Practically everyone, except vegetarians and vegans, likes fish and seafood. It is the most natural thing in the world for a human being to eat a fish. Many scientists believe that through the process of evolution, great apes on the coasts of Africa began wading through the shallow waters on the beach, thus accounting for modern man’s upright posture. Spear fishing was one of man’s original occupations and the driving force behind man’s development of intellect. The man had to outsmart the animal he was trying to capture, and thus continued the process of evolution.
There was a time when all fish came from pure, pristine waters. Many aboriginal people in North America, for example, made their lives about catching certain types of fish or shellfish. Nowadays, coastal waters are so polluted in most places that the fish are not only inedible, they are dangerously toxic. To be fit for human consumption, the fisherman has to go way off shore into the deep ocean to catch fish. And as technology and business increases, so do chemical pollutants that seep out into the oceans and rivers. It seems like we are fighting a losing battle against environmental pollution.
Now it comes to the crux of the article. People still need and want to eat fish and seafood. There are two main varieties to be bought in grocery stores and fish markets. And that would be the wild-caught versus the farm-raised. Wild caught fish is fish harvested in its natural state, a truly wild animal that lived and survived on its own in nature. A farm raised fish is one that has been cultivated much like a cow or chicken in a farmer’s lot. These farmed fish eat whatever the farmer gives to them, and is administered medicine to keep them healthier and bigger.
So it seems that people are concerned about what is better for them. Farm raised fish are more widely available and cheaper than wild caught fish. Is it worth the extra price and search to get the wild caught variety? Well my opinion is that it is in most cases. Natural, wild caught, and sustainable fishery is important to me and I am willing to spend extra money on seafood.
But really in most cases farm raised fish, even if they are corn fed and given antibiotics, are still better than white meat or red meat from unhealthy, drugged up, factory farmed animals. So the choice is up to you.
But remember, the reason why we eat fish for good health is because of their rich content of Omega 3 fatty acids. They have the right kind of fat in them because they need to be soft to swim constantly, not solid like lard, and they eat sea vegetables as their main diet in the wild. Sea vegetables are 10x more nutritious than land vegetables.
So in summary, a wild caught fish or shellfish is better for you because they survived in the wild eating sea vegetables and come from a stronger, healthier animal. However, farm raised fish is still better than meat from other animals. So you decide how you spend your food dollar, and remember, there are a lot of fish markets mislabeling fish in order to increase its price. It seems like the lower the protein food is on the food chain, the better it is for you, and fish is an ideal compromise between vegan/vegetarian sources and land animals.
The right thing to do is to educate yourself and budget your money, and then do what is best for yourself.
