Monday, October 18, 2010

The Anti-Farmed Salmon

Barramundi is now being called the "The Anti-Salmon: A Fish We Can Finally Farm Without Guilt". They are born in the sea and migrate to fresh waters as adults, the reverse of a salmon's life cycle. Huge gills enable them to live in oxygen-deficient water. And best of all, they have the rare ability to transform vegetarian feed into sought-after omega-3 fatty acids. Salmon require as much as three pounds of fish-based feed to put on a pound of meat, some Barramundi need only a half pound. 

Farmed salmon live in net pens in the open ocean. Net pens not only pollute, but spread diseases and parasites to passing wild fish. Barramundi is being farmed in recirculating systems on land, where the problems of salmon farming do not occur.

Here is a great example of how we can farm seafood in a sustainable way and complement our wild fish. By not using tons of fish meal as feed and using land based recirculating systems we remove the risks overfishing, disease and escapement problems that many open ocean systems have.

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