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"Organic" Farmed Salmon Basics
Because of the lack of US standards for organic salmon, farmed "organic" salmon is farmed in an open net cage system, the same system used for conventional farmed salmon. In turn, what we're relatively certain of is that the organic farmed salmon for sale today:
- Ate wild fish for feed (though the make up of the diet can vary considerably)
- The farm provided no complete barrier between farmed fish and the marine environment
- The farm did not contain wastes - uneaten feed, feces and possibly harmful chemicals
- The farm did not prevent the transmission of diseases and parasites to/from wild fish
Also, depending on where your fish came from, it is also possible that it was:
- Treated with toxic chemicals (some like Cypermethrin and Emamectin benzoate classified as "marine pollutants") used to kill parasites called sea lice
- Treated with antibiotics at some stage of its life cycle
- Fed wild fish products that did not come from certified sustainable sources
- Fed feed that was not tested for or cleaned of PCBs, dioxins and other contaminants
- From a farm site that experienced escapes of farmed fish into the environment
Fish & Sustainability Articles
- 11/25/08 - A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish
- 11/24/08 - Down on the (Organic) Fish Farm
- 11/20/08 - Pesticide Buffer Zones Expanded to Protect Salmon
- 11/20/08 - Toxic Farm Pesticides Threaten Pacific Salmon
- 11/18/08 - OCA Testimony to the NOSB on National Organic Standards (Nov. 17, 2008)
- 09/29/08 - A New Breed of Fish Farming
- 09/11/08 - Freshwater Fish in North America in Peril, Study Says
- 08/19/08 - Study: Fish Kills, Herbicide Possibly Linked
- 08/15/08 - Amid Collapsing Fisheries and Factory-Farmed Salmon, How to Choose Sustainable Seafood
- 07/10/08 - New Federal Rules Proposed for Offshore Fish Farms
- 07/02/08 - Organizations Help Consumers Pick Healthy and Eco-Friendly Seafood
- 06/19/08 - How Grocery Stores are Emptying the Seas & Carting Away the Oceans
- 05/22/08 - Lessons from a Sustainable-Food Conference at the Monterey Bay Aquarium
- 04/29/08 - Killer Lice
- 04/24/08 - Yes, There Is a Toxin-Free, Sustainable, Farmed Fish. And Damn if it Ain't Tasty
- 04/09/08 - Fish Farm Plans Under Scrutiny
- 03/27/08 - How the Monterey Bay Aquarium Makes its Safe-Seafood List -- Plus a Seafood Recipe You Can Feel Good About
- 03/11/08 - Labs Don't Have to Report 'Frankenfish' Escapes
- 02/21/08 - Salmon Recalled in the UK Over Fears of Diesel Contamination
- 02/19/08 - Pesticide Brew Spells Trouble for Salmon
- 02/14/08 - Consumer Food Labeling Suits Reinstated
- 02/14/08 - Salmon Farms Killing Wild Stocks: Study
- 02/11/08 - More Testing of Seafood to Address Mercury Concerns
- 02/02/08 - Biggest and Best Tuna Tend To Have the Most Mercury, Experts Say
- 01/24/08 - High Mercury Levels are Found in Tuna Sushi
- 12/17/07 - Why "Organic" Farmed Salmon is Causing a Nasty Smell
- 12/10/07 - Gulf to Teem With Fish in Cages if Farms Okayed
- 12/07/07 - Wild or Farmed? Salmon Eaters Want to Know
- 12/05/07 - A Fishy Definition of Organic
- 12/04/07 - Chile's Flourishing Fish Farms Prompt Fears for Ecosystem
- 11/11/07 - Pollutants in Wild Freshwater Fish Pose Public Health Risks
- 08/09/07 - Feds' New Fishwatch Website Open to Public Comment
- 07/12/07 - If Salmon Could Vote