Not necessarily the best call either, as its not nearly that simple. Most fisheries for larger, well known fish species are in deep shit. Few of them are sustainable. I try to limit myself to those wild fisheries that are clearly sustainable. Or at least fish pulled from smaller, independent fishing operations and coops. These are typically the operations that are most environmentally benign. And for the most part I attempt to stick to fish caught, distributed, etc in my region. Asside from that not all farmed fish is bad. But your farmed Salmon, stripped bass, trout, and especially South East Asian and South Asian farmed shrimp are among the worst, and the most responsible for over fishing of wild stocks for feed. You’re better off making a decision on a fish by fish basis. Frankly I’d say wild caught Atlantic Tuna of nearly any sort is a terrible choice, fisheries nearly dead. Pacific Tuna? Even if its the same species? Much better. Pacific Blue Fin stocks are actually pretty good, but they’re less valuable at market because they don’t produce “giants”. Farmed Tuna? Worse than either (see below). Farmed Tilapa, not that bad. They’re non-predatory and can be used to clean up the pollution from other species. Its why I don’t eat them, many are fed on fish poop/the resulting algae so they taste muddy and have poor texture. But its far more often sustainable!
Mariculture products tend to be better. If only because they are so often shellfish. Farmed shellfish, particularly oysters are not only sustainable and environmentally benign, but actively improve the environments they’re grown in. Shellfish aquaculture has been one of the single most important factors in improving water quality where I’m at. And on top of that its gangbusters business that’s saving a hell of a lot of the baymen here. Stuff like farmed tuna on the other hand is an out and out disaster. Its almost impossible to breed tuna in a mariculture setting. Those few places that can do it do so using hormonal implants and see mixed results. So the rare amounts of farmed Tuna you hear about are almost invariably raised from wild caught juveniles raised in pens, and fed on the same sort of wild caught feed that’s so problematic. So not only are you depopulating bait fish to raise them, but you’re removing wild fish from the breeding pool as surely as if you just fished them. The sole goal of these operations is often a steadier supply of large, high quality fish to take advantage of the Asian market, nothing to do with sustainability. (And seriously I could SLAP the Japanese for what they do to fisheries, everywhere, always.)
But there’s an increasing number of (often research level) inshore open water fish farms. Effectively a chunk of wetlands gets marked off. And the focus is on stocking and breeding on site: baitfish, grasses, shellfish and other bellwether species. Basically fostering the necessary environment for more valuable fish to breed and feed themselves naturally. Stocking or tweaking to insure populations that are viable for sale. Penning them in or releasing them into the broader environment as needed. That if you ask me is the future (and honestly the historic form) for fish farming. It restores and protects wetlands, its environmentally benign at worst, it raises populations of species from the top of the ecological ladder to the bottom through out the entire area. And its a viable replacement/supplement to cratering fishing business. They’re talking about setting one up here. But Nimby says it’ll ruin his private beach. They’re also going after shellfish farming, apparently it ruins the character of the area if they can’t water ski in that exact quarter mile of bay. I mean water skiing is fun, but there’s a couple million square miles of bay around these parts.
