scientists have been telling us to eat less red meat and more fish. These professionals cite low saturated fats, low cholesterol and a high content of omega3 fatty acids as the reasons fish is a healthy dietary choice. We are told that the varieties of red salmon are the best. Salmon, it is said, will lower your cholesterol, strengthen your heart, stimulate your brain and even contains anti-inflammatories that will relieve joint and muscle pain and ease symptoms of arthritis. Researchers even speculate that omega3s may ease depression by influencing production of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
It all sounds simple enough. If we eat less beef and more salmon we will live longer healthier, happier lives, right?
Not necessarily.
Recent studies have exposed alarming, even frightening concerns indicating that making a healthy choice may not be quite so simple. Most of the salmon we consume in North America is farmed. As it turns out, farmed salmon may be even more dangerous than the T-bone steaks we have abandoned for the sake of our health.
The toxins found in farm-raised salmon may pose a serious cancer risk in humans. The January 2004 issue of Science, a respected scientific journal, included the details of a groundbreaking study, “A global assessment of Organic Contaminants in Farmed vs Wild Salmon: Geographical Differences and Health Risks.” This thorough analytical paper indicates that eating more than one serving per month of farmed salmon could expose a person to dangerous levels of PCBs and dioxins and an unacceptable risk of cancer.
The farmed salmon does contain the celebrated omega3 fatty acids. However, it may also contain more unhealthy saturated fats, chemical food additives that add a more appetizing colour to its greyish-brown flesh, and antibiotics that keep the densely caged livestock alive but may contribute to the growth of drug-resistant bacteria.
Our own health is not the only reason to avoid farmed salmon. Farm nets break, introducing Atlantic salmon into the Pacific coast watersheds where they eat wild salmon fry and eggs, spread the farm-created bacteria, and compete with the natural marine life for habitat. The farming industry has reported over a million escaped fish since 1988. Many experts believe unreported escapes make the real figure much higher. Even escapees from the farms raising Pacific salmon can be dangerous. Farmed salmon grown from a limited genetic pool can interbreed with their wild cousins, causing dilution of the genetic stock and possibly decreasing their ability to survive in the wild.
Fish farmers are licensed to kill predators that threaten their nets, pens and fish. Farmers themselves have reported killing at least 5,000 seals and sea lions in the last ten years. Mass graves of sea lion carcasses have been discovered in Clayoquot Sound and other fish-farming areas. According to fish farm employees, some kills go unreported.
If we value our own health and environment, should we just throw up our hands in frustration and toss the steak back on the barbecue? That may not be worth the risk. Besides the saturated fat, farm animals also feed on diets that might include high levels of toxins.
Many experts recommend that if you're very worried about this issue, the safest thing to do is stick to fish that you know has been caught in the wild, and eliminate farm-raised fish from your diet entirely. But many people have difficulty imagining eating anything that swims through the lower reaches of the Fraser River and other highly populated areas, and until lately, wild salmon from clean, remote fisheries costs two or three times as much as farmed salmon, and is not as widely available.
Canadian Pacific coast fishing companies have been exporting the bulk of our wild salmon for decades. European and Asian markets have been literally eating up the best of our wild harvests. Times are changing, however. Some of our local fishers and fish markets are trying to reverse the export trend. Discerning chefs at home and in restaurants are demanding wild salmon from the marketplace. Some consumers are even boycotting businesses that serve or sell farmed salmon. A proliferation of websites has sprouted on the internet, telling surfers why to choose wild salmon and where to find it.
One BC fishing company, Great Glacier Salmon (GGS), harvests its wild salmon just inside British Columbia where the majestic Stikine River meets the cold clean waters of the Northern Pacific, near Wrangell, Alaska.
The Stikine, along with the Taku and Alsek Rivers, is one of only three remote, trans-boundary rivers flowing from BC, through Alaska, to the Pacific Ocean. The present US/Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty allows Canadian fishers to catch 50% of the Stikine's available Sockeye. These fish, along with the northern Coho and Chinook, are among the most prized in the industry.
After 27 years of exporting its best salmon, GGS has recently committed a portion of its catch to the local market. Starting in February of this year, a portion of every GGS export order is sold to WildSalmon Canada (WSC), a local home-delivery and wholesale distributor. The goal of WSC is to bring a consistent supply of the best and healthiest of BC's wild salmon home to the local dinner table at a reasonable price.
As other BC salmon producers follow suit and as restaurants and markets respond to our demands as consumers, we may finally be able to make the truly healthy choice: Wild Pacific salmon of the North-West coast.
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