On Wed, 7 Aug 2002, Phosphor wrote:

> it sounds to me that you are speculating somewhat. I've read elsewhere that
> farmed salmon often has more Om-3 than wild species.  however i'm no expert
> on salmon or fish; but there's little merit in saying farmed salmon is low
> in Om-3 without providing scientific references [not clown nutritonists like
> mercola] to back this. and it must change from brand to brand also. no point
> generalising when what we need is specifics.

I'm not claiming to be a scientific expert on the subject by any means.
You can study the literature and come to your own conclusions. I would
just be real skeptical of claims made by govt. organizations like the
FDA...and of course the fish farming industry.

If farmed salmon contained 50 grams of omega-3 per bite, I still wouldn't
eat it because it tastes like crap. The indians here in the northwest call
it 'oatmeal' because it's mushy with no flavor. I guess that's what you
get when you feed a salmon corn and soybeans, when they should be munching
on herring and krill.

Moreover, here on the island that I live on there is a fish farm that
raises atlantic salmon. Every now and then, the pens of one of these fish
farms breaks open and they spill a bunch of atlantic salmon in to the
pacific. These aggressive salmon start munching away on our juvenile
native fish and competing for habitat and food.

Hell, half the wild runs around here are on the endangered species list,
all they need is a bunch of junk fish atlantic salmon to push them off the
cliff. Are you starting to sense that I don't like farmed fish? :)

I guess the one possible redeeming quality of farmed fish may be this.
Japan has an insanely huge appetite for salmon. They have apparently
acquired a taste for junk farm fish. This has driven the price down on
commercially caught ocean fish (if there's anyone that dislikes farm fish
more than me, it's a commercial fisherman).

Because of this, there may be an ensuing decrease in pressure of
commercial fisherman on the wild stocks. Which in turn may allow their
numbers to increase a bit (yes, this is me speculating, I don't have a
peer reviewed scientific document to back this up).

Of course that could be just wishful thinking on behalf of a flyfishing
junkie.

Craig
Resident Salmon Snob