Farmed salmon is a viable alternative to wild caught salmon

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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It's actually a bit old news now, with the Washington Post article appearing online Sep. 24, 2013, but thought I would share it here.

I know I've heard people on this forum say things before about taste differences and fillet quality. Well, in this article, a Chef from one of Wolfgang Puck's restaurants prepared in identical fashion, 10 different types of wild and farmed salmon. The blind taste testers were chefs, food critics, and seafood industry representatives. The fish that came out on top? Costco frozen Norwegian farmed Atlantic salmon. In fact the top 5 salmon were all farmed Atlantic salmon.

It's a very good article, not just on the taste and food quality, but explains much of the innovation that has taken place in the farmed salmon industry, even mentioning the positive impact that farmed salmon has had on the wild caught salmon industry.

I've amended the title of this thread from the WaPo editorial title, as it's clear that farmed salmon is already a viable alternative to wild.

For some though, this issue is already made up in their minds. BC particularly, is probably the toughest venue for farming salmon in the World. Recently Alexandra Morton and her crew made some news with PRV (a virus that has been implicated in salmon deaths) studies, after their infectious salmon anemia scare was shown to be nothing but a scare. However, the virus is also found in healthy fish.

It will come to light shortly, that imported salmon in BC most likely did not bring PRV to Canadian waters. There are historical samples which have been stored at -80°C, and the first imports of salmon from Norway to BC have now been tested. They were negative for PRV. The very next year, samples of the same fish are positive for the virus. That indicates that the virus was very likely already here, before imports began.

Anyways, that's probably too much information already, the tl;dr version is:

Salmon farming is good, here's why
 

CDNBear

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Sep 24, 2006
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Ontario
Ton, I'm not afraid to admit I was wrong.

I'm sure you guys have worked hard on brining the standards way up.

So I'll have to give farmed salmon another try.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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Ton, I'm not afraid to admit I was wrong.

I'm sure you guys have worked hard on brining the standards way up.

So I'll have to give farmed salmon another try.

Of course, that's not to say that what people were saying isn't valid...complaining about fatty fillets? Well that's definitely true, and probably why it scored so high in blind taste tests. Most people will choose fattier products.

As for the standards, yes, they've improved a great deal. Industries like mine are what saved farmed salmon. The industry would have died in the early 90s from bacterial infections without the vaccines we make, and since then the husbandry practices of the farms have improved greatly.
 

pgs

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 29, 2008
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Of course, that's not to say that what people were saying isn't valid...complaining about fatty fillets? Well that's definitely true, and probably why it scored so high in blind taste tests. Most people will choose fattier products.

As for the standards, yes, they've improved a great deal. Industries like mine are what saved farmed salmon. The industry would have died in the early 90s from bacterial infections without the vaccines we make, and since then the husbandry practices of the farms have improved greatly.
No offense but I will stick with sockeye .Preferably Fraser or Skeena river sockeye for fat content .
 

taxslave

Hall of Fame Member
Nov 25, 2008
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There has been a definite improvement in BC farmed fish. AM and her merry band of idiots started out with the conclusion that farmed fish is bad for the wild population and have been inventing science to prove their conclusion for over 20 years. Never played well with those of us that know about fishing but it has caused lots of naive cityots to send them money for nothing.
 

Kreskin

Doctor of Thinkology
Feb 23, 2006
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I've never tried fresh Atlantic seafood. I do enjoy a fresh BC sockeye.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Low Earth Orbit
Fresh water mussels, and crayfish, very tasty stuff.

I'd appreciate it if you didn't let the secret out, lol.
I tend to think they are tastier than the bivalves and crustaceans found in the salt chuck.

Don't worry, very very few have the balls to spend an afternoon wading in an ice cold stream until they get prune toes.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
29,151
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London, Ontario
I tend to think they are tastier than the bivalves and crustaceans found in the salt chuck.

Don't worry, very very few have the balls to spend an afternoon wading in an ice cold stream until they get prune toes.

Of course not! Some of us do have the sense to make friends with people that will though, lol.
 

CDNBear

Custom Troll
Sep 24, 2006
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Ontario
I tend to think they are tastier than the bivalves and crustaceans found in the salt chuck.

Don't worry, very very few have the balls to spend an afternoon wading in an ice cold stream until they get prune toes.
The boys drop traps in about 15 to 20 feet of water off our beach, where the biggin's are.

We go in off a place called lands end where the sandy bottom supports the mussels better than the clay bottom off our beach. Even though I can't eat them, I love them, but they don't love me. The rest of the family does though.
 

Ron in Regina

"Voice of the West" Party
Apr 9, 2008
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Regina, Saskatchewan
My oldest Brother has told me about camping with some folks and
feeding on fresh water lobster (big crayfish) out here in Saskatchewan.

You need several pails, and three rocks per pail....& some hot dogs to
build your traps. You only wade out into about four feet of water.

You take three rocks about the size of your fist or so and make a
triangle out'a them with your feet in about four feet of water. Then
you get your pail half full of water and push it down trapping air in
it so it sets open side down on the three rocks with an air pocket
in the pail.....and place the fourth rock on top of the pail so it doesn't
float back up. Break up a hot dog and let the pieces go up under the
pail where they'll float up to the surface of the air pocket in the pail.

Repeat 'till you run out'a pails. Go drink beer for the afternoon. The
crayfish can get under the pail due to the three rocks the pail is
sitting on. Seems they really like hot dogs.

In the late afternoon, you wade out and remove the top rock from
the pail, and harvest your future supper. Remove tails, brush with
butter and garlic, and BBQ them on low heat.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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Modified store bought minnow traps.
Good idea. I have neoprene chest waders so I no longer get prune toes. My method is a fine net which I place behind the crawdad then poke a pole in front of them and they swim backwards right into the net but I sure like the minnow trap idea.
 

SLM

The Velvet Hammer
Mar 5, 2011
29,151
3
36
London, Ontario
My oldest Brother has told me about camping with some folks and
feeding on fresh water lobster (big crayfish) out here in Saskatchewan.

You need several pails, and three rocks per pail....& some hot dogs to
build your traps. You only wade out into about four feet of water.

You take three rocks about the size of your fist or so and make a
triangle out'a them with your feet in about four feet of water. Then
you get your pail half full of water and push it down trapping air in
it so it sets open side down on the three rocks with an air pocket
in the pail.....and place the fourth rock on top of the pail so it doesn't
float back up. Break up a hot dog and let the pieces go up under the
pail where they'll float up to the surface of the air pocket in the pail.

Repeat 'till you run out'a pails. Go drink beer for the afternoon. The
crayfish can get under the pail due to the three rocks the pail is
sitting on. Seems they really like hot dogs.

In the late afternoon, you wade out and remove the top rock from
the pail, and harvest your future supper. Remove tails, brush with
butter and garlic, and BBQ them on low heat.

That's sound delicious! What time is dinner? I'll bring beer. :D
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
108,901
11,182
113
Low Earth Orbit
My oldest Brother has told me about camping with some folks and
feeding on fresh water lobster (big crayfish) out here in Saskatchewan.

You need several pails, and three rocks per pail....& some hot dogs to
build your traps. You only wade out into about four feet of water.

You take three rocks about the size of your fist or so and make a
triangle out'a them with your feet in about four feet of water. Then
you get your pail half full of water and push it down trapping air in
it so it sets open side down on the three rocks with an air pocket
in the pail.....and place the fourth rock on top of the pail so it doesn't
float back up. Break up a hot dog and let the pieces go up under the
pail where they'll float up to the surface of the air pocket in the pail.

Repeat 'till you run out'a pails. Go drink beer for the afternoon. The
crayfish can get under the pail due to the three rocks the pail is
sitting on. Seems they really like hot dogs.

In the late afternoon, you wade out and remove the top rock from
the pail, and harvest your future supper. Remove tails, brush with
butter and garlic, and BBQ them on low heat.
I like that idea too. I'd use fish head though. Hot dogs (Harvest Meats of course) are for eating while drinking the beer.