This is another rat's nest of modern society.

Seafood farming operations are usually environmentally damaging. Shrimp and prawn industries in Southeast Asia are often pointed to as troublesome. Another product from this area is marketed as "Basa fish" - it's really just a type of farmed catfish. Producers often use antibiotics. Damaging downstream pollution results from the antibiotics, excess food and waste products. Many experts suggest that farmed seafood of this kind is best avoided.

Wild caught shrimp and prawns are the best choice though more expensive. Supplies caught in the US and also in Mexico are both well regarded.

Larger fish, another issue. All tuna and many others high in the food chain (swordfish, sea bass, etc) all have too much mercury and should be eaten no more than a few times per month. No matter what the form - fresh, frozen or canned.

Eastern Pacific wild salmon (caught mostly in Alaska but as far south as California) is thankfully a sustainably managed and uncontaminated food source. Safe to eat as much as you would like. One expert I spoke to on this subject a few years ago said that even eating it every day posed no risk. I think most canned wild salmon is pretty good - Costco has a good brand that's reasonably priced.

Different story for farmed salmon (available fresh, frozen and canned) which is usually labeled as "Atlantic Salmon". It's what you find in restaurants if the menu doesn't specify "Wild". Again, experts suggest farmed salmon be eaten sparingly, there are some contaminants in most samples. Costco recently announced it would no longer buy farmed "Atlantic Salmon" from its former suppliers in Chile because of pollution and contamination concerns. Their new suppliers are in Norway. That frees up a lot of Chilean farmed "Atlantic Salmon" (yes, I know it's from the Pacific) that will be sold in stores everywhere.

I use Wild Planet tuna. It's lower mercury as they are pole and troll caught so the fish are smaller. They can be expensive - Whole Foods has it at $5 a can, but I found some deeply discounted cause the labels were on upside down, so I stocked up! I found them at Costco too for a better price. I think $17 for 5 cans. Still a lot more expensive than the cheaper brands but much healthier.

I like seafood only and I try hard to buy only USA and wild caught. Today the market man actually seemed surprised when I declined to buy his frozen shrimp that came from Thailand. If I go back on Friday I can get fresh scallops from Maine.

I think all or most albacore tuna is line caught. "Light" tuna is lower in mercury than the albacore variety. The max recommended tuna intake for children and pregnant women is one serving of tuna per week.

There are a few things about Whole Foods that irk me, but it's a good place to buy seafood. It's a shade overpriced like most else in the store but as with their meat department, they try to buy seafood that's either strictly wild or raised in a more thoughtful and environmentally friendly way. Costco doesn't always have wild shrimp, for example, but Whole Foods almost always does. Both places are good sources for wild salmon.

When I was a kid, "wild caught" meant getting in the dory with my dad and letting our 7.5HP Evinrude motor take us through the channel into Noyack Bay, where we caught flounder and all sorts of other good fishes--along with some unwanteds, like sand sharks and incredibly slippery eels. We also dug our own clams and attached fish heads to lines anchored in the sand to scoop up blue-claw crabs. Such good times.

Alisande, my SIL worked for Whitney Fidalgo Seafoods (Mr. Rubenstein) before marrying DH's brother years ago, and for a very long time we still got Rubensteins salmon there by the case for almost no cost ;) It was very good. I like Costco's wild sockeye, I think it's one of the better canned products I've had recently. To me, pink canned salmon isn't worth the cost at any price...

I don't buy seafood of any kind that has been processed (frozen or canned) overseas. But I do realize not all parts of the country have access to wild fish like I do here in the PNW.

I cannot remember the last time I had commercially canned tuna, I can my own the last 30 or so years. Its wild caught albacore, and healthy. The fish average between 10-20 pounds each, they are not the older larger fish that have been ingesting pollutants for several years before being consumed. And the tuna canned at home is raw packed where commercially canned fish is baked first then canned so double cooked while raw packed fish so much more moist.

Morz, envy is such an unpleasant emotion, but your post made me jealous. :-)

I love NE PA for a lot of reasons, but being landlocked isn't one of them.

Even the restaurants around here can't be counted on sometimes. At Cooper's in Scranton, where Bill & Hillary Clinton have dined more than once, I was surprised to find the salmon was farmed. Cooper's is the seafood restaurant in the area. Or so they present themselves.

Looking into my past again, I think of all the many times I had lunch at Cafe des Artistes on 67th Street when I worked at Lincoln Center. Ah, the filet of sole . . .

Several years ago at Walmart I found frozen "Alaska Salmon" that also stated on the label "processed in China". WHAT! So read those labels thoroughly.

If it has been to China or any where other than the good 'ol USA, I want no part of it. That said, we are eating very little seafood these days.

We get our fish at a fish market. All is labeled as to origin. It is de boned and filleted as we wait. Gutting happens in their back room. We are still not buying anything from the Gulf of Mexico due to the BP oil spill.

We are still not buying anything from the Gulf of Mexico due to the BP oil spill.

Hmm . . . maybe that's why my gulf shrimp were so reasonably priced.

I wish we had a fish market. I probably wouldn't be able to afford it very often, but at least I could buy with some confidence.

My husband is a commercial shrimper. I only eat fish, shrimp and crab off of his boat. Or sometimes fish caught in the bayou behind our house. Oysters from a nearby dealer. He keeps an oyster license but hasn't oystered in years. I almost never eat canned tuna, and didn't know it was from Asia...thanks for the heads up on that. I will definitely check the label from now on and I probably won't be eating it again.

Marilyn_c, How are the gulf fisherman feeling about the cleanup by BP?

Just wondering, I really don't eat fish.

I really do miss Salmon. Last time I tried to buy it was from Chile, and processed in Norway... and I left it there. That is when I started paying attention. I much prefer fish that hasn't traveled.

Moni who is missing her nephews fishing.

We visited family in Sandusky, OH last week and enjoyed delicious Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch, line caught near Marblehead Lighthouse. We avoid grocery stores like Kroger and Giant Eagle since many of their products are imported or processed in China, Thailand, Vietnam.

Brushworks, you were only about 45 minutes away from me! I will be having yellow perch for dinner tonight.

There is an app called Seafood Watch that is a guide to sustainable seafood. It rates the best and worst shopping choices.

I love salmon, but won't eat it now unless is it wild caught. Same thing with free range chickens and their eggs and grass fed beef. Went to our local farmer's market on Saturday, and along with organic pesticide free vegetables picked up 6# of grass fed free range hamburger for 33.00. Cheaper than buying it at Aldi, where it is 6.99#. I'm going to try the lamb next.

Today's NY Times has an article about the atrocities inflicted on "sea slaves" in the South China Sea who catch fish bound for pet food and other animal feed.

You can read it here.

Seafood Watch guide to buying seafood https://www.seafoodwatch.org/-/m/sfw/pdf/guides/mba-seafoodwatch-national-guide.pdf

How about crab? Bought a tub of Phillip's lump crab... on sale but still a splurge. Phillip's is at least locally famous... started in MD... home of the blue claw crab. So Phillip's crab ain't got any bl;ue claw in it... it's from the other side of the globe. IIt made nice crab cakes, but I felt cheated??

My husband is a bay shrimp fisherman. I wouldn't worry about eating shrimp. They generally have a one year life cycle. The BP spill didn't affect us. Jody was working on a tow boat at the time. Some people we know filed claims and were paid

Jody told me they unloaded 90,000 lb of shrimp in Venice, Louisiana today. About 20 miles from the site of the BP spill. I don't eat fish unless off our boat or caught here in the bayou, except for farm raised in USA catfish. One fish I would never eat is tilapia. They are raised under filthy conditions in Viet Nam. I don't personally care for salmon, tuna or sword fish. Mostly the fish I eat is flounder. I like very mild, white flesh fish. We get them in the fall.

I love local lake perch, I never buy farmed fish, the canned tuna I buy is Cloverleaf and I believe that comes from Thailand, the canned salmon I buy is Wild. I buy smoked salmon from Norway but only if it is wild not farmed. I think the frozen uncooked shrimp I buy is from Thailand. I try to stay away from products from China or Japan. I used to eat a lot of fish but now I don't eat as much and try to buy frozen lake fish. Still won't eat any fish though caught in the Detroit River

I don't buy the fish from Asia or South America... a lot of things like farmed shrimp are helping deplete the world of ecologically-significant mangrove trees, in addition to their polluted rearing environments.

Up here in the north, I have no idea where the Gulf of Mexico shrimp were caught, so I tend to avoid, but not as hard and fast as avoiding the Asian sourced shrimp. In season here, I have a source for rhode island red shrimp... I eat those with gusto! Most of the year they are in waters too deep to net. Sweeter and more delicate than regular shrimp, they don't ship well.

I will buy some farmed fish - Arctic char when I can find it - it is raised in self-contained lakes in Canada or Iceland, and I trust those sources. I'll also eat rainbow trout. I love just about all fish, except maybe flounder (too bland). But for sustainability reasons there are some I no longer eat. My toro (bluefin tuna belly) days are done.

I''m not fond of the canned fish taste (tuna, salmon), although there is a limited place for tinned sardines if packed in EVOO by a reputable company.

I can't wait to get a recreational fishing license when I move. Fresh caught lake or river fish can't be beat!

So, anyhow, for me location counts. North America or, when appropriate, northern Europe.

Marilyn, if you like a mild fish like flounder, you will like Lake Erir perch. We didn't have the money for seafood growing up. If dad caught bass or blue gill, or crappie, that was what we had. Sometimes walleye. Walleye is only good if they are the smaller ones. Too big and they taste strong. The trophy walleye are too big to taste good as far as I am concerned. It's been years since I've had bass, bluegill or crappie.