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  9 0 No, I don't think so. The mercury in fish comes from the atmosphere, primarily from coal-burning electricity plants. Mercifully, Washington has only one of these, for what it's worth. In any case, I don't see how the levels would be any different, they're under the same atmosphere. I would like to take this opportunity to tell you that farmed fish is a terrible, terrible thing to put into your body, and it's awful for the environment. Fish farms routinely pollute their surroundings with astronomical amounts of fish feces, that the local ecosystem can't handle. They create dead zones in the marine environments in their vicinity. They're also pumped full of chemicals, antibiotics and dyes. Farmed salmon is dyed pink. It's natural color is an unappealing grey. Farmed fish also lacks in the healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and other good nutrients found in wild fish. Hang out in Ballard, Bellingham or Westport and you'll see fishermen's pickup trucks with bumper stickers that say "Friends don't let friends eat farmed fish." It's true. Just say no to this garbage. It's bad for you and it's bad for the planet. There are plenty of wild fish choices that are sustainably harvested, good for you, good for our local economy and good for the planet. Pacific Northwest salmon is a great choice this year. Under the Pacific Salmon Treaty with Canada and agreements with local tribes, the fishery is being managed intelligently, so our grandchildren's grandchildren will still have salmon to catch and eat. This is a record year for salmon in the region, and all the more reason to choose wild-caught fish over that garbage that comes out of fish farms. Just say no to farmed fish. soundslikepuget answered in Fish & Seafood 8 months ago | Report 5 comments by Kristin Bell, Sacrelicious, and soundslikepuget… 3 0 Are farmed fish the same as hatchery fish? Kristin Bell commented 8 months ago | Report 4 0 Nope. Farmed fish are raised and harvested in a confined fish farm. Hatchery fish are salmonids that are hatched at the hatchery, but then released into the wild to go do their own thing. Hatchery fish are meant to augment the wild salmon populations for fisherman. When IDFG catches a hatchery salmon trying to spawn upstream, they kill it in order to preserve wild genes. Sacrelicious commented 8 months ago | Report 0 0 @Kristin Bell, good question. @Sacrelecious, you're right about the first part. Hatchery fish are an important part of the strategy to keep our wild fisheries sustainable, by augmenting the stocks impaired by the hydropower dams that supply our region's electricity, and decades of damage in previous generations from overfishing. As to the second part of your answer, I'm a bit skeptical, however. As a Washington fisherman, I'm not familiar with the intricacies of how Idaho Department of Fish & Game operates, but I doubt that they are out there just killing the hatchery fish willy nilly. I suspect they probably harvest the eggs and milt from hatchery fish, and combine them to raise a new generation of hatchery salmon. That's the standard operating procedure for most fishery management agencies. Perhaps you know something about Idaho that I don't however. As a fisherman, I've practically had to earn a Ph.D. in bureaucratic bullshit to understand all the rules the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife requires that we read and understand. The WA regulation book for fishermen was 133 pages this year, so I hope you'll understand if my brain is full from that and I'm wrong about Idaho ;) soundslikepuget commented 8 months ago | Report 0 0 Hey Puget, Nope, it's totally true. I work with IDFG people every day and I've personally witnessed it and talked with them about it (they don't make it widely known). I CAN confirm that it's certainly not willy-nilly. The fish techs that maintain the screw traps also do line sampling (catch and release) for spawning Chinook and steelhead in spring and fall. The fish they catch are weighed and measured, and they take a scale sample before letting them go. If it's a hatchery fish (anal fin missing), they kill it and put it back in the water (they're not legally allowed to eat them, interestingly...that nitrogen goes back into the riparian system). So, there's some reduction of hatchery genes (in order to give the wild genes a better shot at it), but I'm sure the overall impact is quite minimal. I'm sure that some of the hatchery fish are harvested at the dams for their milt and eggs, but it doesn't happen this far up the system. Finally, I'm sure that fishing laws are WILDLY different from state to state, so I would have been just as skeptical in your place. I'm not a fisherman or hunter myself, but occasionally I'll page through my annual books of hunting regs. I usually get about 10 minutes of reading before I go googly-eyed. Cheers! Sacrelicious commented 8 months ago | Report 0 0 @Sacrelicious I was NOT aware of that. Cool beans. soundslikepuget commented 8 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  2 0 You should absolutely avoid farmed salmon (as well as shrimp and tilapia, among others) but there are some types of fish and shellfish where farming practices are sustainable domestic rainbow trout and oysters come to mind. A good resource for buying seafood is the Seafood Watch Program: http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/seafoodwatch.aspx It's put together by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and makes recommendations for sustainability and has a lot of info on mercury content. Dan Williams answered in Fish & Seafood 8 months ago | Report 1 comment by Matt from Denver… 0 0 They also have a free "Seafood Watch" iPhone app. I don't know if it's available for the other smart phone systems. Matt from Denver commented 8 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Friends don't let friends eat farmed fish. That said, smaller wild fish that eat stuff like plankton will have less mercury in them. The small ones will get mercury from the environment. Larger fish have higher levels of mercury because they accumulate all the mercury that was in their prey while ALSO getting it from the environment. Eat low on the aquatic food chain to eat less mercury. internet_jen answered in Fish & Seafood 8 months ago | Report 1 comment by Andrew Beck… 1 0 Farmed fish don't necessarily have to be bad. American farm raised catfish are a great choice. Most of the freshwater farmed fish (Tilapia, Trout, Sturgeon, Barramundi, Artic Char) are probably more sustainable than wild caught fish. You just have to be vigilant about checking where the farm is. American and Canadian farms are usually fine, but if it comes from Asia, avoid it. Also, most shellfish (crawfish, oysters, mussels, clams, and scallops) are better than the wild caught versions. There are even some good farmed shrimp now, but it's very hard to tell them from the bad versions. Andrew Beck commented 8 months ago | Report Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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  1 0 Depending on your fish, it might actually have more mercury than a wild fish--salmonids and other carnivorous fish are fed concentrated fish meal made from wild fish (one of many reasons why farmed salmon is bad). This food may actually cause a farmed fish to have higher levels of mercury than a similar wild fish. Now, if you want to eat farmed vegetarian fish (like carp and tilapia), it won't make much difference. But, why buy carp when you can catch it in unlimited quantities due to its invasive status? Griffin answered in Fish & Seafood 8 months ago | Report Comment on this answer Enter your comment or ask a new question preview THIS IS A PREVIEW: Click "Post" to submit it or "Edit" to make changes. edit Please wait… This could take a minute if the tubes are clogged.

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