I find it so confusing to figure out which fish are good to eat. Depending on which list you read, their leanings may be towards health benefits of the omega-whatevers, or sustainability, or contamination with pcbs, mercury, etc.

What are some top picks across all categories? Is there a such thing, halfway readily available? I'd love to feel good about what I buy, eat, and serve.

If they stop farming fish, there will be no more fish in the ocean in a few months.

Poor people have no choice but to eat dirty fish. Not everyone one can afford wild caught seafood.

dcarch

I'm not a fan of tilapia, it always seems too soft and "mushy". I'm picky about trout too, I eat it smoked but find it pretty strong to just have by itself.

I've also read about the horrible conditions they raise fish in, so I try to avoid farm raised fish if I can. I'm fortunate enough to be somewhere that I can catch my own, but if it were that easy they'd call it "catching" instead of "fishing", LOL.

FOAS, try the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch at http://www.seafoodwatch.org/. They've included Great Lakes fish and I'm happy to say that my beloved walleye and lake perch are, for the most part, sustainable and healthy.

The National Resources Defense Council directs people to Monterey Bay's list, and notes that smaller fish are usually "cleaner" than the larger ones. Good thing I like sardines and smelt!

Annie

"Poor people have no choice but to eat dirty fish. Not everyone one can afford wild caught seafood."

They can't opt to not eat fish? Many people who aren't poor choose not to. It may be regional, but around here even cheap fish is typically more expensive than chicken. The question becomes, are the cheap fish healthier than the cheaper chicken?

"FOAS, try the Monterey Bay Seafood Watch at http://www.seafoodwatch.org/";

Thanks Annie, that's always my first stop. But case in point - they list North America Tilapia as a best choice, Chinese and Taiwanese as a good alternative. Yet Momj's link would have me prefer bacon!

FOAS, I don't agree with everything on their list, but I can't find anything better. I tried Natural Resources Defense Council and a couple of government sites and always got referred right back to Monterey Bay. They are trying to be "all things to all people", in a way, as they aren't necessarily just listing healthy choices, they must also be sustainable and meet environmental criteria, etc.

So, like all other information available on the internet, I guess you take away what you want or find useful and take some percentage of it with a grain of salt.

Something's gonna kill all of us anyway, I would prefer to have my poison in the flavor of lake perch, I guess.

And I agree with you, poor people could choose to not eat fish, or they could eat fish like sardines or other canned choices and avoid much of the nastiness. I no longer consider myself a "poor" person, although I have been nearly destitute a couple of times in my life, and I still choose not to eat lobster or scallops or shrimp as often as I would like because of the cost. Plus, a can of sardines is cheaper than a McDouble and far healthier but I know a lot of people who justify the drive-though as "all they can afford" and wouldn't eat a sardine if it were free.

Annie

FWIW, around here people lower on the income ladder catch fish (& crabs& clams) to put food on the table - & it is often in dirty water like roadside lakes & inlets.

Funny, I see no attribution for the assertions made @ that Twitter page. Thinking I need to reserve judgement do some research of my own...?

"-----Dr. Floyd Chilton, the professor of physiology and pharmacology who directed the Wake Forest study, says the comparison of tilapia to pork bacon was taken out of context.

“We never intended to paint tilapia as the cause of anything bad. Our goal was to provide consumers with more information about their fish,” Chilton said. “If your doctor or cardiologist is telling you to eat more fish, then you should look for varieties that have higher levels of omega-3 and avoid those with high inflammatory potential.”

The truth is, tilapia has as much omega-3 as other popular seafood, including lobster, mahi-mahi and yellowfin tuna. Tilapia is also very low in fat. A 4-ounce serving of tilapia has about 1 gram of saturated fat, 29 grams of protein and around 200 mg of omega-3. By comparison, a 1-ounce serving of bacon (about 4 strips) contains 4 grams of saturated fat, 10 grams of protein and 52 mg of omega-3.

So people may not want to eat tilapia every day, but that doesn’t mean it has to be avoided altogether, nutritionists say.---"

dcarch

I have had the fish questions also and have tried to find some that I feel are healthy. I made up my mind a long time ago that the farm fish are definitely a no-no for me.If eating out, I try to get grilled and if I have to get fish that are deep fried, I peel it all off and eat just the innermost. I am well aware that some of your grease has been absorbed with the inside, but it is the lesser of two evils. I love walleye, but we just don't have it available here. I just simply cannot imagine myself opening a can of sardines. I think I would end up gagging. I remember seeing my BIL swallow those slimy oysters. I shudder.Barb

I'm with dcarch, most people can't afford the finest wild-caught fish. IMO unless you are an organic farmer or fisherman who has access to pristine waters, you have to be financially well-off to eat well. I see the organic foods sections in the grocery and the wild-caught seafood and I just shake my head at the prices. I just feel blessed that I don't have to buy my "fresh" foods at Walmart yet but the way the economy is going I might some day have to. Don't get me wrong, if you can afford the best buy it and I don't have a problem with people who can afford it, but this is a planet with billions of people who still have to eat and get it the cheapest way they can. The gigantic production farms and fisheries wouldn't be able to supply the unwashed masses with the amount of food they do as cheaply if they all went to the "clean" processes that the elites demand.

I eat sardines, pickled herring and canned wild caught Alaskan salmon. I eat it for the Omega 3s and at least the first two are quite low in mercury, dioxins and other poisons. I never eat farmed fish and never, ever, eat the farmed shrimp people bring to parties.

What is "FOAS"?

Fawnridge,
FOAS is the abbreviation for Foodonastumps moniker.

Most ocean fisheries (the wild regional populations) are well managed by governments and international organizations who monitor population levels and enforce catch limits. There are a few exceptions. The presence or absence of fish farming wouldn't affect that a stitch.

Canned Alaskan salmon is a great product. It's sustainably wild caught, devoid of chemical contamination, and full of healthful things. And, it's pretty inexpensive.

If you buy fish regularly from reputable sources, you know what you're getting. I live on the coast where fresh fish is plentiful and buyers and sellers know what they're dealing with. If I lived inland, unless in a large city, I wouldn't consider buying ocean fish except from very carefully scrutinized sellers.

I find tilapia gross - it's tasteless and lacking in character. Same for catfish. Everyone has their own taste.

"---I find tilapia gross - it's tasteless and lacking in character.--Everyone has their own taste."

Everyone has their own taste is very true. Tilapia is a very popular fish.

dcarch

Sure it is. Just as Bud Light is a very popular beer and lots of people eat Wonder Bread. Similar characteristics for all - popular and nearly tasteless.

If you want a fish with lots of omega 3, lots of flavor (maybe too much for some tastes?), and that is pretty cheap, try mackerel. Sort of the same idea as sardines and herring, but a mackerel is big enough to do stuff with - filleting a sardine is just silly unless you are cooking in an Easy Bake oven.

LOL John, a few years back I was on a brief Korean kick, specifically, following recipes from maangchi.com. I picked up a couple whole, frozen mackerel and a member here emailed me and warned that it would be "strong." That scared me just a bit, but then she followed up with, "Cats love that sh**," and after that I just couldn't get myself to do anything more inspired than throw them out. I think I'll need to order it at a restaurant and hopefully enjoy it before I can hope to move past that.

Had raw mackerel last night. It was good.

Had raw tilapia also, was good too.

dcarch

John, when I was a child, Grandma wouldn't buy canned salmon, it was too expensive, she always bought canned mackerel. We only had canned salmon if someone caught salmon and Grandma canned it herself. We didn't have tuna sandwiches either, she used mackerel for that too! I've never had fresh mackerel, and have never seen it around here.

MomJ- although I rarely eat meat (organic free range chicken), I doubt that any animal meat is much better for you than GMO soy/corn fed fish. After all, animal feed is the same feed (gmo soy/corn) on top of that, they are pumped full of hormones and chemicals, and don't get me started on the fact that many factory "farms" recycle dead animals as feed for the live stock(i.e: diseased piglets being fed to the adults.) and are abused by the workers.

Seems only safe way to go is organic veggies and fruit. Everything else is either poisoned, over processed, or made up of frankenfoods.

One more reason to love bacon.

And I say to myself, what a wonderful world...

Pass me a slice, sol.

Our meat (chicken, beef, ham, etc) comes from a nearby farm. We know how the animals are raised, what they eat, how they are killed.

We eat fish only a few times a year, usually at a fancy seafood restaurant that notes their fish is fresh and wild-caught. We can't be sure though, since testing so often shows much "fresh wild-caught" fish is neither. It's not even the fish it's supposed to be.

Delicious roasted white fish wrapped in smoked bacon with lemon mayonnaise & asparagus

The "best" of both worlds?